Friday 16th May 2008

SOTW: Maserati Biturbo

A Maserati for shed money? You have to be joking..

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Maserati. The very name conjures up the image of roaring through the Riviera, playing blackjack in Monte Carlo and retracing the route of the legendary Targa Floria. Oh, and handing over £950 to a bloke in Slough.

That’s right, this is Maserati, shed-style, and what a car it is. It harks back to the glory days of when Masers were Masers, or rather they were a strange mix of E30 BMW and Ford Cortina. Styled by set square, and seemingly devoid of any design flair, the Biturbo will be missed by few. That’s why, for less than a grand, you could by cruising your local boulevards in this lovely red example. That is assuming of course you can work out where the bits of engine in the boot fit under the bonnet. I’m not going to pretend this car is without fault, or even has anything that actually works, but if you did spend a few years restoring it to pristine condition you could be looking at five grand, if you’re really lucky.

The Biturbo first appeared at the beginning of the eighties and was the main-stay of the company for quite a few years. It started off with a 2-litre, twin-turbocharged V6 lump, which increased to 2.5-litres and then 2.8. The 2.0-litre was based on the Merak engine and is said to have been an offshoot of early V8 Formula 1 engines.

To say the Biturbo is ugly is perhaps a bit cruel, it’s a bit boring maybe but it certainly has eighties charm. In fact in its long life it spawned one of the all-time great Maseratis, the Shamal. All this wasn’t enough to stop the poor old Biturbo from making number 28 in the book ‘Crap Cars’. After the Biturbo left, things started looking up for Maserati and now the company’s future is looking rosy, with ‘proper’ cars like the Granturismo and Quattroporte.

So a sad relic from a sad time for Maserati, this 1987 2.5-litre we found on eBay is now languishing in Langley, near Slough, with half the engine in the boot. Apparently this was once used as a hire car by the Classic Car Club (?) but suffered a blown head gasket. It slowly went down hill and as the seller says ‘some of the panel need attention’. It’s a non-runner so you’ll need a trailer, but hey this car probably spent most of its life on a trailer even when it was running. One day people will look back fondly at the days when Masers were a bit rubbish and didn’t actually work, then this car will be in high demand (maybe). So come on, a Maser for less than a grand, what have you got to lose?

 

Ad reads: 'This auction is for a 1987 Maserati Biturbo. I bought it as a non-runner last year as a project car due to no time to start the project and being with the 2nd baby that has just been born i need to sell the car.
'I bought the car from Classic Car Club as they were used as hire car, and I have been told it could be the head gasket need to be changed apart from that whcih I dont know as I am not a mechanic and i have not took the car to local garage to inspect.
'As you can see from the pictures, some of the panel need attention as it start to rust, some of the parts have been taken out from the engine by the pervious owner have put in the boot.
'The car has got V5 document and its a non-runner hence you will need a trailer to take it away.
'Veiwing is highly recommended, sold as seen. £950 ono.'

[JonnyV8]

You HAVE to be joking
I do like the old biturbo, but a none running, ex hire car....

[Twincam16]

Now that is a shed. Still, I think people are a bit unkind to the Biturbo. It's still fast and rare (if you can keep it running, of course).

Also, that styling - people always compare it to the BMW 3-series, but IMO it's an evolution of the Sebring/Mexico/Kyalami style. BMW and Maserati just seemed to arrive at similar evolutionary styles at the same time.

That said, the fact that it was designed by Giugiaro the same time he did the Hyundai Stellar (and it shares the same rear light clusters) doesn't do its rear profile any favours:

[Dagnut]

Uncle had one hated it..made him cry..and thats when it was new and running

[Gooby]

Gooby walks into "motorfactors"...
"I would like a gasket kit for a Maserati Biturbo 1987 please?"

parts bloke scratches his head for 5 seconds - "a what? Not a chance, try the ferrari dealer ... [snigger]"

Gooby goes to the ferrari dealer and asks the same question.

After 10 mins of head scratching and some fine coffee the parts bloke returns. " I have spoken to maserati, they would prefer that you took the car to the scrap yard because they are trying to forget the car but if sir does insist on repairing the vehicle, they will supply a gasket set for £6000 with a 2 year wait for delivery...."

[J111]

Oh dear. It's obviously been a hard week at PH towers. Have a little sit down, think about what you've done, and do try harder next time.

Edited for speling. Ironically.

Edited by J111 on Friday 16th May 10:56

[Riyazc]

That pic actually reminds me of my uncles old nissan sunny ...

[Justayellowbadge]

Twincam16 said:

Also, that styling - people always compare it to the BMW 3-series, but IMO it's an evolution of the Sebring/Mexico/Kyalami style.

It's a smaller version of the QP III. The 'look' was set in the mid '70s.


There was one for sale a year or two back that was badged up as a Huyandai. I quite liked that.

[MrTappets]

A maserati that's slow and looks like a montego, but costs six times as much to run - brilliant!

[Insight]

I was nearly kidnapped by a bi-turbo.

Age 15 I drove one up a ramp on the back of an AA lorry cos it had broken down and I spent two hours trying to fix the car for the owner. My mum on the other hand had called the police as I had been gone for so long and was looking around everywhere for me. I didn't fix it, neither did Mr AA and when I went home my mother didn't appreciate the fact it was a Mazerati.

But to me a Mazza of this vintage will always be a special shed. Drool....

[rayb74]

Ghastly.

[Bobdenero]

Nice idea, but not worth a single penny more than its scrap value !

[Rav]

Horrible looking car, and very costly to restore.
My mate had one and the only thing on it worth money was the clock.

Nasty, Nasty car....

[R400]

Isn't this the model Top Gear dropped a skip on?

[Strawman]

R400 said:

Isn't this the model Top Gear dropped a skip on?

Yes, shame really, I quite like them, but this one seems a poor example, I've seen them go for little more than this in LHD form with an M.O.T. and the chances of driving it for a bit are higher if you buy a road legal and running one to start with.

[mat205125]

This may be 5 times the price, but would undoubtedly work out cheaper in the long run.

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/MASE...

Remember that there was a Bi-Turbo that ran in the BTCC in the RS500 days. Blew up ever round IIRC. Google isn't my friend today, so a cyber-medal to the first to find a picture of the touring car.

I actually quite like the look of the Bi-Turbo

[J111]

R400 said:

Isn't this the model Top Gear dropped a skip on?

[Wigeon Incognito]

Twincam16 said:

That said, the fact that it was designed by Giugiaro the same time he did the Hyundai Stellar (and it shares the same rear light clusters)

No it doesn't.

[kieronj]

A non-runner for a £950. Being optimistic you can get that running for £50 to come in under the grand!

A friend of mine bought a '89 Bi-turbo spider as a weekend car about 6 years ago for £12K. It looked immaculate, had lots of great history and was often shown at car shows with a few trophies to show for it. After 2 months everything just started falling off it! Door handles, trim, exhaust, lights - it was comical. The electrics were a joke but the bills weren't though. £1200 for a mild steel exhaust that looked like it would rot in no time at all plus the servicing soon added up. The car seemed to be permanently in the garage being fixed. £500 this week, £600 next week then oooh two weeks trouble free motoring.

You could drive the car all week then come to start it the next day and it would do nothing so out comes the garage and tows it away for another bill.

Great fun when it worked, though the wallowy suspension was ehem exhillarating, and sounded lovely but the fun/frustration factor was not well balanced. He sold it 6 months later for just £6K.

[HowMuchLonger]

mat205125 said:

This may be 5 times the price, but would undoubtedly work out cheaper in the long run.

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/MASE...

Remember that there was a Bi-Turbo that ran in the BTCC in the RS500 days. Blew up ever round IIRC. Google isn't my friend today, so a cyber-medal to the first to find a picture of the touring car.

I actually quite like the look of the Bi-Turbo

Can I get my prize?

[mat205125]

Well done HML