[ OUR CARS ] 1997 Maserati Ghibli Cup
Used relatively easily throughout the winter, Nathan’s Ghibli drew fans at Bicester meet
Owned by Nathan Chadwick (c/o classic.cars@bauermedia.co.uk)
Time owned Two years
Latest/total miles 5404/85,100
Latest/total costs £2276/£28,024
Previously Fixed damper, bonnet stay issues
Famed Maserati Ghibli Cup owner – and car owning inspiration – Harry Metcalfe has always praised the model for its sheer useability.
He also mentioned that on one occasion he got an indicated 28mpg out of his. Well, I can certainly attest to the first statement – it’s been used very regularly over the winter months. It played a starring role in Hagerty’s Bull List guide to the best value cars and was on display at Hagerty’s Clubhouse for the snowy Bicester Scramble in January. I still haven’t quite recovered from watching all the toddlers pawing at it as they wandered by.
Still, it’s good to be using it, but doing so did reveal some particularly horrific fuel consumption. OK, so my size 12 right foot is heavier than most, and the fuel gauge is on the pessimistic side, but still, an ‘enthusiastic’ trip from Bourne to Melton Mowbray shouldn’t empty half the tank. I couldn’t even manage that on a test track with a V10 BMW M6 and somebody else’s fuel card. There was also a pong of fuel, which I put down to the car’s, well, Italian-ness.
The definitive answer came at the yearly service via McGrath Maserati. It turns out the rubber seal around the fuel cap had split, splashing fuel out liberally during hard cornering, and with a full tank. Replacing it would be, you’d have thought, fairly easy. The Ghibli II is a revised Biturbo in essence, of which Maserati built 40,000. A replacement Ghibli II fuel cap costs €40 from Passione Biturbo (passionebiturbo.com).
New seal for rare fuel cap sourced from an Aprilia superbike
Only, this isn’t a normal Ghibli II. The racing-look fuel cap and its internals is bespoke to the 60 Cups built, and in three little letters familiar to anyone with even a mildly interesting Italian car of the Nineties these days, is NLA (No Longer Available). Well, at least from Maserati.
Hmm. Not being able to use the best-handling, most focused Maserati of a generation for fear of it ending in a fireball, or it having a driving range of around 120 miles, was clearly vexing. Eventually, David Willoughby at McGrath was able to find a match with an Aprilia superbike of a similar vintage – my car’s fuel seal problem was by far not the only one, and this discovery has already helped other Cup owners.
The service was also an opportunity to treat the Maserati to new front discs and pads. I interviewed the engineer for the Cup once, and he chuckled and said the brakes were terrible even when the car was new. The Cup’s 17in wheels were as far as Maserati felt they could take the diameter – and that doesn’t leave much room within to contain 330bhp. That’s made even worse when, like mine, they exhibited horrendous juddering.
Pleasingly, things are much improved now, but it’s still better to rein things in with engine braking. But then, this kind of physicality, this level of engagement, is exactly what drew me to the car in the first place. And as for the rear discs? Thankfully they’re fine. That’s a good job, really – yes, they’re NLA, too…
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