This bumperless barn find 1980 Maserati Quattroporte III is in Stony Brook, New York; who needs bumpers in New York! It’s listed on eBay with a price of $2,000. Only $2,000 for a Maserati? You can tell from the lack of bumpers, and just from the fact that it’s a 36-year old four-door Maserati; it’s probably priced about where it should be. Here’s what it would look like with bumpers; much nicer!
Quattroporte doesn’t mean four exhaust pipes, which is what this view looks like. Of course, it means four doors. When you own a car like this you’ll want to join the club anyway; you should be able to track down some bumpers there. Although, a couple of the bumper ends are in the trunk, maybe the seller has the rest of them somewhere. The seller says that this car has been stored for the last fifteen years and they’re selling it for a friend who is leaving the US. There are no red flags there that I can see.. This car has no rust other than a couple of small spots on the front fenders, which is nice. The third-generation Quattroporte (1979-1990) was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro when de Tomaso took control of Maserati.
Maseratis of this era are known for their sumptuous, i.e., puffy, leather seats, padded dashboards, and briar wood trim. It looks like this car has a problem with the passenger seat back, either that or they just left it in the fully-reclined position for some odd reason. Again, the Maserati Club will have a fix for that. If you’re an owner’s manual junkie like I am, you may enjoy peeking through this one.
Here’s the heart and soul of this car: Maserati’s 4.9L, aluminum V8 with four-overhead cams and four weber carburetors pumping out 276 hp like an Italian opera singer; both making beautiful music. Here’s a red car in action on YouTube. Although a 5-speed manual was available, there is a Borg-Warner 3-speed automatic behind this smooth brute of an engine and it moved this 2-ton car along nicely. I’ve always liked the earlier Quattroportes but I wouldn’t mind a third-generation car. This could be a nice project for someone with experience working on exotics, and at $2,000 this one has to be a bargain. Do you like these exotic luxury sedans as much as I do?
Love the looks and that fantastic interior is a knock out.
Just concerned the repairs would knock out my wallet.
Wow!
A CD of a Mazaratti sinning is worth that.
It does have the Volvo box styling from the 80s but it looks good hear. I guess this engine is better than a Biturbo?
When you get tired of it just pull the engine and find a good replica to put it in.
Would a RCR Ferrari P4 make me a blasfeamer.
Not that many years ago you could pick up a good one for nothing. 7 or 8 years ago I was in Vegas at the Viva Las Vegas show (rockabilly and rat rods) and saw a Highboy with one of these engines in it. Simply gorgeous engine when exposed like that. IIRC the owner told me be paid $500 for the engine, and he never had it apart. Engine alone is worth $2K, in my opinion.
I may have seen the same car at a consignment dealer in Oxnard a couple of decades ago. The guy had 2 cars for sale, a Maserati like this one with a high horsepower Chevrolet and a Ford hotrod with the Maserati 4.7. I thought it was the best presentation of the magnificent 4 cam V8 I had ever seen. They are a work of are with 4 Webbers crowning all that wonderful machinery. These cars have always been the cheepest real Maseraties on the market and this one seems to be an exceptional buy. It would be great fun to play with.
The engine needs to be in something fun and scrap the rest. I bought a Maserati Biturbo for a thousand bucks and stuffed a Lexus V8 into it. There’s a reason they didn’t sell well in the USA, they were junk to begin with, no dealer support etc. Someone should take this engine out and part the rest out on Fleabay. The interiors on these old things look like over inflated peanut butter garbage bags…
Not even close to the same car as a Biturbo. Like saying you hate the Impala SS because you had a Chevette that sucked.
Good looking car, but a lifelong endeavor just to keep it running.
I’ve always liked the style of the 3rd series over the earlier cars. These are one of the few cars I’ve thought actually look better than their pictures. They have a real presence different than other cars.
Had one. Urban assault vehicle. Heavy and slow, would be mure interesting without the slushbox. Inboard rear brakes, Jag style rear diff and suspension.