Weird Car Lusts, and the Maserati Biturbo

Most car enthusiasts I know spend a  lot of time dreaming or lusting after cars that they don't own. Sometimes this manifests in a long term desire for one particular type of car which results in ownership and either happiness or heartbreak. Other times this is a short term deal possibly triggered by an article in a magazine or spotting a particular car in the street. For me when this happens a few days are spent pouring the internet and car magazines for information about said car, scouring the classifieds (usually Autotrader or Pistonheads) and after a few days forgetting about the whole thing and going onto something else.

I've documented a couple of my longer term lusts in the form of the Porsche 911 and Ferrari 308 before, and while wedding plans mean either of those is currently on hold I still get the occasionally short term lust for something a little unusual, something to fit in between my commuting Mito and the Daytona. Some of this is spent alternating between an E24 BMW 6 series or a manual Porsche 928.

Recently however I've developed a potentially very unhealthy obsession with the Maserati Biturbo.  I'm sure most readers of this blog will be familiar with Maserati's move into a more mass market model in the 1980's.  Created under the stewardship of Alessandro De Tomaso, father of the Pantera, it was roughly the size of a BMW 3 Series, featured a twin turbo (hence the name) V6 engine that produced 180bhp at launch in 1982.  It took another five years for the Biturbo to go on sale in the UK at which time it cost more than a Jaguar XJS, which was quite a lot when in the eyes of many it was basically rubbish.

The Biturbo has developed a fearsome reputation with unreliability with dodgy electrics (sometimes leading to fires) the principal gripe, but also blown turbos, oil and water leaks, and body corrosion not far behind. Searching the internet on the subject the problems seem to be particularly bad with the US versions as the federalization process seemed to have a particularly adverse effect on the car. The cars are also known to have suspect roadholding, particularly if the turbos's spool up just at the wrong moment on a wet road.

Reliability and sluggish sales didn't stop Maserati developing numerous different versions of the car, as four door followed the original two door and this in turn was followed by a quite attractive Spyder  version built  on a shorter wheelbase by Zagato. As well as these relatively mainstream versions with a plethora of different sized engines there were a couple of other oddball versions of the early cars the 228 which was a two door coupé built on the slightly larger platform of the four door and intended as a more luxurious grand tourer, and the Karif an allegedly more powerful hard roofed version of the Spyder which looks decidedly odd but also curiously appealing.

My sole first hand experience of a Biturbo was in a mildly modified Spyder , which sported uprated turbo's. It was driven by a driver who to me had something of a death wish, but I do recall massive acceleration the car easily able to dispatch five or six slower moving cars on a single lane road (it may have been more but my eyes were firmly closed by then). It also seemed to have fairly marginal brakes but maybe this was just the mad driver not using them or leaving his breaking very late.  In actual fact it was one of the most exciting (and frightening rides) I have ever had in a car.

As Maserati continued to develop the car the Biturbo name was quietly dropped to be replaced by a BMW style 3 digit numbering system two doors beginning with 2 and fours doors surprising enough with a 4. 

In the early nineties Maserati perhaps inevitably went the way of every other Italian marque and fell into the ownership of Fiat. Just prior to this Maserati had launched two heavily developed versions  the Shamal (above),  and the Ghibli (below).

The Shamal featured a new 3.2 twin turbo V8 and a styling makeover by Marcello Gandini of Lamborghini Countach and Diablo fame, was launched in 1989 while the tamer  (intially 2.8)  V6 powered Ghibli joined in 1992.  The Ghibli effectively merged the standard two door cars and  the 228 into one model. The final derivative of the Biturbo the Quattroporte appeared in 1994 after Fiat took over and featured both the V6 and later the Shamal's V8 (which would go on to be used in the replacement 3200GT).

Now the initial subject of my lust was the idea of finding a cheap early car with enough MOT left on it to enjoy it while it lasts, but the classified surf revealed that these cheap cars seem to have disappeared. I suspect that the ravages of corrosion and the need to cannibalise undesirable four door versions for parts for Spyders will have accounted for many.  Also I suspect a few are likely to have been traded in under the Government's scrappage scheme of last year. There is a certain irony that a car once criticised for looking like a Hyundai may have been traded in for a Hyundai. 

What I really want is the Ghibli or a Quattroporte. I have seen Ghiblis for sale for as little as £4,500 but realistically £8,000 to 11,000 seems to be the going rate for a standard car and somewhere in the teens for the desirable Cup version with the manic 2.0 V6 Twin Turbo (at the time this 330bhp V6 had the highest output per litre of any production engine).

The Subtly cool Quattroporte also starts around £8,000 with the more desirable V8 Evoluzione versions a few thousand more. The rare  Shamal has become the most desirable Biturbo derivative with prices over £25,000.

For either of these cars there are more accomplished rivals available for the same money, BMW's M3 and M5 and the ubiquitous Porsche 911 spring immediately to mind, but none of these German rivals whilst almost certainly technically superior are not as cool and (oddly considering the sober styling) distinctive as these Maseratis.  Hmmm I think I need to sit down in a dark room or better yet call my Fiancée before I do something I might financially regret.