Bespoke Maserati Ghibli car cover

Until recently, I did not have a covered parking space for my Ghibli, which meant parking the car out in the street. To protect the car from the elements, I purchased a taylor made car cover soon after purchasing the car and I think this has been one of the best investments I've made for the car!

I was not confident that I would find a car cover to fit the Ghibli, since it's a rare car and not many companies make products for it. So I was pleasantly suprised to discover a quality car cover supplier in the UK that could deliver me one within a couple of weeks, since they already had a pattern for the Ghibli!


As you can see from the pictures, the cover fits very well and I've been very impressed with it's performance. I got the outdoor version and regardless of how wet it is outside, the car remains dry. Even when I've been caught out by the rain and the car has got wet, I can still stick the cover on it and take it off when it's dry outside and find the car dry; the 3 layered material breathes, so it lets moisture out but not back in.

The customer service has also been excellent from the supplier. I woke up one morning and found that a careless cyclist (there's a lot of them around here) had ripped the cover while cycling past the car; they clearly hit the car with some force since they also left a scratch in the paint. Anyway, I contacted the supplier and asked for a piece of material so that I could patch up the tear. They sent it straight away free of charge. Also, once I forgot to fasten the straps with the supplied nylon fittings and they subsequently got run over and badly damaged by cars driving past in the street. Again, I contacted the supplier to ask if they could send me some new ones; they did so immediately and again free of charge!

I've had the cover for about 2 1/2 years now and have been very happy with it. Even when I've had the car in storage in a garage over winter, I still left it with the cover on to act as a dust cover. It's seen some pretty hard wear and pretty severe weather, but it's still going strong.

The supplier is Specialised Car Covers of the UK; try doing a Google search in the search bar on the right.

Modifying a Ghibli for tall people

The Maserati Ghibli was obviously designed during a time when people were shorter. Either that, or Italians are a nation of vertically challenged inhabitants. Admittedly, I'm distinctly above average height at 1.99 m (which is perhaps why I've found myself at home in the Netherlands?), but I think it's generally accepted that the seating position is a little awkward in the Ghibli for drivers of above average height.

To compensate for this, two solutions were implemented in my car. The first is mentioned in my post below, where a custom made steering column spacer hub was installed. After locating a design drawing for a similar item for a Porsche 911 on the web, the Maserati specialist from whom I purchased the car promptly turned the drawing into the real thing. Coming from a background of car restoration, he has a number of useful contacts, one of which was able to machine the spacer. As a nice finishing touch, the spacer was then powder coated in matt black and once fitted it looks like an OEM part. And the nicest thing was... it was free of charge; it was negotiated into the price of the car.

Subsequently, I learnt of a similar item on Enrico's Maserati Pages in the "Can you help...?" section, so if you're after something similar then try Googling this site (or try this link and scroll down the page to the bit about Nardi).

The picture on the left here is of a seat rail (this one is one of the front passenger seat rails) which attach the seat to the floor of the car and enable it to slide forward and backward to suite the occupant.

Next was a trick I'd seen in an old Mini that a tall friend of mine used to have when I was at school. To increase the leg room (and make pressing in the heavy clutch on the Ghibli a little less fatiguing) a pair of seat rail extensions were made, again by the very helpful Maserati specialist from whom I purchased the car.

As you can see from the picture on the left, the original seat rails have a 10-15 mm spacer between the seat and the floor. This may not sound like much, but may be enough to prevent a tall driver from getting a stiff neck on a long drive by not having to crouch down in the driver's seat!

So, the seat was temporarily removed from the car, the spacer removed and a strip (30 mm width approximately) of decent guage, powder coated steel bolted to the floor in place of the original rails. This strip has pre-drilled holes in it, appropriately positioned to enable the seat rails to be bolted onto it, as illustrated in the picture on the right. The seat rails are now located about 60-70 mm further back than original, and about 20 mm lower. This, coupled with the steering column extension has made the driving position far better than original (for me) and enabled me to drive considerable distances in comfort (such as from the Netherlands to Switzerland, although admittedly the wife helped out!).

The only negative aspects of these modifications are that the steering column controls (the stalks for the lights and wind screen wipers) require fully extended fingers to reach them with hands on the steering wheel and there is no (absolutely non) room behind the drivers seat when I'm driving the car, as illustrated in the picture below. However, it's arguable that there's enough space in the back for adults regardless and in my mind, the advantages of the modification far outweight the minor disadvantages. And, unlike my school friends Mini, I have plenty of room to engage 3rd (5th on the Ghibli) gear without being obstructed by my knees!

Background of Jonny's Maserati

I purchased my Maserati Ghibli in the summer of 2003. I was actually after a Ghibli Cup or a Ghibli GT, but was so impressed with the condition of this car when I saw it that I was convinced to change my mind and go for this. It was built in 1992 and registered in Italy in 1993, so was one of the first Ghiblis produced. It had a single owner in Pisa, Italy until 2003, when it was imported and registered in the Netherlands by the Maserati specialist from whom I purchased the car (from Jorrit (who I thoroughly recommend), formerly at the Roy Karsten workshop in Noordwijk, but now with his own workshop called Auto Forza in Noordwijkerhout). Despite being 10 years old when imported, the car had only 45,000 km on the clock and had obviously been well looked after; it still had (and still has) remnants of the protective plastic coating on the leather interior!

The car was built for the home Italian market; it has a 2.0 liter version of the bi-turbo engine, producing 306hp from the factory. The engine is coupled to the 6-speed Getrag manual gearbox. Since this is an early model Ghibli, the engine is fitted with a conventional distributor and has the original 7 spoke OZ racing 16" x 8" wheels, with 205x45 tires on the front and 225x45 on the back.

The interior is beige leather with the usual walnut trim. A steering column boss was custom made (by an associate of Jorrit at Auto Forza) and fitted behind the steering wheel in order to bring the steering wheel out a couple of inches; the car was obviously designed with Italians in mind!

Jonny's got a brand new blog

Sorry to start off this post with a picture of me... I'm not being a narcissist, it's just this is the easiest way to publish a picture on the web and be able to point at a URL in my blog profile.

I'll spend the next few weeks documenting some of the work and events that the car has experienced since I've owned it and of course give a bit of background to the car. I'll then use the blog to keep a running commentary of living with the car. I might even give an indication of running costs? I'm not sure yet, since I may not want the missus to see that! :-)

I'm also very aware of how difficult it is to find information on these cars, let alone suppliers for parts and add-ons. I'll therefore start listing where I've got bits from and who's done work on the car.

Anyay, I hope you enjoy the blog and maybe by sharing my experiences I may help out a few other Maserati Ghibli drivers? If you are looking for help with a Maserati or just want to know some more about the manufacturer, I can thoroughly recommend Enrico's Maserati Pages.

Good luck!