Tag: Cars

Maserati re-released their GT model a year or so ago, and made a great to-do about its heritage, comparing it all the way back to the A6 tourer.  Okay;  let’s take a look:

1956 A6G/54 Zagato

2023 GT

Leaving aside the new GT’s Whore’s Red Lipstick (or whatever it’s called) color, and ignoring completely the fugly rims…

…the new one’s not bad (although surprise surprise, the 1956 model is the one that gets my dangler tingling).

Sadly, of course, it no longer has the V8 Ferrari engine of the earlier 2010-era GT, but the replacement 3.0-liter V6 is the same engine out of the excellent-but-impractical MC20 racer:

…so it can’t be all bad.

The new GT retails for just under $170,000 here at Boardwalk Maserati in Plano — a relative bargain in these inflated-money / overpriced sports car times, and $100k less than, say a Ferrari Roma — so at least it’s not that stupid, price-wise.  (The older GT used to cost about $150k, and the 1956 A6 G/54 will set you back well over $900k, if you can find one — they made fewer than a hundred, all told.)

Lovely, all three of them.  But what else did you expect from Maserati?

Some more pics of the 50s Maserati Zagato:

And the Frua-bodied Spider, which is so beautiful it should be illegal:

Stumbled on a nice 15-minute history of DeTomaso’s Pantera.  To my mind, along with Bizzarini’s offerings, this was the ideal marriage:  dago styling coupled with a decent Murkin engine.  (Of course, in the beginning “Italian styling” went hand-in-hand with “Italian build quality”, but at least that was rectified in the Pantera’s second production year.)

And I have to say that I do prefer the pre-1980s Pantera:

…even in the fugly late-70s American trim with the loathsome “safety” bumpers:

…without that fat, ostentatious wing that was added later:

Hell, I’d drive one today — yeah, I know, “Kim prefers an early-1970s car over a modern one, quelle surprise.”

As much as I love Jaguars, even I have to admit to their manifold failings:  crap electrical systems, rust at the slightest hint of humidity (let alone rain or snow), and engines that should have been excellent (and often were), but not always so.

I knew a man who owned an XJS, and apart from the terrible V8 — they should have just stayed with the E-type’s 6, but nooooo — it just could not handle any road conditions that weren’t dry midsummer.  And this in Chicago.  (In our company bowling league, I gave him the lane name of Jagno Snogo.)

And was it but a couple days back where I castigated the company for buying into the Global Cooling Climate Warming Change© nonsense and deciding to go all-electric?  (Why yes, yes it was.)

Well, paint me white and call me Paleface:

A driver who was trapped behind the wheel of an out-of-control Jaguar I-Pace has revealed to MailOnline how he almost cheated death as his car accelerated up to 100mph on the busy M62 motorway without brakes.

Nathan Owen, 31, was on his way back from his first day at a new job when his 2019 electric car started malfunctioning, sparking a huge police operation to bring his car to a stop after 35 minutes of hell.

But in a shock revelation, Mr Owen told how his car had also gone rogue on the motorway in December, this time reaching up to 120mph. He claims Jaguar handed him his car back 24 hours after he had taken it in to be looked at.

Oh yeah, did I also mention Jaguar’s legendary customer service?  Which is to “service” as Rosie O’Donnell is to being a Playboy model:  not even close to acceptable.

He admitted: ‘In the back of my mind, I was thinking I’m going to end up crashing the car, I’m going to kill myself or I’m going to kill an innocent person on the roads.’

Mr Owen, originally from North Wales, added: ‘The car was in its own world — it just had no brakes. The worst thing about it is that it’s happened before.’

And yet you kept on driving the stupid thing (#Wales).

‘The car literally just started speeding up,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t press the brakes. The speed was going towards about 100mph in the high 90s, going to 100. I thought this was a bit wrong. [ya thaink? — K.]

‘It came up on the dashboard saying there was a battery malfunction in my car.’ [I’ll say — K.]

But here’s the best part:

Mr Owen’s car was finally able to be brought to a stop when the miles on his electric car started running out.

Yeah, that’s $80,000 of pure automotive quality and reliability right there.

I wouldn’t accept one as a gift.