When considering Milanos for purchase, it would be a mistake to consider only the 3.0L Verde, when in reality its performance benefits over the rest of the range are modest. The Silver model is best for those seeking a car with the fewest standard features for a cool spartan feel. The Platinum is the only model aside from the Verde to feature an LSD, but includes the sometimes-problematic ABS system, as well as the leather / suede seats that do not usually age well. If you can live without the LSD, or would be open to swapping in an LSD transaxle yourself, the Gold has the excellent cloth seats and most of the electronic features of a Platinum, but uses a non-ABS braking system, which seems to be more robust.
This Milano Gold features Verde phone dial wheels and an Ansa exhaust, but seems stock otherwise. At just under 50k miles, it is one of the lower mile Milanos we've seen recently, and the asking price reflects that. With proper care, it is possible to preserve the current excellent condition, so we wouldn't worry too much about packing miles onto this one.
We are going to miss having the Maserati around. A restrained design, 6-speed manual, and an engine from Maranello with nearly 100hp/liter of displacement all add up for quite an enjoyable car. We always thought that we would replace it with a Ferrari 456 GT, but we think this will get replaced by another Maserati Coupe down the road.
For now, having the space back for our growing list of project cars will be welcome. The car has been perfect throughout our four years of ownership, with only a window regulator failure to report on as far as issues go. And we were able to come up with a fix for those here.
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Year: 2004 Model: Maserati Engine: 4.2L V8 Transmission: 6-speed manual Mileage: 49,000 miles Price: No reserve auction Location: Dearborn, MI
This 2004 Maserati Coupé GT is finished in black over black leather and is powered by a replacement 4.2-liter V8 paired with a six-speed manual transaxle. Equipment includes 18″ seven-spoke wheels, a Blaupunkt CD changer, a carbon-trimmed shift knob, automatic climate control, and Tubi rear mufflers. The car was originally delivered to The Collection of Coral Gables, Florida, and later moved to Michigan, where it was acquired by the seller in 2017. Service in 2020 consisted of a heater core replacement, a coolant flush, and oil change, while the battery was replaced in preparation for the sale. This Coupé GT shows 49k miles and is offered at no reserve with three keys, an owner’s manual, service records, a factory tool kit and tire inflator, a Maserati-branded car cover, a clean Carfax report, and a clean Michigan title in the seller’s name
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The car had an engine replacement at 33k miles, so the new engine has just 16k miles on it. We replaced the heater core with a Saab aluminum unit in summer of 2020, and changed the coolant and engine oil and filter at that time. We installed new Michelin tires at around 43k miles and repaired both window regulator pins. The car has minor paint imperfections and stone chips, but the car shows very well.
We hope that the next owner can enjoy the car as much as we did, and continues to keep it in great shape. Enjoy the final day of the auction!
The Lancia Thema is hardly a Lancia in the traditional sense, but somehow its generic Italian sport sedan credentials add up to something very appealing. Take a competent FWD sedan chassis developed with the deep pockets of Fiat, drop in a venerable 3.0L Busso V6 from Alfa Romeo, and tack on some Lancia badges and you have the Lancia Thema V6.
Lancia also offered the Thema in 8.32 form with a 2.9L Ferrari V8, so why bother with the V6? Head to Youtube to find out, or just take our word for it: the Busso V6 sounds better than the detuned Ferrari V8. Add to that the serviceability of the Alfa power plant compared to the Ferrari unit, the major price discount, and the sleeper appeal, and the case for the Thema V6 is strong.
In a perfect world, the 164 LS would exist only in the domain of white-haired men over 70 who wear scarves like a priest's stole over their overcoat and enjoy classical music with their drives. In reality, the 164 LS is adored by dorks like us who wish they gave off that aura.
We will ignore our stubborn insistence on manual transmissions for the sake of this example, because other than the auto trans, it is a perfect 164 LS spec to us. A 1994 model would be non-EGR, which makes service slightly easier. The green exterior over tan interior is one of our favorite color combinations, and anyone who hasn't experienced the leather on a 164 owes it themselves to check it out - it's seriously nice leather for a mass-produced sedan. Euro headlights and the wood steering wheel are nice (expensive) additions that we really like to see.
A clean Fiat Barchetta is a car for - to be trite - living in the moment. No track-use mods to plan for, no insane maintenance tasks to put off for a later date, no got-to-have-it upgrades that you car is missing; just you and your 5-speed roadster with an attention to design that would make it difficult to ask for more.
From the shape, to the cool 90s details like the body color on the door panels, to the headlight and taillight designs, to the white gauges - everything on the Barchetta is designed with an attention to detail that is rare in cars today. The price for all of this is a FWD layout, which is fine for the intended us of the Barchetta, but won't win anyone over on the track, we suspect.
In theory, a vehicle like a BMW M3 should be very capable of managing the commute during the week while proving very capable on the track on weekends. The Nürburgring is littered with M3s driven down from England for that reason. We think that the Alfa Romeo 156 GTA, which saw itself lumped with cars like the BMW M3, aimed for something different. Its purpose was to emphasize the look and feel of something like a BMW M3 in a way that made for a more remarkable experience on the road, leaving plenty of on-track performance on the table.
Starting with the handsome 156, Alfa Romeo added 17" wheels, a lower suspension, and aggressive bodywork to get to GTA form. The engine is the 3.2L variant of the Busso V6 - the last to be produced in the Arese plant, not far from where this example is offered for sale. Suspension tuning is altered, with revised sway bars, springs and shocks. Like most in the 156 range, the front wheels are driven, and that limits the track appeal for many.
Our favorite detail on this example is the Selespeed automated manual transmission. While we have trouble warming up to any automatic, the automated manual has some allure. The Ferrari F1 systems, introduced on the F355, offered a way to experience F1 technology in a road car, clunky though they were; the Selespeed system offered up that Ferrari and F1 experience in a humble Alfa Romeo.
Price aside, this could be an eBay listing from 2005, before the internet allowed for so much connection between the owners of cars from the fringes of the automotive landscape. Today, the parts for a GTV are widely available, the problems are documented very well, and the "right" modifications are accepted among those in the know. More people on the road might even recognize the make and model, largely due to the reintroduction of Alfa Romeo to North American shores.
We like the mystery of this one. How many miles since the engine rebuild? Which parts were used? Where were the synchros for the trans rebuild sourced? Were the floors the only rust items to address, or maybe the only items that the seller had the heart to dig into? With the automotive internet humming along, the answers to these questions would normally be offered by the seller. This listing harkens back to a time when I think people went out on a limb more when purchasing something like this.
We don't have a problem with cars that aren't rare, so please don't take this the wrong way, but we think some perspective on rarity is helpful when approaching something such as this run-down Espada. We'll compare it to the Fiat 128, a car we never see on the road today.
Lamborghini produced around 1,200 Espadas over roughly ten years, working out to one car every three days. Fiat produced around 2.7 million 128 sedans and wagons in Italy over the course of around 16 years. That works out to roughly 14,000 cars every 3 days - more than entire model run of Espadas in the time it took to build a single Espada. I can't tell you the last time that I saw either car, but the odds are clearly stacked against the Espada.
We really don't like dealing with rusty cars. Certain components - suspension, brackets, exhaust - can be dealt with with reasonable effort, but once the body begins to rust, the rehab process becomes very involved. Best to cut out the rust and replace with new metal to prevent problems down the road.
Buying from the American Southwest is one way to avoid virtually all rust. Dry enough to store airplanes, the desert air is kinder to the sheetmetal. That said, with the dry air usually comes intense sunlight, and those powerful rays have a way of destroying car interiors. So, unless the car is garage-kept, you pay for your clean sheetmetal with an exploded dash and disintegrated seat foam.
We've heard a couple of harsh descriptions of the styling of our Alfa Romeo Milano from creative observers. The best - and sadly, most accurate - is probably "VW Jetta that has been rear-ended". Key on a Milano, though, and the design doesn't seem to have as much bearing on the experience as the sweet Busso V6 sound does.
We love the styling on the Milano, and are fans of Ermanno Cressoni's work on the Alfa Romeo 33 as well. That said, we can't imagine that most people align with us on the 33, so we are left wondering: how did the 33 win over so many people? Affordability is probably key here, but we've heard that the handling on the 33 is very entertaining. We have to wonder about that, because despite the low position of the engine, it does seem to lie entirely in front of the front axle - not ideal for directional changes.
