Description
1986 Quattroporte III
Chassis: AM330/ 49A* 5768*
Registration: G567 HRP
• Ultra-low mileage of 10, 300 kms.
• Documented history from new and only three owners.
• Spectacular original condition.
• 4. 9-litre V8 with automatic transmission.
One of the first Maseratis from the De Tomaso era, the third series of sporting saloons became one of the companies’ best sellers, with over 2000 cars built between 1979 and 1990.
The design of the Series 3 was by Giorgetto Giugiaro at Ital Design and the engine was a mildly updated version of the venerable Maserati quad-cam V8. Most were delivered in 4. 9 litre form with a Chrysler sourced Torqueflite 3-speed automatic transmission and the model was only ever offered in left-hand drive. As a result, the Series 3 was never officially offered in the UK but a few Maserati devotees ordered them anyway, including this particular car.
One such Maserati devotee was a businessman from Suffolk who during the late 1980s amassed a small collection of exotic cars, including a Maserati Khamsin, two De Tomasos, a Longchamp and Deauville and this Quattroporte. He ordered it new through the UK De Tomaso importer, Emilia Concessionaires at Silverstone, in June 1988 and took delivery 11 months later.
Maserati Classiche confirms that it was built as it is today, with the 4. 9 litre engine and Torqueflite transmission and painted metallic silver (Grigio Azzurro) and with Cuoio Naturale – brown leather. Interestingly, but not unusually for the time, Classiche also notes that the car had been built in 1986, but had remained unregistered and unsold for three years.
Once the car had arrived in the UK, it was salted away in a Suffolk barn with the rest of the collection, only taken out for occasional runs, amassing over the next two decades a tiny mileage of 1500 kms. After the death of the first owner, his widow decided to sell his collection and in March 2010 all of his cars were consigned to auction with local auctioneers Lacy, Scott & Knight in Bury St Edmonds. Such Italian exotica (plus a couple of Bentley Continentals) created quite a stir in rural Suffolk and an article published on the BBC Suffolk website at the time is in the file.
The Quattroporte sold that day for £14, 500, well ahead of the estimate at that time and was bought by a gentleman from Kent, who had originally been interested in one of the Bentleys. He kept the car for a short time, though during which it was featured in Classic Cars magazine, in a feature entitled Mothers of Invention, pitted against an Aston Martin Lagonda and a Ferrari 412.
It was offered for sale again around that time and aroused the interest of the third and current owner, a Maserati collector, who acquired it in August 2011. The total mileage at that time was 1, 633 kms.
The new owner commissioned McGrath Maserati to undertake a round of mechanical work to preserve it’s almost ‘as new’ condition but make the car reliable for use on long-distance events. When ready the Quattroporte then went on Maserati Club tours to Ireland, Spain and Norway, while gaining a little notoriety closer to home, ironically back in Suffolk, where the current owner lives. During this period, the mileage inevitably increased but the car was fastidiously maintained by McGrath and never allowed to deteriorate. Indeed, in July 2018 it was featured in Auto Italia magazine, illustrating a Buyer’s Guide for the model. There can be few more representative examples still extant worldwide, never mind in the UK.
Alas, since the restrictions of Covid, the car has not been used, reverting to its previous life of living in a Suffolk barn (though a different one) and now is being offered for sale by us on behalf of the owner.
Needless to say, a comprehensive file accompanies the car including the original purchase invoice from Emilia, a copy of the auction report, copies of magazines in which the car has featured and copies of all the service invoices from ourselves. It’s MOT history shows the gentle accumulation of mileage over the course of the current ownership, but even today, it stands at an incredibly low 10, 300 kms.
It’s condition today is that of a new Quattroporte series 3 that has been allowed some gentle patination and is therefore not the perfect restored car. However, as they say, ‘it’s only original once’, and this one still is, both cosmetically, structurally and mechanically. It drives like the very low mileage example it is and therefore offers what is probably a unique window these days into just how good these cars were back in the day.
Offered for sale including another recommissioning service by us, a fresh MOT and ready for more cross-continental adventures, you couldn’t even begin to contemplate restoring one for this price.
