There probably isn't a better example of a 1985 Maserati 425. We're delighted to be sending this Mazzer on its way home after a 3-year restoration to bring the abandoned vehicle back to life.
We saved a customer a bundle by installing aftermarket headers and catalytic converters following a catastrophic exhaust meltdown. The stock Ferrari pipes are too thin, similar to the Achilles heel of Lamborghini Diablos. We replaced the headers with better grade stainless steel aftermarket parts and upgraded the catalytic converters. We had to test afterwards with our SD2 setup to ensure the engine was running correctly with the new hardware and add more insulation to help prevent a similar future occurrence as a
Here we're taking a peek deep inside of a catalytic converter on a Lamborghini Diablo using a "Visual Inspection Device" which displays live color video from an imaging sensor and lighting source connected to a flexible cable. It doesn't look like it was damaged by a short episode of running hot due to an engine management malfunction. It could have been much worse. Never drive with the Check-Engine-Light activated. It could be warning you of something benign but the light could also be trying to tell you a catastrophe is about to happen and please stop and shut off the engine!
We would have loved receiving the assignment to build this aluminum bodied car but we didn't. It's too bad because we would have done a better job. Instead we received the car for service because the engine was making a metallic noise and it ran on no more than 6 of its 12 cylinders. We fixed all that but found problems with the suspension, the steering, the cooling system, the ignition system, the throttle linkages, the electrical system, body to chassis alignment, the paint, the wheels and tires, etc, etc. This car needed major sorting and re-engineering but it now runs and drives beautifully.
When first built she apparently had a vintage Ferrari V12 engine but that was replaced with a Jaguar V12 equipped with Electromotive computer controlled fuel injection and distributorless ignition and TWM throttle bodies, before we received the car, in an attempt to make the car more user friendly. Unfortunately none of this equipment had been set up properly, which is why it wasn't running right (I imagine the carburetors and distributors on the original Ferrari engine weren't set up correctly either). The metallic noise had made us wonder if the engine had a loose valve seat, or something like that, but after removing a cylinder head the cause turned out to be a piece of copper wire lying on top of a piston and making contact with the head. Not having air filters, the engine apparently just sucked the copper wire in. Luckily it didn't do any serious damage.
Leather dashes shrink, unfortunately. Here the black leather on the dash had shrunk along the forward edge at the base of the windshield, leaving sections of the yellow structure underneath showing. It obviously did not look very nice that way. We removed the dash (not a simple task) and it was clear that not enough leather was left folded over the edge and glued down when the car was built. We sewed large leather patches onto the skimpy tabs left by the factory, both to have something to pull on and to have more leather surface area to glue down to the back of the dash. We soaked the outer dash leather, stretched it, pulled it back over the edge, glued it all down and re-installed the dash. The result was a few stretch marks in the leather on top of the dash but it looks 99% better than it did. We could have installed new leather but the car's owner didn't want to go that far and was very happy with the result.
This photo was taken as the center car, a 1965 Ferrari 330 GTS, was about to be loaded into the trailer for the trip back to it's owner. This is a really nice car for cruising around on a sunny fall day. It's not too big and not too small - a nicely sized traditional sports car with plenty of power from it's 4 liter V-12 and nice handling. It's a real pleasure to drive and to behold. I guess it's market value reflects that.
This 1959 Jaguar XK 150S roadster was found in a barn in Texas, with a bullet hole in the windshield. Now spot free from rust and protected in primer, it waits. Has been waiting in our barn in NJ for 8 years for restoration work to resume.
I heard that Clint Eastwood had one of these too in the early '60s (probably without the bullet hole).
