Interesting that it has several of the early features such as the sharp corner headlight buckets, early style dash and knock-of spinners; yet it has what appears to be a late style engine. There is no mention of it being "matching numbers" therefore the engine might not be the original. The octagonal spinners and the VIN number would lend me to believe that this is actually a 1968 model and not a 1967. Ivan
Hi Ivan... I agree, there are some anomalies... Although the air filter cover looks like it would be an early style, similar to my Mexico.. I did note it does have the secondary fuse box (for 4 fuses), but it looks to have two newer style relays which would not have been present in 1967.. Plus, although hard to tell, it appears to have puller fans, not pusher fans which it probably should have if it was truly an earlier car.. Mike
Hi everyone. My car 115*274 was delivered on 22/3/1968 and so as you suggest Ivan, I think 115*754 cannot really be from 1967, even allowing for the vagaries of Maserati/Ghia production numbering. It would be fascinating to see the classiche documents for this one. Incidentally any idea if Ghibli coupes need chassis modification to accommodate the ZF manual gearbox? Or just spyders? I know you said it is rather an involved operation on the latter Ivan. Best wishes and good health to all. Mark.
Check and compare the "Carrozzeria"-no. on the plate in the engine bay of your and the other Ghibli. That no.`s can be an indication....
The automatic tranny is wider and therefore the chassis opening for the gearbox is wider. You would need to weld in and drill new gearbox mounting points and and adapt or fabricate a transmission mount bracket as the one used on the manual tranny cars is not long enough. I had a spare mounting bracket from a Sebring (I think) that I was able to adapt. Ivan
Looking closely at this white Ghibli, it appears to have many rust issues. The wheel arches look as if they have been worked on because they are obviously not fair, and have been covered with a stainless trim piece. The package tray is rusty and the A pillar on the driver's side looks very funky. The passenger door has been repainted as was a portion of the bottom rear front fender next to the door where rust is common. I'm on the hunt for a driver in good condition, auto is fine with me, but this would be a money pit.
With more than a bit of free “under quarantine” time, an update on the Amelia Island Concours outing might be of interest. We finished the Ghibli’s 4 year rotisserie restoration a generous 36 hours before it was driven onto the trailer. What a relief to see that trailer door close. The event was brilliant- great venue and wonderfully organized- a cornucopia of over 300 great cars. My best Maserati friends, Mark (Red27) from the U.K. and Mike (Mexico074) from Tenn. (together with charming spouses) joined us in two rented townhouses. In total we had 15 friends and family with us. Also on hand for the show were Al S. (original owner/restorer of the Bobbie Gentry Ghibli) and Art H. (whose Ghibli is near completion in Fla.). An estimated 20,000 people showed up for the Concours. It was fun answering car enthusiast’s questions and hearing their comments over the 7 hours. To our pleasant surprise, my car won an “Amelia Concours D”Elegance Award”, the same award the Bobbie Gentry car won in 2014. The Award was very nice cap to all the effort (and expense!) of the restoration. I also had a nice chat with Bill Warner, who created the Concours 25 years ago, and who has an affinity for Ghibli’s as the former owner of a Ghibli Spyder. Great fellow. The weekend was terrific fun. If you haven’t yet, you owe it to yourself to attend in 2021 – if we are allowed out of our houses by then. Stay safe. Ed Kelley (GBear) Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
FWIW, my 1967 titled Mistral was built in April of 1968, according to Fabio Collina. Backwards, right? You should buy a 1968 model in 1967, not the other way around. The best story I've heard is that Maserati was unable to meet the regulatory changes imposed in 1968, so rather than lose the important US market, in true Italian fashion they claimed that the cars were built in 1967 and just hadn't shipped yet. I don't know if it's true, but I don't doubt it either. I suspect it may be similar for this Ghibli.
common practice among small manufacturers. Khamsin #1226 was stamped as 1977 on its ID plate, but didn’t enter production until Feb 1978. The last 2 Boras #1046 and #1048 are stamped as 1977 but weren’t built until October 1978.
Ferrari did this as well. The factory created many Certificates of Origin(MSO) in the second half of 1967(especially December) for cars not yet built. They had to attest that they were constructed prior to Dec. 31, 1967 so that the cars could be imported into the USA. Chinetti was importing new MY 1967 Ferrari well into the third quarter of 1968.
Very nicely done Ghibli. You just have to love the row of toggle switches! Unfortunately I had to miss Amelia this year .... congratulations on your award! Yesterday was a nice Spring day and my Ghibli went out for a 2 hour drive. Just what I needed to combat this cabin fever. Ivan
Thanks for posting your Ghibli. I can only imagine the thrill and satisfaction of having a "new" Ghibli.
Great job Ed, What a magnificent restoration! Does anyone know if the early Lucas column switches can be repaired or replaced easily? They look like mini mk2 parts and it seems that mine may be the cause of a lack of low beam Thanks Julian Image Unavailable, Please Login
Julian, Determining if the switch is at fault should not be difficult. On cars with the early style column switch (by far the best of the two styles) it is connected to the harness via two connectors, the type that has screws to connect two wires. One of the connectors is mainly use for the turn signals and the other for the headlights. The one with the thicker wires is the one for the headlights. Use a voltmeter to determine which wire has 12 volts (note: Ghibli headlights are not on a switched circuit and should work with the ignition off). The other two thick wires will be for the main and high beam. Short the wire with 12 volts to each of the other two wires and see if the main beams work. If they do then it is time to debug the switch itself. If they do not, the problem is most likely elsewhere. After you do some testing, report back and we'll take it the next step. Ivan
Hi Ivan, The switch is not the problem so I need to find out where else it might be! I have lights on at the back of the car when the lights are on but nothing showing on low beam at the front. [ except the front position lamps which are the also the indicators on these early cars ] When the low beams are connected to the high beam power source, they work fine, so the problem is not the actual light units. Indicators aren't working correctly, one side is on all the time and the other side blinks at about double the speed it should [ all when the hazards are on ] I don't think the turnsignals are working at all when the stalk is turned as it should, either up or down. I always had the problem with the low beams not working but the indicators are a new problem [ car not used for 7 years now ] We did manage a good cough out of the engine today so if everything goes OK it should start tomorrow [ I had the one way non return fuel valve at the rear of the car connected incorrectly ] Baby steps ...... Many Thanks again Julian
The low beam bulbs should have two filaments while the high beam only have one. Is this what you are seeing on your car? It is possible your car has H1 bulbs for both the low and high beam, so I need to know if your low beam bulbs have two or three prongs. When you turn on the high beams does one of the filaments turn on the low beam light unit? The low beam circuit on these cars is extremely simple and no relays are involved. If any of the filaments on the low beam unit turns on then you can discard grounding as the problem since both filaments share a common ground. Although unlikely, it is possible that both the left and right low filaments are burned out, check continuity and make sure all filaments are good. If the problem is not ground then it probably is a bad connection on the live wire. With an ohm meter, check for continuing stating with the low beam plug connector on the headlight unit, to the screw on terminal located somewhere in the fenders, then to the fuse box and finally to the stalk and dash toggle switch. Since your high beams work I doubt the toggle switch is the problem. The turn signals are on a completely different circuit and should not be related to this problem. I would need to know if on your car the hazard and turn signals use a common flasher or if they have their own. Also, would need to know which type of flasher your car has. Most Ghiblis have a Bosch 4 prong flasher but since your car is early it may have a Lucas 3 prong flasher. Ivan
Thanks Ivan, This is not an area that I’m confident in!! The low beams don’t work ever, ie when lights are turned on or when the high beams are on or if the flash is operating, nothing from the the outer lamps. I have checked that the low beam lights do work and they are fine. The low beams had the 3 wires ( one is the earth and I fed a line back to the body rather than use the bowl to earth to. High beams have just the one power wire and again i earthed the light to the body. The flasher unit is the old 3 pin connector, not sure if there’s more than one but the one I have is under the dash under the glovebox Julian
Hi Julian, Got it. You can fly me to Melbourne and I'll sort it out in an hour or two Get the car back on the road and then drive it to a mechanic that feels comfortable working with old electrical systems. The good news is the Ghibli electrical system is very simple and it is just a matter of checking for continuity and the presence of voltage at various points. It can be time consuming but it is very straightforward. Good luck .... the car is looking great! Ivan
Thanks Ivan, You're probably right! Just out of interest where is the low beam headlamp relay sited on the car? Julian
On the early Ghibli there is no low beam headlamp relay, only a high beam relay. The low beams are connected to the battery through the dash mounted toggle switch, the steering wheel stalk and the fuse box. There are a few screw on wire connectors but that is all; very simple circuit. Ivan
Hi, I now have working indicators [ the hazard switch was not 100% hard pushed in so the indicators didn't work ] and a few dodgy connections at the back of the light switch are now working. So just to recap, when the light switch is in the down [ off ] position there are no lights on, half way up we have no low beam but flash and high beam can be switched and when the switch is all the way up, I now have low beam which switches off when the high beams are activated. [ so never more than 2 lamps on at once ] Does this sound correct or is the light switch wired incorrectly? PS, I did cheat and an auto electrician sorted this within an hour. He seemed to do his magic by wiggling wires as much as by testing anything but it still beats my handiwork Thanks for all your help especially Ivan Julian
