1989 Maserati Zagato

That is a really neat car at a great price. GLWTS.

 

One of the best I've seen.

 

Wow hard to find these in such nice shape- Can you advise what if any differences the "Zagato" has over the standard Biturbo Spyder for 1989?

 

I think he just means that the Spyder was done by Zagato. Not many people know that.

 

IMHO, the 1989 model is the only one of these to take a risk on. By 89 Maserati had worked out "most" of the bugs that plagued the earlier models and beat down the reputation of the BiTurbos

 

I think that's an accurate statement. The difficult part is to find one that hasn't been left for dead. My local Ferrari-Maserati dealer had a '87 in for service recently that just looked perfect.

IMHO.

 

Many of you know I owned an authorized Maserati service center in the 80's. I saw every Bi-turbo that they made all the way up to the 430.

This one IS one of the good ones. In fact, this was one of my favorites -- Fuel injection convertible with a manual ZF box.

Most of these were horrible auto gearboxes that shifted before the Turbos cut in. A complete waste. But the manual allowed you to get the real use of them. It was apples and oranges. What a pity most people never knew there was a manual at all available. The idiots at Qvale (Maserati's importer at the time) thought they should be like the Jags they sold -- 100% autos. Only a very few Maserati spiders came with the manual box.

And fewer still came with Fuel injection which was a huge improvement.

The one weird thing about them is that the Fuel injection is Weber, not Bosch. So service of it can be a pain. However, it's reliable and the car will pass CA emissions.

Good luck with the sale. It's a rare survivor.

 

Weber-IAW... Know it well!


Sweet car. Love that interior, sure looks minty. GLWS.

 

If my Porsches had sold I know I would have been heading to Georgia this weekend! Beautiful car, love the red/tan combination.

 

Really nice car. 89 and 91 were the best years for these.
GLWS!

 

+1!!

That's great.....
GLWS!

 

My mother bought one of these new. I loved driving it at 18 y/o, fun car. I am trying to talk my wife into buying this one. Wind in her hair, sunny California day.....

 

It was the flood of 86 spyders that had the terrible 3 speed automatics as well as a different carb and intake manifold which produced such poor results. Many folks upgraded them with a 84 or 85 setup but all of that is emissions illegal. You cannot run the carb cars properly WO removing that horrid emissions system. There are a lot of the 86 spiders available and unless they've been massively upgraded avoid them. Most have languished in disrepair for decades now.

But the 87 MY was the introduction of FI and the 87 spiders are good cars as well. IMHO those seats are the best, most comfortable and most durable. Alcantara as side bolsters ain't so great. The 89 & 90 (there were no official 91s) cars had improved front suspension geometry and in 90 the ZF 4 spd automatic became available. They also lost the emissions air pump. That automatic is decent. I wouldn't rule out an 87. The build quality and electrics on the later ones are no different.

This looks like a really nice example and Ron has had other nice Maseratis over the years like a Bora so I bet you'd be getting a good one.

 

Seems like a great price for a cool little car. Those seats look super comfortable. GLWS.

 

Wow a European convertible red sports car for less than $15 K.
I like it
GLWS should go fast.
....and a stick shift.

 

Considering the 87 was my first Italian vehicle way back in 1992 this is true. It was fun but a shop queen.. Brings back memories. GLWS

 

Rick is meticulous and takes amazing care of his cars. I have a 89 Maserati 430 and it HAULS booty. I can imagine this car flies!

 

i am unfamiliar with these Masi Zagato's. is it a 2+2? any real room in back for children? how does this beautiful Zagato compare with a BMW E30 325 convertible from same era?

 

It looks like a really, really nice little car.

So why are you selling it?

 

I would disagree with that assessment. 87 was the breakthrough year though the 89 MY had improvements as well. If you run the 87 WO the air pump it should be just as reliable a car.

There's plenty of owner based help for any problems you might encounter. Just get a good one like this one and you'll be fine. You can work on most of this stuff on these cars yourself too.

Keep in mind that back then most shops didn't know how to deal with the issues these cars had including the dealers. They're hands were tied and Maserati's support was abysmal.

These cars will never be as operationally easy to keep going as the equivalent vintage BMW or Porsche.

But they're much nicer inside and they scoot like hell! I think it's worth it. I still have and run my 84 and it's in very nice shape too.