Quattroporte III 5-speed

[3500 GT]

Hello to all of you Q-porte folks. I have to admit I have been lurking and reading your QP posts of late. I do like these cars, warts and all. Kudos to all of you guys restoring and driving these cars.

I've come across a 5-spd for sale. My question is how many did Maserati make, and are there any issues with the 5-spd vs. the 727 Torqueflight auto box?

How rare is the 5-speed Quattroporte III? I know they are rare in the States.


Ciao and best!

~Trev

[c20500]

Never seen a 5sp in the States. Probably fewer a handful have been imported (officially maybe none)... both Transmissions at over 30 years of age will require some work probably. I've noticed the few 5spd's mentioned in the posts here have had work done or required clutch/pilot bearing/flywheel work and all 3 of my Automatic 4portes had needed rebuilding (lockup torque converter seems to be a culprit by locking up early and perhaps stressing the 3rd gear clutch causing shuddering. Would love to drive a 5sp one though. Best of luck with your's.

[MB_Fahrer]

....I may have to borrow that 5sp from you during the middle of a rainy dark night

[Dr. K.]

According to Fabio Collina from Maserati in all 2142 QP3 were produced.

From these are 5-speed manual gearbox only 334.

Quite rare as many cars were srapped for the gearbox, used for period Aston-Martin
conversions.

[William Abraham]

Originally Posted by 3500 GT

Hello to all of you Q-porte folks. I have to admit I have been lurking and reading your QP posts of late. I do like these cars, warts and all. Kudos to all of you guys restoring and driving these cars.

I've come across a 5-spd for sale. My question is how many did Maserati make, and are there any issues with the 5-spd vs. the 727 Torqueflight auto box?

How rare is the 5-speed Quattroporte III? I know they are rare in the States.


Ciao and best!

~Trev

Hi I have one and there are very few made. I will check on numbers. I was offered another one from South Africa but it was clearly a wreck with massive rust. I did offer for the parts though.

The only unique issue seems to be that arrangement seems to mean that dust (brake?} gets into the starter motor and requires it to be blown out or rebuilt. My car also required u joints replaced so it must put a bit more stress on the drive train.

Other than that I am going to put pictures of the ZF rebuild and motor differences on my thread as we go through the car.

Ciao

[William Abraham]

Quattroporte III 4.2 AM 330 51
Quattroporte III 4.9 AM 330/49 2037
Quattroporte Royale AM 330/49 53
(sourcehttp://www.maseraticlub.co.uk/production-figures.htm)

There were 1876 Quattroporte III's produced between 1979 and 1988. * There were 1821 standard 4portes manufactured between 1979 and 1984. * The remaining 55 cars were all Royales and were manufactured between late 1984 and 1988. These were the US$80,000 cars that were built t- order only. (Various sources quote this but I am not sure which is the original source). Again no breakdown on the 5 speeds
Presented first in 1976 (see sales leaflet) the Quattroporte III (AM 130) was made available with 4.2 liter V8 @ 90° (255 bhp @ 6000 rpm) and 4.9 liter V8 options (280 bhp @ 5800 rpm ) that allow a top speed @ 250 Km/h (Compression ratio 8.5:1, 93.9x89/4930.6 cc Equipped with 4 Weber 42 DCNF). The distinguishing characteristic of the vehicle was its lavish interior. Designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro here is the real production figure (thanks to W. Schmidt)

There were 1876 QIII's produced between 1979 and 1988
There were 1821 which were Standard 4portes, if you can call a completely hand built car 'Standard', which were manufactured between 1979 and 1984.
The remaining 55 cars were all Royales and were manufactured between late 1984 and 1988, these were the $80,000 cars that were built to order only.
The Quattroporte III marked the last of the hand-built Italian cars for specialized markets.
All exterior joints and seams were filled to give a seamless appearance. This makes for a sleek and clean finish, but could be a nightmare when replacing panels or aligning/rehanging doors
The Quattroporte III offered restrained, understated styling by Ital design and a luxurious interior to cocoon its wealthy occupants. The Quattroporte III remained in production until 1983 (I think this is the source http://quattroporte.online.fr/qp3.htm)
Quattroporte III (4porte 1976 – 1979, Quattroporte 1979 – 1990)
Third generation
Production 1976-1990
Layout FR layout
Engine(s) 4.2L 251 hp (187 kW) V8
4.2L 238 hp (177 kW) V8
4.9L 280 hp (210 kW) V8
4.9L 295 hp (220 kW) V8
Transmission(s) 3-speed automatic
Designer Giorgetto Giugiaro
Considered a "business man's Maserati," the Quattroporte III was launched by newly empowered Maserati chief Alejandro de Tomaso and his design staff in 1976. This was a rear wheel drive car, powered by a large V8 engine. It was important to de Tomaso that there was an Italian vehicle to compete with the recently launched Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9.

The production figures for the Quattroporte are as follows:

There were 1876 Quattroporte III's produced between 1979 and 1988.
There were 1821 standard 4portes manufactured between 1979 and 1984.
The remaining 55 cars were all Royales and were manufactured between late 1984 and 1988. These were the US$80,000 cars that were built to order only.
The Quattroporte III marked the last of the hand-built Italian cars for specialized markets. All exterior joints and seams were filled to give a seamless appearance.

In 1976, Giorgetto Giugiaro presented two ItalDesign show cars on Maserati platforms, called the Medici I and Medici II. The latter in particular featured hallmarks which would make it into the production of the third-generation Quattroporte. By the end of 1976, Maserati announced the Quattroporte III (Tipo AM 330), which took much from the Medici show cars, based on Maserati's Kyalami coupé, which in turn was based on the De Tomaso Longchamp. Special styling emphasis was placed on linearity, which was also useful to tooling cost reduction.

In 1976 the Quattroporte III was launched as "4porte" with a 4.2 L engine producing 251 hp (SAE) (187 kW), later 238 hp (SAE) (177 kW). Also available was a 4.9 litre V8 (280 bhp @ 5800 rpm). One distinguishing characteristic of the vehicle was its lavish interior. The car was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro of coachbuilder ItalDesign. In 1979 the Quattroporte got its true name back and was built with the 4.2 L and a new 4.9 L engine 278 hp (SAE) (207 kW). The latter initially had a three-speed Borg–Warner automatic transmission, soon replaced by a Chrysler Torqueflite gearbox. The smaller engine was phased out in 1981.

In 1986, the Maserati Royale, an ultra-luxury version of the Quattroporte III, appeared. The engine was upgraded to 295 hp (SAE) (220 kW).

In all, 2,141 Quattroporte IIIs were produced, one of them for Italian presidential use. Production ceased in 1990. http://dictionary.sensagent.com/mase....80.93_1990.29

so som production figures but not luck. Somewhere I was told that mine was one of 3 standards but that is probably for 1981. No idea if this is true but I will try to source the answer

[Nembo1777]

William thansk for the info.

Here is my little QPIII 5 speed story: in the late 1990's in I believe 1999 during the Boca Raton concours in Florida while loking at a QPIII with Seymour Pond of the Maserati club I mentioned that I would not mind doing a test drive article for Il Tridente but a 5 speed.

Seymour said oh there are almost none in the US one has been heard of in Chicago you'll never find one.

Minutes later someone, I think it was Ivan Ruiz, said oh Ed Waterman at Motorcar Gallery has one!

So after a call to Ed a few days later I visited Motorcar Gallery in Fort Lauderdale -this was 3 years before my time there to buy myself a Khamsin- and Ed handed me the keys of a QPII 5 speed with...white wall tires that looked like they were off a Lincoln! More about these in a moment...

The car which Ed kindly lent me had just arrived and was in poor shape the key needed to be jiggled before it would start it was a sorry car generally. I drove it one afternoon very comfortable but obviously a big heavy car. On I95 people came right up to my back bumper trying to figure out what it was:-)!

So I let the engine speak to gain some distance to their amazement, it certainly did push and that wonderful engine was well and truly there, fairly contemptuous of the weight.

Then I had a friend do some photos of the car in motion around Pompano Beach airfield's perimeter road as I drove past him several times. The local Sheriff passed by and wondered what he was up to with a camera at the side of the road, thanfully this was well before 9/11. This road had that rare yet essentisal ingredient for GT and sports cars: curves! South Florida is a disaster for driving enjoyment as all the roads are flat and straight...so I decided to see what this big wagon was like near (not on) the limit...there was an S curve and well...the combination of the weight, tired springs and shocks and those absolutely useless tires meant that it accepted the first part of the S bend but went on strike for the second one! Nothing untoward happened but it was quite close!:-).

I am sure a good one with suspension in good condition and a set of competent tires, driven in acknowledgment of the weight would be very efficient considering its mass.

I could not tell you what issue of Il tridente the article was in sorry don't have them with me.

Best regards,

Marc

[Nembo1777]

To be clear it was a QPIII not a QPII as my typo suggests, I missed that one and it is too late to correct it sorry.

Marc

[William Abraham]

Hi I see the post on the numbers came in very fast! Anyway, that is very interesting and works out to about 30 cars per year (I will work out the math better) which is not a lot.

It does make me feel a bit better about putting all the work and money in as they must go up over time. I only know of one in the US from this site and I wonder if most of the Autos went to the US?

Is is the same ZF as went into a lot of racers and Aston of that era so I am sure a lot of them have been pulled out. I bought one from South AFrica and saw another wreck there and there is the Italian one now for sale in Germany. I know of another one in Italy so there are a few survivors left.

Best

W

[Thestash]

Originally Posted by William Abraham

Hi I have one and there are very few made. I will check on numbers. I was offered another one from South Africa but it was clearly a wreck with massive rust. I did offer for the parts though.

The only unique issue seems to be that arrangement seems to mean that dust (brake?} gets into the starter motor and requires it to be blown out or rebuilt. My car also required u joints replaced so it must put a bit more stress on the drive train.

Other than that I am going to put pictures of the ZF rebuild and motor differences on my thread as we go through the car.

Ciao

Hi William,
Thank you for all the info.
Do you remember if the u-joints were all the same size? I have a 5 Speed also and notice that the u-joint closest to the rear end is slightly smaller than the other two. Also the carrier bearing is slightly larger than a new one.
I'm asking because after ordering 3 u-joints and carrier bearing from MIE, only one u-joint was the correct size and the carrier bearing too small. MIE tells me their parts should fit; standard or automatic. I had to return them except for the one smaller u-joint.
Thanks again,
Tony

[William Abraham]

Originally Posted by Thestash

Hi William,
Thank you for all the info.
Do you remember if the u-joints were all the same size? I have a 5 Speed also and notice that the u-joint closest to the rear end is slightly smaller than the other two. Also the carrier bearing is slightly larger than a new one.
I'm asking because after ordering 3 u-joints and carrier bearing from MIE, only one u-joint was the correct size and the carrier bearing too small. MIE tells me their parts should fit; standard or automatic. I had to return them except for the one smaller u-joint.
Thanks again,
Tony

Interesting I have bought the new U joints from MIE but not yet installed them all.

I will let you know what we find out but the ones for the main drive shaft seemed to fit. I will double check with the mechanics.

Best

William

[3500 GT]

Thank you to all for your input and the history lesson. I'm just guessing the manual gearbox was less than 10% of total production.

I'll let the group know if the car comes in.

~Ciao and best!

[William Abraham]

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C276643

Here is a 5 speed for sale. Italy car and a really early one in the 4.2 L form. This one seems a bit off - no quattroporte badge on the back, wrong battery (I think), trumpets missing in engine bay, seats look a bit bagged and faded paint?

Highish money (they are selling strong in Europe) but it is a 5 Speed! Euro 10,000

W

Some autos
Here is one worth looking at as it has the optional white leather interior!
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C129283#

White on white

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C92127

[William Abraham]

http://www.autoscout24.de/Details.as...adsproductlist

Another 5 speed early car in Germany

[MB_Fahrer]

Originally Posted by William Abraham

http://www.autoscout24.de/Details.as...adsproductlist

Another 5 speed early car in Germany

Great! Now I can be twins with all my mother's gold S600s. I do like the color better on the Masi.

[William Abraham]

Originally Posted by MB_Fahrer

Great! Now I can be twins with all my mother's gold S600s. I do like the color better on the Masi.

Never seen one in gold. If original it would have been a special order.

[Taurean Bull]

Originally Posted by William Abraham

Never seen one in gold. If original it would have been a special order.

I recall seeing at least 2 others, one of them being in person, in the States.

QP's still very cheap here. Just found this during a boredom search today locally:

http://denver.craigslist.org/cto/3011339872.html

Says it runs.

[William Abraham]

Wow Sad end to a nice car. I wonder if there are many parts to be found. Seats are split in rear, wheels lost, mirror hanging at a sad angle. Still sadly too much money.

[Taurean Bull]

Originally Posted by William Abraham

Wow Sad end to a nice car. I wonder if there are many parts to be found. Seats are split in rear, wheels lost, mirror hanging at a sad angle. Still sadly too much money.

IDK, panels, glass, trim, drivetrain, I think not bad. Considering where it is, I'd bet it can be had for much less. Middle of nowheresville.

[Quattroporte3]

Offer the guy $2k and use it as a parts car. Even having extra panels can be useful. Aren't front windshields alone somewhere around $1200 from the usual sources?

A shame that the owner(s) let it deteriorate so far.