1976 Maserati Khamsin Coupé

There are still many great cars during the RM Sotheby's Amelia Island sale but these are cars I already talked about in previous posts and I don't have much more to say about them.

So today, we'll discover some of the cars presented during the sale The Bond Street through Bonhams, international auction house founded in 1793 in London. And to start this series, here is the stunning 1976 Maserati Khamsin Coupé with an estimated price of £ 120,000 / $US 150,000.

With a design penned by Carrozzeria Bertone, Maserati kept its tradition of the time by naming its car after a wind, Khamsin, dry, hot and sandy local wind affecting Egypt and the Levant.

If you want to see some of the cars sold during RM Sotheby's Amelia Island sale on May 22nd, here's a follow-up :

Model	Price	Post
1965 Shelby 289 Cobra	$US 850,000	More
1959 Fiat-Abarth 750 GT	$US 100,000	More
1968 Ferrari 275 GTB/4	$US 2,500,000	More
1980 BMW M1	$US 350,000	More
1954 Swallow Doretti	$US 110,000	More
1967 Fiat Dino Coupe	$US 60,000	More
1988 Porsche 911 Turbo Flat-Nose	$US 300,000	More
1967 Maserati Ghibli 4.7	$US 160,000	More
1972 Ferrari Dino 246 GTS	$US 350,000	More

History of Maserati Khamsin

Design of Khamsi by Bertone, 1972 (source : maserati-alfieri.co.uk)

The Maserati Khamsi was presented by Bertone during the Turin Motor Show in 1972 as a concept car, the first car done by the Italian coach building company for Maserati. The car was penned by Marcello Gandini, known especially for his work with Lamborghini with the Miura and the Countach. The production car was revealed the next year at Paris. It was the last Maserati built under the chief engineer Giulio Alfieri, another Italian legend of the automobile history, the man behind development of racing and production cars for 3 decades, from 50's to 70's.

As Maserati was acquired by Citroën in 1968, Alfieri used for this Grand Touring car the famous hydraulic system for the power steering, brakes, clutch, driver's seat adjustment and headlight raising. Despite its revolutionary design and performance, this Maserati was not as successful as expected, mainly because of the 1973 oil crisis. Only 430 examples were produced between 1976 and 1982 including 73 right hand like this one.

Specification

The Maserati Khamsin was equpped with 4.9-litre four-cam alloy V8 engine (the same of Ghibli SS) producing 320 hp with a top speed of 280 kmh / 175 mph.

This example was sold in England in 1976 finished in Luci del Bosco (brown if you ask) over Senape leather interior. The car was fully restored, body and engine, in 2008 until 2012. Since then, this Khamsi has won numerous prizes in competitions. So beautiful !