Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Friendship and the List

[Rui Gigante (rui.gigante]

Hi Charles,

Your email sure raises a few flags :-P
Yes, I do know about the weakness of the Maserati electrics on the Biturbo models. It's about the same problem on the 328's, Mondial, Testarossa and F40 !!!! I'm looking at a well maintained, very original, complete history, books and records, low mileage (45.000Km) 88 Biturbo. Besides the fact that I like the car, it would be a keeper. I'm guessing that with 992 units produced and with so few left in good condition, a well preserved example with all problems sorted should be worth something in the future. Would you agree?

- Rui

On Mon, Jun 4, 2012 at 8:12 PM, Charles Perry wrote:

Rui -

 

Just make sure you enjoy your family's company, because if you bring them with in a Biturbo, you will end up with many happy hours to speak with them while waiting for the tow truck... :-)

 

We had two - an 84 and an 87, both Si models. They were pretty to look at and beautifully done inside (the Si featuring really nice leather/suede combinations) and were a lot of fun when they were running, but their % running time averaged about 25. It was fairly routine on my drive into school in my high school years to stop somewhere along the way to pick up my mom next to her smoking Biturbo and take her somewhere while AAA was en route.

 

Our 84 was destroyed by Hurricane Hugo and we shed few tears for it. The 87 we bought new in 89 off a dealer lot where they had not been able to sell it. It had a lot of problems, but they were not mechanical problems like the 84 - mostly electrical and rubber problems, likely from sitting for two years. That car might have been OK if we had kept it long enough to sort those through, but after experiencing the 84 my mom had no faith in the car and ended up selling it before it had further opportunity to damage her self-esteem and wallet. She then ended up with a Dodge Stealth R/T Twin Turbo which we still have today and has 200k+ happy miles under its Asian timing belt.

 

I still like the car and would certainly buy the right one as a project - but don't kid yourself that it would ever exceed project status.

 

Cheers!

 

-- charles

________________________________________________________

Charles G Perry IV
Vice-President, Engineering
 
Carolina Sound Communications – MuzaK
7630 Southrail Road, BLDG B
N. Charleston, SC 29420
(843) 571-4488 x1005         www.carolina-sound.com