Description
1978 Khamsin
Chassis: AM120* 395*
Registration: HLD 680T
• One of 71 right-hand drive examples
• 60, 000 miles with comprehensive history
• Restored but with original electric blue interior
• 4. 9-litre V8 with 5-speed manual transmission
Designed by Marcello Gandini at Bertone, Maserati launched the Khamsin in late 1973 as the replacement for the Ghibli. Like the earlier car, it used a front-mounted 4. 9-litre, 320 bhp version of the venerable Maserati V8 engine in dry sump form. Where the Khamsin improved on the Ghibli was in the use of a new ZF gearbox with dog-leg first and also Maserati’s first fully independent rear suspension in a road car, built around a Salisbury limited slip axle. It gave the new car a fresh and sophisticated feel, and then there was the hydraulic system.
A child of the Citroen era, Khamsins used the LHM system to power not only the brakes but also the clutch, the steering, the headlight pods and even the seat movement. Compared to its contemporaries, there was a lightness of touch about driving a Khamsin that made it feel ultra sophisticated. Like the styling, this car was cutting edge and as exotic as the wind after which it had been named.
Of the 430 Khamsins built between 1974 and 1982, only 71 were right-hand drive and of those, only 50 came to the UK. This particular example was supplied new by UK Maserati concessionaires MTC Cars in November 1978 to its first London-based owner. Maserati Classiche confirm that the car was ordered in the colour Celeste Chiaro and with blue Connolly hide – just as it is today.
There are invoices on file for repairs and servicing at MTC cars but after two years the car changed hands for the first time. The new owner was Richard Price, today best known as the clock and watch expert on The Antiques Roadshow. Richard kept the car for the next decade and it was serviced with us during that time. He would sell in the early nineties to a friend of his, J N Robinson in Cornwall. By now a little down at heel, the Khamsin joined other cars in a Cornish barn and would stay there for another two decades, unused.
When Mr Robinson passed away, we were enlisted on behalf of his estate to sell the car and in 2012, we sold it to the current owner. By this time the car had been repainted in a non-original dark blue, but the amazing original electric blue interior had been preserved.
We then embarked on a restoration for the current owner, which included a complete bare metal repaint, back to the original colour, a total engine and drivetrain rebuild and some sensitive interior work to replace the worn dashboard velvet covering and the carpets. There are invoices on file for circa £150, 000 for this work, which completed in 2015.
Since then the car has seen limited use on Maserati Club events (circa 4, 000 miles in total) including the International Rally in Scotland in 2019. For the last few years it has been stored in the current owner’s collection and used very little. It is offered for fully serviced and with new MOT to make it once again fully road ready.
Khamsins have full bedroom wall pin up status and today, anything designed by the late Marcello Gandini is surely set to rise. They have an analogue V8 soundtrack and also offer serious performance. This example has been thoroughly sorted and yet still retains original colour outside and original leather inside, and matching numbers. As such, this is incredible value for money for such an exotic supercar.
