2004 Maserati Spyder

[Firm]

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:






Found an ant colony in the car...


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...



Loves Truck stop in Tupelo MS



Pulled into the driveway at home! Yes, I threw on Ontario plate on it to thwart unwanted police attention




Couple better shots from today, hopefully these become good "before" shots:









Honorable mention to the Escalade for knocking out 700 miles loaded with kids & tools and rolling over 300K kms on the trip. 

[RRocket]

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!!

[GreatBigAbyss]

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? 

[Gurgie]

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?

[Oliver]

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?

[Firm]

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.

[TheHire]

Lol as I said to you yesterday, this rocks

[GreatBigAbyss]

The shape of it gives me early 2000's Jaguar XK vibes - an example of which I believe you owned at one point.

[Firm]

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.

[Bridgecity]

I'm looking forward to reading/seeing more about this one.  You're a braver man than I Firm.

[Revelations]

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.

[HannibalSmith]

Great pick up! Thanks for sharing.

[Blueprint]

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...

[Firm]

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!

[Blueprint]

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..."