Maserati: The Road Cars 1981-97

JP Williams. Published by Crowood Press 2007, 176 pages. Review copy supplied by the publishers. I might not usually review a book that was published so long ago but as this is Maserati’s centenary year, it seems only fair!

The book focuses on the Biturbo and its confusingly large number of variants. It may now be one of those rather unloved cars, but the Biturbo sold in significant numbers by Maserati standards and almost certainly enabled the company to survive.

The difficult-sounding Sr de Tomaso features, of course, as do the various takeovers and challenges faced by the company. The essential Biturbo lived on for many years, with various upgrades, different sized engines, mixed reviews from magazines, issues in the various markets where it was sold and steady improvements in its quality and abilities. In the end it was probably a pretty good car but, as often happens, its earlier reputation counted against it. Not always an easy car to keep control of when the turbos spooled-up, apparently!

The Ghibli, Karif, Shamal and early Quattroportes get some coverage too; and the book ends with some cautionary tales for buyers and restorers. I found this a much more interesting read than I’d first expected.