I still remember the first time I saw this car. It was at the 2016 Classic Car Club of Hong Kong’s annual lunch at the Hong Kong Jockey Club Beas River clubhouse. It caught my attention immediately and I ran across the lawn to take a better look at this mysterious but obviously Italian car. I quickly learnt that it was a Maserati Indy, imported from the UK by a local second hand dealer.
The colour was different back then, it was in a maroon colour – nothing as good looking or as eye-catching as the yellow it is in today. However, I was already hooked – I always loved wedged shaped cars of the 1960’s and 1970’s and Maserati is certainly one of my favorite brands. You can imagine the emotions that went through me when I was offered the keys to give the car a review drive four years after that memorable day at the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
The official headline regarding the Indy’s birth was to celebrate Maserati’s successful racer, the 8CTF, which won the Indy 500 twice in a row in 1939 and 1940 (hence the Indy’s name). The actual reason was it was produced as a four-seater to provide buyers an alternative to the beautiful first generation Maserati Ghibli (AM115), which was a two-seater produced around the same period between 1967-1973. The Indy was the first Maserati to be produced under Citroen’s ownership. Those familiar with Maserati’s history would know about the manufacturer’s unfortunate history of frequent ownership changes – majority of the time due to serious liquidity problems. I think Maserati made some of their most beautiful road cars during its Citroen ownership, including the Bora and Merak.
Maserati made about 1,100 Indy’s. All of them were V8’s, although the engine capacity slowly increased from 4.2, to 4.7, and to its final iteration of 4.9. The car we are reviewing today is a 4.7, where 364 were made. The owner of this beautiful yellow Indy bought this car in a local car auction. The next day, when he sobered up, he realized the car was not in as good a condition as he thought it was the night before. The maroon-coloured Indy was very rusty, and the engine was not in the best of health. Nevertheless, the owner is not a man known to shy away from challenges and shortly after his acquisition he took the Indy onto a China rally with the Classic Car Club of Hong Kong. The car lasted a little over two days before the water pump gave up.
That was the beginning of a long, multi-country, restoration. The Indy was first stripped out in Hong Kong and repainted to its original yellow colour. Afterwards, electronics were sorted, and a new clutch was installed. After that, the owner again took it to a rally, but this time to down under for the 2018 Targa Florio Australian Tribute for a 5 day drive around Victoria, Australia (where I also went in my ex Ferrari F430). While the car generally ran fine throughout the rally with all but one breakdown due to a lack of petrol, its suspension was not working properly and the car often bottomed out. After the rally, the owner shipped the car to the UK for a follow up restoration, where the floors and suspensions were fixed, and the engine came out again for further work.
What we have now is probably one of the most sorted Indy in the world, with more money spent on it than it would be worth anytime soon but boy it was worth it! I did not know what to expect when I first sat into the car. The interior, like the exterior and engine bay, looks brand spanking new. Visibility from all sides is great, with thin A-pillars like most cars from this era. The car is right hand drive, but the hand brake is dipped low on your left side almost right under the steering wheel and between the centre console and the driver’s seat. This is not uncommon among classic cars, but it was nevertheless my first experience with one.
We were parked on a slope and we go downhill as I set off. Being very slow and careful, I stepped on the clutch, which was surprisingly civilized and not heavy, and went into first gear. The shifter is short and solid, no drama slotting it in any gears whatsoever throughout my entire drive. As I slowly rolled down the hill, I noticed the steering wheel was not heavy (turns out it has power steering), but the brakes felt weak and mushy; it was also squeaky. When I rolled to flat ground, I let the clutch go fully for the first time in first gear, slowly easing in on the throttle as I let go the clutch and I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to get into gear – biting point and clutch travel were all very easy to handle with no need for any trial or errors.
As we got onto the open roads I was able to open up the car a bit and that carbureted V8 sang beautifully. The sound this car makes is therapeutic where it did not matter that I was actually about to have a heat stroke as it was a 35C day and the aircon does not work (the owner has since fixed the aircon). The V8 sounds strong and thunderous, exactly what you would expect from a carbureted Italian V8. However, I was surprised to also note a hint of American muscle grumble when stepping on it. I truly can listen to this symphony all day long. I wish all my cars sounded like that.
The car has good power and torque, but you do feel the size and weight dragging it back. You also do feel the size, especially the length, of the car. Some cars feel smaller than it looks when you are driving it, not this one. This is not really an issue though even for the windy narrow roads of Hong Kong.
In conclusion, I have fallen absolutely in love with this car after the drive. As mentioned, I always liked its wedged shape design but after driving it I have fallen for it even more. It was so easy to drive, which was something I did not expect at all. Truly the only complaint I have were the brakes, but that should be an easy fix. This is truly an amazing car and I would honestly love to buy it one day – but having an idea how much the owner spent on it, I am not sure if I will ever be able to afford it…
As always, thanks to our team for making this review happen!
Alex (http://www.taipanmedia.com)
Dave (Email: david@lemonadeandgiggles.com)
Icy J (IG: @Icyj95)
Adhiraj Rathore (IG: @supercarsofhongkong)
Hugo (IG: @hugochow)
Alex C. (IG: @nofishshark)
See our review video here: