1 Attachment(s)
Maserati Quattroporte (III) 1979-1990
Quattroporte III/Royale
Considered a "business man's Maserati," the Quattroporte III was presented by newly empowered Maserati chief Alejandro de Tomaso and his design staff in 1977. This was a rear wheel drive car, powered by a large V8 engine. It was important to de Tomaso that there be an Italian vehicle to compete with the recently launched Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9. The Quattroporte III marked the last of the hand-built Italian cars. All exterior joints and seams were filled to give a seamless appearance.
In 1976, Giorgetto Giugiaro presented two ItalDesign show cars on Maserati platforms, called the Medici I and Medici II. The latter in particular featured hallmarks which would make it into the production of the third-generation Quattroporte. At the 1977 Turin Motor Show, Maserati announced the Quattroporte III (Tipo AM 330), which took much from the Medici show cars, based on Maserati's Kyalami coupé, which in turn was based on the De Tomaso Longchamp. Special styling emphasis was placed on linearity, which was also useful to reduce tooling cost.
The Quattroporte III went into production in 1979, equipped with a 4,136 cc V8 engine (confusingly but steadfastly referred to as the "4200" by Maserati) producing 255 hp (188 kW), later 238 hp (SAE) (177 kW). Also available was a 4.9 litre V8 (280 hp at 5,800 rpm). One distinguishing characteristic of the vehicle was its particularly lavish interior. The automatics initially used a three-speed Borg–Warner automatic transmission, soon replaced by a Chrysler Torqueflite gearbox. Manual gearboxes were ZF-built five-speeds. The smaller engine was phased out in 1985.
From 1979 up to 1981 "4porte" badging was used, changed to Quattroporte for up to 1989. In 1986, the Maserati Royale, a handbuilt to order ultra-luxury version of the Quattroporte III, appeared. The engine was upgraded to 295 hp (SAE) (220 kW).
In all, 2,155 Quattroporte IIIs were produced, one of them for Italian presidential use. Production ceased in 1990. Turinese coachbuilder Salvatore Diomante also offered a 65 cm longer limousine version, fully equipped with white leather, "abundant burr walnut", mini-bar, video recorder and many other necessities. The price of the Diomante limousine at introduction (1986) was a rather steep 210 million lire.
The production figures for the Quattroporte are as follows:
[LIST][*]There were 2100 4portes and Quattroporte IIIs produced between 1979 and 1989.[*]The remaining 53 cars were Royales, manufactured between late 1986 and 1990. These were US$80,000 cars that were built to order only.[/LIST]
[B]Maserati Quattroporte[/B]
[LIST][*][URL="http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45751"]Maserati Quattroporte I 1963-1969[/URL][*][URL="http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45750"]Maserati Quattroporte II 1976-1978[/URL][*][COLOR="Red"]Maserati Quattroporte III 1979-1990[/COLOR][*][URL="http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45749"]Maserati Quattroporte IV 1994–2001[/URL][*][URL="http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1460"]Maserati Quattroporte V 2004-2012[/URL][*][URL="http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45335"]Maserati Quattroporte VI 2013-[/URL][/LIST]
2 Attachment(s)
Maserati Quattroporte (III) 1976-1978
