Racoon Saloon: 1986 Maserati Biturbo Spyder

The idea of buying a barn find can be exciting, perhaps even mysterious. What lies within a hidden outbuilding or dilapidated garage? Is it exotic? A forgotten muscle car? Perhaps it’s a luxury sedan from a bygone era. Whatever lies behind the battered barn door may be, in fact, an artifact of some value, but there are often decades of abuse and decay that must be dealt with first. In the case of this 1986 Maserati Biturbo Spyder listed here on Facebook Marketplace, you must deal with all these things and a family of racoons that’s been living inside.

The seller is asking $3,000 and it’s located in Ottawa, making the prospect of rescuing it even more unlikely for U.S. customers. I deliberately left the photo cropped in this way so you can see how the roof has collapsed upon the sad Maserati, pulverizing an already awful soft top. While we normally find these in coupe form with a 5-speed manual, this Biturbo is almost certainly going to be bygone due to being a convertible model with an automatic. Oh, that and the fact it has had racoons living in it. That alone might steer away the adventurous and render this biohazard-on-wheels a scrapyard special.

The Biturbo was known for a few things: being chock-full of luxurious finishes and fixtures, and for being somewhat problematic to run. While fuel injection would address numerous running issues, the 1986 model in North American markets still utilized a single blow-through Weber twin-choke carburetor. This was not the ideal setup for a vintage turbocharged engine, and it led to many less-than-superlative reviews of this entry-level Maserati. Designed to compete with the likes of the Mercedes-Benz 190E, the BMW 3-Series, and other sport sedans, the Biturbo never found its footing, even after fuel injection became standard.

The 3-speed automatic was at least sourced from ZF in Germany, but this didn’t translate to a particularly sporting experience. The engine produced 185 b.h.p. and 208 lb.-ft. of torque, leading to splendid afternoons like this one shown in a magazine article where the Biturbo is being enjoyed the way it always intended: top down, open road, throttle floored. However, this sad, forgotten Biturbo Spyder in Canada is likely only destined for a future as a parts car, and certainly not as a magazine spread. Thanks to Barn Finds reader TomV for the tip.