Well, you guys know that I am always looking for deals on interesting stuff, this car popped up on marketplace months ago, starting at a stupid price and slowly working its way down. After weeks of talking with the seller – who was a very difficult to deal with paranoid type person, I eventually got it down to a very reasonable price; think less than a new brand new sofa!
It's a 2004 Maserati Spyder Cambiocorsa....I wasn't, and still am not, very familiar with these, kinda out of my wheelhouse. Equipped with the infamous Ferrari 4.2L V8 with dry-sump, which is widely regarded as a very reliable and glorious sounding engine (same engine as found in the Quattroporte). This one has the equally infamous F1 Transmission, known for its tendency to burn through clutches if the car isn't driven right – i.e. you must drive in manual mode all the time. The Spyder is quite rare with only about 3100 made worldwide, and I can only ever recall seeing maybe 2-3 in person before this.
Anyway, the deal on this one is that a retired Army Vet in rural central Alabama bought it as a treat for himself back in 2013 from a dealer in New Jersey and had it shipped down. He drove it for a few years, but as his health deteriorated he used it less and less...Claims he only drove it about 5 miles the last 5 years, and unfortunately he left it outside for most of that time.
Communication with the seller is difficult, but I figured we'd take the gamble and make the 4.5 hour / 300 mile drive out there, cash in hand. Brought the family and the Escalade – my plan was to rent a uhaul car hauler locally and pull the car home. We get to the town and it's the worst of what you expect in rural Alabama....a couple really run down stores, one unbranded gas station and a few strung out crackheads (fentanyl?) wandering around in 100F heat. The seller and his family seemed like kind people, but of the area, and I wasn't super comfortable hanging around. So, I spent about 3 minutes looking at the car, took a 2-minute drive on his street, handed him the cash in exchange for the ownership and we got out of there.
It looks rougher than a night in Tiajuana – filthy, growing moss, the PPF is so sun baked it's gone totally brown (but does seem to come off clean with some effort), interior is gross, etc. BUT it runs phenomenally, sounds amazing, no warning lights, crisp shifts, no weird noises or sketchiness from the suspension or chassis. Also has 87K miles on it, which is pretty high for this type of car. Somehow, it's running well on fumes of varnished fuel that's left in the tank, so I take it to the one gas station in town and after tracking down the gas station attendant at the liquor store next door, I am able to fill it with fresh gas, check the fluids (OK) and check the pressure in the dry-rotted Michelin Super Sports.
At this point, the family is hungry and the car seems to be running well, so rather than heading to UHaul, we cautiously head back towards Birmingham/Hoover Alabama to a lunch spot I know about 45 minutes away. On the highway the car is feeling pretty good, but the AC is non-op, and so is the convertible top....so I am boiling. Between the heat from the engine/trans and the sun beating down on the black top, it's crazy hot in the cabin. Family is nice and cool in the Escalade behind me, but Firm Jr. decides to choke on his water and throw up the entire contents of his stomach into his car seat.....so pull over on a dirt road clean him up, then a Dollar General for cleaning supplies and spend another 20 minutes in the heat cleaning up that mess.
We make it to lunch, and the car is running so well that I decide to forgo the uhaul and try to make it all the way home. Somehow, someway, this Maserati after essentially sitting outside for 5 years with zero maintenance or care made it 300 miles, in 100F heat, flawlessly. Yes, it was hot in the cabin, and having the windows down for 4.5 hours on the highway gave me a headache...But this thing cruised at 75mpg unbelievably well given its state. Very impressed!
As you can see, the PPF is absolutely atrocious, comically bad at this point and will take quite a bit of effort to remove – but it does come off clean. The car is absolutely filthy inside and out, and obviously the AC and the Top need some attention. Beyond that though, everything else seems to work alright. Still don't know a lot about it, but some quick research suggests this example is a highly optioned one; electronic 'skyhook' suspension, xenons, heated seats, navi, etc. It's also one of the best sounding cars I've ever heard, certainly the best sounding car I've ever owned.
Lots of cleaning and cosmetics to deal with, but I am excited to dig into this one....Unfortunately my work schedule sucks for the next few weeks, so it'll have to wait a bit a longer.
At the Dollar General cleaning up puke and burning in the sun:
(https://i.imgur.com/COsoCv1.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/SUVFXnx.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/C0pQpem.jpeg)
Found an ant colony in the car...
(https://i.imgur.com/sv4JrS1.jpeg)
Made it to Baha Burger in Hoover AL for lunch - great burger spot btw...Firm Jr is wearing an oversized shirt because he destroyed his regular clothes earlier...
(https://i.imgur.com/7qB7PPv.jpeg)
Loves Truck stop in Tupelo MS
(https://i.imgur.com/agGYmJU.jpeg)
Pulled into the driveway at home! Yes, I threw on Ontario plate on it to thwart unwanted police attention
(https://i.imgur.com/dTuEPwA.jpeg)
Couple better shots from today, hopefully these become good "before" shots:
(https://i.imgur.com/1VmM46u.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/LNHdQZQ.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Qgl8cr4.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/MtkYgQo.jpeg)
Honorable mention to the Escalade for knocking out 700 miles loaded with kids & tools and rolling over 300K kms on the trip.
(https://i.imgur.com/C0PSt9N.jpeg)
That's really cool. Will be amusing to hear all your "WTFs?" as you go through it.
When I drove that same engine in a Quattroporte, I was totally disappointed with the sound. I mean, I didn't sound bad or anything but from everything I read I expected more. I reminds me of an Audi V8, honestly.
Keep us posted!!
That's an awesome story, and a car that I have no doubt you'll easily be able to bring back to A+ condition.
What's your plan with the cracked dashboard? Seems like the only part that would actually need replacing, and I have no doubt finding a replacement will be impossible?
WOW, awesome adventure Firm!! Love reading about adventures like this and that's a very, very interesting find. I've seen one or two of those here in Ottawa over the years, but they're stupid rare as you've mentioned. Will be fascinating to read your discoveries on this one and how well you can sort it out.
I'm guessing in times like this it would be nice to have your brother & father nearby still?
Neat car. I always loved the pre-facelift models with the distinctive boomerang taillights but I think maybe we didn't get those in North America?
Thanks for the enthusiasm folks! Yes, it was quite an adventure, but makes for a good story and some family bonding, lol.
RR - my parents have a QP, this sounds better, I am not sure if someone has altered the exhaust on this, or if it's just different from the factory. The wheel base is much shorter, so I imagine the exhaust system is quite a bit different.
Gurgie - Yes, I'd love to have my parents and brother close by to help with this, but we share a lot of this car stuff in a group chat, which helps keep us connected. I also kinda like doing it with my own kids/wife, it's harder, but I think/hope they get a lot out of things like this.
GBA - The upper dashpad is removable, thankfully. I am not sure what material it's suppose to be, but right now it's a sticky mess and the color is cracked (if that makes sense), but the material isn't cracked. I am going to remove it and recover it - maybe leather or suede?
Oliver - No boomerang tails on this :( I know what you're talking about though, not sure exactly what models got them. I think, In the rest of the world these are called '4200's instead of the Spyder/Coupe designation used in NA.
Lol as I said to you yesterday, this rocks
The shape of it gives me early 2000's Jaguar XK vibes - an example of which I believe you owned at one point.
Yes, the front end is definitely XK / DB7 esque. I've never had an early XK, my dad has a 99 XK8 that he's had since it was almost new, and my brother had a 03 XKR that he sold off a couple years ago. This Maserati is a lot smaller dimensionally than the XKs (or the DB7)...It's more SLK sized.
I'm looking forward to reading/seeing more about this one. You're a braver man than I Firm.
So cool! I love the fact you got a screaming deal too (price of a new sofa!?!) Can't wait to see how it looks after you work some magic on a good recon.
Great pick up! Thanks for sharing.
Your wife is not like other wives, for sure! I just got a call from mine as she left for work this morning (WFM day for me), embarrassed by the "thing" in our driveway (2025 Acura Integra Type-S). The dry-rotted tires would have had me worried as f**k on the drive back...
Ha! Thanks guys, I am excited to learn more about these, I've not done much wrenching in Italian stuff, so this will be fun.
Yes, my wife is a champ about the cars...Her enthusiasm for this trip started pretty low, but she agreed to help because I really wanted to do it. Once we had the car in our possession and were on the road home, she was in much better spirits. For whatever reason she's really taken a liking to this particular car. While I wouldn't call her a car person, she enjoys this stuff more than she'll admit...lately she's been driving the SLK every chance she gets. I am also grateful that my kids travel in the car well...We've done a lot of long road trips, and they're generally very well behaved in the car (outside of the car is another story...)
BP, yeah, the dry rotted tires were my biggest concern...They look terrible, but actually felt pretty good on the road. It's risk assessment for me....95% of the drive is on I22, which is very flat, straight and very low traffic, so the risk of a tire blowing out and impacting another vehicle, pretty slim. So I figured, if a tire blows out I am likely to only damage my own very cheap car....worst case, it's destroyed and I am out a couple grand, more likely case, I am stranded and have to wait for a tow from AAA (car has no spare). You better believe I'll be getting fresh tires on it before it sees another highway run though!
A very clean orange TR7 'vert came up in my mktplace feed for hotel room money because of "fuel issues". Looked clean and solid. Period stripes, nice alloys. First thought: "If I was Firm..." ;)
Yeah man, all you need for that is a boat tank, a few feet of fuel hose and a little electric pump. TR7's are underrated, I've never had one, but did have a TR8, and the overall build quality was better than a TR6 / MGB, even if it isn't nearly as good looking.
Totally crazy....love it!
Quote from: Firm on Sep 22, 2025, 12:55 AMIt's a 2004 Maserati Spyder Cambiocorsa....
What a neat car! I hope you have a great time with it.
PPF is gone. About 8 hours, 5 beers, about 60 plastic razor blades and 2 cans of 3M Adhesive remover. Paint underneath is damn near perfect, so I guess the PPF did it's job. Still haven't washed it, figured I'd get all the messy stuff done first. Headlight lens polish is next...
Topped up the washer fluid and that took care of the low washer light - shocked, I was expecting a bad sensor in the tank.
Added it to my Hagerty policy, and hoping I can get some time this week to run to the DMV and get it registered.
(https://i.imgur.com/BQlTix6.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/xjpnfvE.jpeg)
Sweet! Episode 1 complete! LOL 😆
Wow! I am watching with great interest. I have always wanted one of these, of course with the manual (hens teeth). Or the Gransport in that Maserati blue. Amazing car and worth it for that engine alone.
Been trying to read this whole thread and finally found the time. Very cool car, unique in all the right ways.
So what is the current plan for it Firm, you just cleaning it up and making it close to perfect before flipping it, or is there a longer term home in your stable?
Not sure what I am going to do with it....Miles are high and zero service history, so this car will never bring top $, and top $ for one of these right now is like $15-20K USD...So part of my wants to just clean it up a bit and drive it, but I do have too many cars to properly manage, so iunno. First step is it tidy it up and then enjoy it a bit, if I really like it, I'll keep it, if I get bored of it, I'll turn it.
Pretty Dramatic Headlight Polish today:
(https://i.imgur.com/2Xc9D9a.jpeg)
And it's first wash in probably about a decade. Surprisingly, all the gunk on it came off pretty easily, had to use a soft scrub brush on emblems and such. Proper paint correction is in order, but that's pretty low on the priority list.
(https://i.imgur.com/5UabI6p.jpeg)
Looking great. You've probably tripled what you paid with just inexpensive products and labor. I'd bet these are not a easy sell though.
Yeah, I agree, I imagine it would be a tough sell....probably BAT or similar, doubt I'd get much local interest. I used to do this with a pretty hard slant towards making $. My priorities have shifted a bit, I am older, I don't need the $ (though extra cash never hurts!) I would/could easily make some money on this, but that's not what motivates me anymore....I just enjoy the process, and if I am enjoying the car, I'll keep it. If the car stops being enjoyable, or I am just not interested in it anymore, then I'll sell it.
Do you need to treat the headlights after polishing? I hear there is a protective factory coating for UV protection. Looks great though!
Car and Driver test from January 2002.
https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a68059643/2002-maserati-spyder-cambiocorsa-archive-test/ (https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a68059643/2002-maserati-spyder-cambiocorsa-archive-test/)
Quote from: HannibalSmith on Oct 07, 2025, 07:18 AMDo you need to treat the headlights after polishing? I hear there is a protective factory coating for UV protection. Looks great though!
I waxed them...I know some people clear coat them after, I just keep my stuff waxed and it does fine.
Spent a couple hours on this yesterday. Topped off the A/C, which had a pretty decent charge in it, but was a few PSI below where I'd want to see it, took about 10oz and bring it back in line and it's blowing nice and cold now, so that's a win! Hopefully it holds, but given that it already had quite a bit of charge in it, I don't think it's got a leak...likely just 22 years of normal loss. At least now I can drive it and be comfortable.
Played around with the top, replaced an iffy looking relay, and kinda figured out how the system works, but wasn't able to get it up and running. Hydraulics look good (no leaks) and the fluid level is fine....So I might have a bad pump, which would be annoying as it's not cheap. Going to spend some more time diagnosing before pulling the trigger.
Gave it a thorough vacuuming, moving the seats back and fourth, and must have disturbed a connector under there as now I've got an Air Bag light on. None of my code readers / scanners will pull Air Bag codes on this car, so I am looking at investing in a proper professional (semi-professional?) scanner that can read modules on this, and some of the other cars (Jag, Mercedes). Figure at this point it'll be a worthwhile investment. Launch X431 is what I am looking at now, might have a lead on a direct deal through a friend.
Quote from: Firm on Oct 13, 2025, 04:28 PMSpent a couple hours on this yesterday. Topped off the A/C, which had a pretty decent charge in it, but was a few PSI below where I'd want to see it, took about 10oz and bring it back in line and it's blowing nice and cold now, so that's a win! Hopefully it holds, but given that it already had quite a bit of charge in it, I don't think it's got a leak...likely just 22 years of normal loss. At least now I can drive it and be comfortable.
Played around with the top, replaced an iffy looking relay, and kinda figured out how the system works, but wasn't able to get it up and running. Hydraulics look good (no leaks) and the fluid level is fine....So I might have a bad pump, which would be annoying as it's not cheap. Going to spend some more time diagnosing before pulling the trigger.
Gave it a thorough vacuuming, moving the seats back and fourth, and must have disturbed a connector under there as now I've got an Air Bag light on. None of my code readers / scanners will pull Air Bag codes on this car, so I am looking at investing in a proper professional (semi-professional?) scanner that can read modules on this, and some of the other cars (Jag, Mercedes). Figure at this point it'll be a worthwhile investment. Launch X431 is what I am looking at now, might have a lead on a direct deal through a friend.
Is it possible something in the roof is mechanically "frozen" preventing proper operation?
I just upgraded to a semi pro reader that some are using in garages. It's the Autel MK900. Seems highly rated and similarly liked to the Launch. The only thing that swayed me to the Autel was a couple reviews claimed the interface was a bit more polished vs Launch.
I'd imagine one of these would suit you just fine. The Autel is bi-directional too, so you can test and activate individual motors and functions via the scanner. Would make chasing your roof problem easier I bet.
Could be, I was thinking about the roof the other night and I think I am going to complete a full 'manual' cycle, folding it all the way down manually and then back up again to see if that changes anything. The pump is building 'some' pressure because in order to get the rear part of the top up to open the cover and access the pump I had to release the pressure, otherwise I couldn't move it by hand. Need to locate the microswitches (18 of them apparently) and make sure they're functioning properly too.
As for the scanner, I think I got lucky....Went to talk to a friend/co-worker to looks after the diagnostic tool business here in the office. He actually had an Autel MK900 sitting on his desk, but researching it I wasn't clear on whether the Autel had full functionality on older Maserati. Did some digging in his office and found a box for a launch X431, but no unit, he thought he might have taken it home to play with it, so last night he checked and found it....So I now have an X431 sitting on my desk. Hopefully it charges up and works, if so, that's a nice win!
Well, completed my first dry sump oil change....Not much different other than you have two drain points and need to check the level with the engine warm and idling. Got it up on the lift at the same time and did a nice underside inspection...Didn't really notice anything needing attention, so that's cool.
Played with the roof some more, but no luck yet....Need to do more testing on the hydraulic pressure control solenoids, but they're tricky to get at and I ran outta time.
Didn't play with the scanner as I forgot the box with the necessary activation code at the office...
Got the X431 scanner up and running....Took some playing around as, like everything now days, it requires registration, login, activation, wifi setup, bluebooth, etc before it'll do anything....Miss the days of just plugging in an OBD tool and the codes pop up in 30 seconds.
Once setup the X431 is very capable; cleared the AirBag codes and they haven't come back, so I suspect I just disturbed something in my cleaning and just needed a reset....Apparently Airbag codes are 'hard codes' on this vehicle, so the only way to clear them once they've been set is with a capable scanner - ridiculous really. The Scanner was also able to read the clutch wear, which I am very pleased to see is only at 23.1%....So that gambled paid off, just the parts for a clutch job on this are ~$4K, but with low wear like this, and correct driving, this clutch has many years left.
Quote from: Firm on Oct 25, 2025, 07:11 PMGot the X431 scanner up and running....Took some playing around as, like everything now days, it requires registration, login, activation, wifi setup, bluebooth, etc before it'll do anything....Miss the days of just plugging in an OBD tool and the codes pop up in 30 seconds.
Once setup the X431 is very capable; cleared the AirBag codes and they haven't come back, so I suspect I just disturbed something in my cleaning and just needed a reset....Apparently Airbag codes are 'hard codes' on this vehicle, so the only way to clear them once they've been set is with a capable scanner - ridiculous really. The Scanner was also able to read the clutch wear, which I am very pleased to see is only at 23.1%....So that gambled paid off, just the parts for a clutch job on this are ~$4K, but with low wear like this, and correct driving, this clutch has many years left.
I presume you'll be able to test/cycle roof components via scanner?
I didn't see the roof module come up in the list of available modules in the scanner, but didn't dig in as deep as I would've liked...Princess Firm is sick and I got pulled away from the cars to take care of her while Mrs.Firm took the other kid to his friend's halloween thing.
The roof, if I can't do anything from the scanner, I've started mapping out a schematic for it, because I can't find anything online. It's not super complicated, there's 7 relays, and 7 solenoids on a valve body. I strongly suspect each relay triggers a solenoid which manages the flow of pressure through the valve body. Easy enough to test each relay, and then if they're all good I'll need to start testing the relays. The annoying part is that I can't test them in place due to poor access.
Quote from: Firm on Oct 25, 2025, 10:49 PMI didn't see the roof module come up in the list of available modules in the scanner, but didn't dig in as deep as I would've liked...Princess Firm is sick and I got pulled away from the cars to take care of her while Mrs.Firm took the other kid to his friend's halloween thing.
The roof, if I can't do anything from the scanner, I've started mapping out a schematic for it, because I can't find anything online. It's not super complicated, there's 7 relays, and 7 solenoids on a valve body. I strongly suspect each relay triggers a solenoid which manages the flow of pressure through the valve body. Easy enough to test each relay, and then if they're all good I'll need to start testing the relays. The annoying part is that I can't test them in place due to poor access.
Hopefully you find the roof module.
It might be located somewhere not immediately evident on the scanner.
Had about 2 hours of tinkering time today, and the weather was great, so I did something cosmetic and did the paint correction on the rear 1/3 of the car. As expected, the paint comes up really well without a ton of effort. Silver doesn't show it well, but the quality and finish of the factory paint is quite nice.
You can see a pretty good dent in the quarter panel from this angle, should be an easy fix for a decent PDR guy, and there's a place close by that comes highly recommended, so I'll probably take it over there once I get the rest of it cleaned up.
(https://i.imgur.com/tx0RTgf.jpeg)
Finally scrubbed and detailed the interior last weekend, aside from the obvious damage on the dashpad, the rest of the interior came out great....Seats and the leather wrapped console, side & door panels all cleaned up really minty. Neglected to take photos as it was getting too dark by the time I was done.
On the convertible top repair front, I need to do some more diagnostics, but I am leaning towards a bad pump and/or bad solenoid(s) on the pump valve body. A used replacement Maserati unit is about $900 USD, and reman units are $1,600+....Out of the question for a "I think it's probably the issue" situation.
So, I've been digging into the deep depths of the internet and determined that the pump unit itself is shared with a bunch of cars; Ferrari 360, BMW E46, CLK W208, etc. The valve body, which is mounted to the pump, is unique to each application and the solenoids are semi-unique with the BMW and others using different style connectors. Fortunately, it appears that the CLK W208 unit uses both the same pump and the same solenoids, just with a different valve body. So, in theory, I could re-use the Maserati valve body, and get a fresh pump and solenoids from a CLK to build myself a good unit.
Good used CLK unit is $150 USD on eBay, but the scrapyard in Memphis has two W208's with convertible top pumps for $30. So I am going to scoot by there later in the week and grab one, even if it's just to get my hands on a unit so I can start studying and testing it.
I 100% support that plan! Research is always key when looking for a solution. Manufacturers often share suppliers and the trick is to find the common denominators wiyth complex systems like that roof. Back in the days, the Isuzu Impulse had the same pop-up headlight motors as my Celica.
Quote from: Firm on Nov 25, 2025, 08:00 PMGood used CLK unit is $150 USD on eBay, but the scrapyard in Memphis has two W208's with convertible top pumps for $30. So I am going to scoot by there later in the week and grab one, even if it's just to get my hands on a unit so I can start studying and testing it.
Grab them both and sell the spare on eBay for $75!
Well, I got those CLK units, grabbed both actually, and bench tested them and their solenoids, so now I've got two good pumps and 14(?) good solenoids. Haven't had time to mess with the car much lately though as I've been into other car jobs, and some house projects.
I did get the paint correction about 90% done, just need to apply a nice sealer when I get a few minutes to do it.
Most importantly though, I finally got around to putting tires on it! Fresh set of Michelin PS4s and the car feels like a totally different machine, what an improvement in grip and ride quality. Tracks dead straight now too, used have a slight pull to the right. This means I can comfortably get it into my commute rotation - I try to commute in one of the toys at least once a week, usually Fridays, pending weather.
As you can see, the old tires were pretty dicey....
(https://i.imgur.com/j95TId2.jpeg)
Nice and Fresh
(https://i.imgur.com/jihjZop.jpeg)
Yikes! Those tires were beyond toast!
I probably would have done some burnouts with those old tires to at least get a little enjoyment out of them before they get recycled.
Quote from: Johnnymac on Jan 01, 2026, 05:59 PMI probably would have done some burnouts with those old tires to at least get a little enjoyment out of them before they get recycled.
Ya! Even better with bleach in the burn out box! LOL 😆
Good job, Firm! Excited to see you dig into the roof!!
lol, I didn't even think about burnouts, but I wouldn't want to kill an expensive diff or clutch in this thing. If I feel like burning off tires I've got F-Bodies that'll do that without breaking any expensive.
I am excited for the top too....Really, I am excited to drive it with the top down as I expect it's a more visceral experience. I'll get to it soon I hope....part of the delay is that it takes ~20 minutes of disassembly to access the top mechanism/pump, and another 20 minutes to re-assemble when you're done playing with it since the car lives outside I need to close everything up. So, if I am going to go through the effort I need at least a few hours of time (with daylight) to dedicate to it, which is tough to come by. I have a plan of attack though!