All Entries Tagged With: "COYS"
This Week @ Coys: Maserati Ghibli 4.9 SS Spyder
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG Coys
GIALLO. In Italian, giallo means yellow.
In Inglese, it refers to a dark but sultry genre of mystery novels. You know, the kind that mix murder and sex.
Coys (né Coys of Kensington) is the greater London based auctioneer exemplar that has – by listing this giallo over black, 1970 Maserati Ghibli 4.9 SS Spyder – tickled us with our own thrilling Italian daydream.
It’s right to call the Spyder’s lustrous paint giallo.
The pigment, like the car’s beautiful body, is so dynamic, us English speakers might call it “sun”. It’s as if Maserati’s paint shop mixed Sicilian blood orange juice with limoncello; giving an otherwise flat hue a veritable fire!
Naturally, everything in the 70s had either an orange or brown cast; the Ghibli hardtop looked particularly striking, if period, in cocoa brown.
Coys, in classically understated Britishese, describes the effect the Ghiblis had on the public imagination.
“Introduced to an enthusiastic public at the Turin Show of 1966, the Ghibli broke with the recent Maserati tradition for conservative designs, instead displaying dramatic, purposeful lines, drawn by none other than Giorgietto Giugiaro whilst still at Ghia’s design studio. Under the bonnet was Maserati’s magnificent all alloy 4.7 litre four camshaft V8 engine, derived from the company’s sports racing car power plants and mated to a five speed gearbox. Claimed top speed was a not inconsiderable 174mph!”
What a hair-raising thought.
One hundred and seventy four miles per hour in a topless exotic… forty years old…painted in blinding orange-yellow… long bonnet surging toward an unknown horizon…così fantastico e profondo!
This Week @ Coys: Raquel Welch in Yellow
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG Coys
MASERATI’S famous Ghibli has an uncanny effect on men living in their fifth or sixth decade.
It’s easy to predict that when one of these classic, 4.7 liter, V8 powered, Trident-badged exotics from the late 60s rumbles by, these guys get heart palpitations like they’d just flashed on seeing Raquel Welch naked for the 
first time – and – did you see that? She winked at them!
As for me, my Ghibli is the Ferrari F355 from the mid-to-late 90s. I get the tingle that they must get every time I see one of Maranello’s go-karts in yellow or red or black or hell, pretty much any color, they’re all beautiful.
Well, actually, I’d have a hard time with purple.
Which brings me to this greenish-yellow on black 1972 Maserati Ghibli available at British classic auto house Coys.
All those sensual Guigaro lines are still there forming what is a remarkably sexy profile. That great MaserV8 might even still get this Ghibli to 174 mph on the right road or track.
But that color…
I suppose the sacrilegious thing to do would be to buy the car then refinish it in something like jet black or 70’s brown. But that would screw with the car’s history and heaven knows you couldn’t touch that lest a covert team from Maserati Club International come in the night and daringly rescue your ill-fated original from desecration.
But then again, perhaps there is some guy out there in his 60s that doesn’t mind the color of mustard mixed with mashed peas on his Italian exotic. To him, his Raquel Welch is still sexy, even if she looks a little seasick.
[Linked: Coys]
This Week @ Coys: Benz 300S
1955 Mercedes-Benz 300S Coupe
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG Coys
ONE of these days I really am going to have to get on the horn and ask a Coys rep just how much they plan on selling a given car. The UK based auction house is always mum on the matter of pounds and pence in its online showcases. Mildly perplexing.
But not as perplexing as the following assertion by Coys’ sales department regarding this conservative but elegant 1955 black on red Mercedes-Benz 300S coupe.
“A fast touring automobile in the tradition of the legendary 540K, the 300SE was faster, better handling, more comfortable and generally superior to its pre-war ancestor.”
“Generally” is the correct term as the 540K was vastly superior to the (handsome) 300S(E) in the aesthetics department. Indeed, it’s easy to contend that the 540K still stands as the most beautiful car ever to feature the tri-star. Sad to consider that the most beautiful model Benz was built during Germany’s darkest hour.
Anyway, Coys has a 540K for sale in addition to the 300S just in case these words sway you from dropping six figures on this gracious Teutonic auto.
[Linked: Coys]
This Week @ Coys: Lancia Lambda Torpedo
Ciao bella, desidera un giro nella mia Lancia Lambda Torpedo Lungo Series VIII ?
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG Coys
IT’S surprising that this car in no way reminds me of an MG TD. In no way, whatsoever. And certainly not a pre-war Alfa. Nor, mind you, a kit-car hot rod. Not an inkling of resemblance.
But that’s the Lancia Lambda Torpedo Lungo Series VIII for you. It just wasn’t engineered to be like anything else on the road, even if its uniqueness meant that others would copy in quantity in succeeding decades.
And to be sure, what makes this 1920s-era Italian four-door roadster so appealing – and marketable for Coys – is that it was engineered uniquely for its time.
Designed with nautical sensibilities in mind, the Lancia’s four wheels were connected to an independent suspension which in turn supported a steel monocoque chassis that contained a small, 2,570 cc engine. The car was far lighter than its Blower contemporaries.
This sweet car led Lancia to many happy days at the Mille Miglia and much commercial success in Italy – 11,000 units sold in total. And all these years on, with plenty of similar looking cars on the market, Coys wants to sell the original, (in old blue on red) to you for a tidy, but unmentioned sum.
This Week @ Coys: Exotic Dreams Revisited
Fuel for a young imagination.
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG via RapidCars.com
WHEN the eighties turned into the nineties, there were three 200+ mph supercars that diverted my attention from grammar school studies and fueled my passion for cars.
They rank as follows: Bugatti’s EB110, the McLaren F1, and the Jaguar XJ220.
Of the three, the Bugatti was my favorite for being a) Italian - molto bene! b) blending luxury with exotic performance and c) all-wheel drive.
IMHO back then, the true blue EB110 would’ve been the perfect choice for replacing the family Volvo in taking yours to and from school.
Indeed, yours was taking practical considerations into account.
The all-wheel drive would ensure that I’d make it to class on snow days; a selfless act of sacrificing liberation from school.
The EB110’s four turbochargers, performance shoes, and decisive lack of ground clearance didn’t factor in my assessment.
Time rolled on, our Volvo 740 (not-so-good in the snow) was replaced by a 940 (truly dismal polar performer) and then an 850 (damn near unstoppable), and history forgot the first and last of the super three to remember only the McLaren – a stripped down bullet that like the XJ220 wasn’t sold Stateside.
Back then, American emissions standards barred entry. And since then, we’ve all grown more practical and pragmatic. Or have we?
Explaining The “Shooting Brake”
By Gunnar Heinrich
LOOKING back to June 12th, I published a post covering what I thought was the oddest Ferrari I’d ever seen; the 330GT Shooting Brake.
Since then, I really hadn’t given it much further thought. I figured it was one of those flights of whimsy ordered by the same people who want to see a Bentley pick-up truck in their 50 car garage somewhere in the Near East.
Not entirely so, apparently.
Yesterday, I received an email from a gentleman named Vassilis Daramouskas who writes for a Greek automotive publication called Car & Truck. Mr. Daramouskas took the time to explain the relative importance of the shooting brake and how it fits in the automotive marketplace.
“If my memory is correct, Audi presented (Tokyo Motor Show 2005) the “Shooting Brake Concept” whose styling will be present [in] the future A1.
Shooting Brake cars were used by British aristocracy for hunting weekends: ample space for guns+game without having to use… “volk” cars. I believe Aston Martins, Ferraris, and other noble automobiles were the favourites for the niche.” He wrote.
Our kind informant went on to say that today the principal customers of these super niche models typically hail from Arabic states.
Efharisto poli, Mr. Daramouskas.
[Linked: Car & Truck]
This Week @ Coys > The Strangest Ferrari Ever
By Gunnar Heinrich
IF you mated a Ford Pinto with a Ferrari 308GTS this is what you’d get – an it-thing-whadjamacallit.
UK auto auctioneer Coys of Kensington is offering a mint condition 330GT “Shooting Brake.”
Not too sure what a “Shooting Brake” stood for, the online dictionary explained that it’s a distinctly British term used to describe any two door coupe with a station wagon’s backend.
Right.
So, in this Ferrari’s case, the 330GT Shooting Brake was warmly received by some of the auto press of its day.
“The late Paul Frere, the noted Belgian racing driver and automotive journalist, road tested a 330 GT 2+2 late in 1966. He came away suitably impressed: ‘In handling, this car is exactly like all Ferraris which I have driven before … It is close to being as neutral as one could want… But the most impressive feature of the handling of the 330 is the solidness with which it changes direction, particularly in S-bends, where it tracks with about the same precision as a modern race car’.” Coys’ site said.
As always, Coys is mum on the price.
To check out more pictures of this rare Italian albatross, tap the link.
[Linked: Coys]
