A quick and stylish sedan covers all your bases. Impress visiting glitterati? No problem; “I’ll drive.” For family vacations at speed, golf outings, weddings, or a night on the town, American luxury is fine, and we’ve all eyeballed German rides, but nothing says “exotic” like a lovely Italian. That’s your Maserati? Fuhgeddaboudit. This Maserati Quattroporte may have seen better days, but it’s not dead yet. Advertised as a “1960,” it’s more likely a 1965-1967 example. More on that later. American Quattroportes of this vintage featured four round headlights, suggesting this feature car originally sold in Europe. What looks like carport storage on dry concrete sheltered this long-legged sedan from the elements more than your average barn, field, or dirt floor garage. A short video of the undercarriage shows minimal rust except on the exhaust, the tiniest of concerns for buyers of 60+ year-old Italian super-sedans.
Parked for “20+” years, the West Valley City, Utah classic shows promise, and the tan leather makes a nice change from omnipresent black. The five-speed manual transmission is another plus.
The Maserati trident tops a 4.x liter V8. While the dashboard suggests a pre-1967 4.1L (252 cid), a close-up of the engine tag shows “Tipo AM107,” a 4.7L (287 cid) version from 1968. The latter’s 286 HP delivered an eye-opening 158 MPH top speed, enough to brand the Quattroporte world’s fastest four-door sedan at the time. Thanks to Wikipedia for some details.
Replacements for the faded plastic lights should be available at your local parts store. Yeah, right! Keeping an already-running Italian car on the road can cost over $5000 / year. Mining the internet for unobtanium parts like these light housings may test your patience, so think twice before making an offer. Offers are the petition of the seller here on Facebook Marketplace. Hagerty puts these cars around $36,000 in good condition. What would you expect from your first date with this gorgeous Italian?
Bella Bella! (to quote Gregory’s Girl).
$36k in good condition? This is very far from good!! At best a parts car.
I think this is a series 1 Quattroporte. The video appears to show the torque reaction rod used on the DeDion rear suspension of the first cars. The second series used leaf springs. I didn’t see an engine number, just the car ID plate. Type 107 was the Quattroporte. Since this was the first use of the 4-cam V8, that engine was also called the type 107, all the way through the last 4.9 QP3 in 1990. My 1977 Bora’s engine is called a 107 also. The first version was called the “4.2” (yes, I know 4136 does not round to 4200 – hey, it’s Italian!). I have always wanted one, but have no space or time for it now. I even had to get rid of my QP3 when we downsized our shop. I don’t think you’d ever make a profit on a restoration, but surely not everyone buys cars for the sole purpose of flipping them. This one appears to be relatively free from rust, so at least it would be a good starting point.
I sure wish I had the opportunity to refer to “My 1977 Bora”! Sadly, those opportunities have passed me by, but what a car!!!
best
bt
The headlights are really out of place design-wise.
They are very much of the time. It was a very stylish car
You couldn’t pay me to take this away.
You could pay me.
Such a lovely car, in its day. For no rational reason I have always wanted one and the later just as troubled and yet desirable 80’s version. Shame it’s deteriorated to money-pit status.
If I had cash and time enough . . .
I am always amazed at the level of neglect and ignorance when I see this. Clearly a unique car that with anyone with common sense would endeavor to protect it from getting into this condition. Shameful. A complete restoration is in order here, whether to bring it to driver quality or concourse (a waste of money). Either way, whomever buys it, is in for a handful of rude surprises and a quickly draining bank account.
The critters have been enjoying it.
The front end reminds me of a circa 1960 Studebaker Hawk.
and to think I could have bought one 30 years ago for $500….
This is not as bad as it first appears. The underneath video on Facebook wasn’t horrible. I would buy this and work on it for the right price. Its not a throw away.
Super elegant car, the first high performance saloon. Things like the rear lights etc are often not unobtanium, Maserati and Italian coachbuilders often used parts from other Italian production cars. Tje trick is to identify the source!. It’s easier now than 30 years ago, even if you have to reptoduce/ recreate via 3d scan& print technology.
Bill Lyons might have something to say about that “first high performance saloon” assertion…
I think I’d offer to let him keep it.
How hard is it to find replacement headlights for this animal? I assume they are glass.
These are the same as the ones on a Citroen Ami 6. Easy to find.
Easy; they’re a quasi-standardized form factor, used in multiple other cars.
But, more importantly, the headlamps on this car appear to be in decent shape, so no need.
Project for the person who doesnt get railroaded by all the nonsencical comments.
Located in West Valley City, UT.
Make offer
I have a 2005 Maserati and cannot get parts for it. Maserati no longer supports the platform. Good luck finding parts for this one.
Sometimes it’s hard to get parts for even mainstream vehicles “that old” – espec electronic parts like ABS controllers,etc. Problem is many vendors are small companies that either go out of business w/o warning – or stop making parts when there is little market for them anymore.
Ironically, today your local autoparts store might have a part for a 1960s chevy on his shelf.
Clearly a first series car based on dashboard and rear suspension. (I think later cars also got the 4 round headlamps in all markets—to go with the retrograde suspension and dash revisions I guess. :-P )