[Mike] This time, we're out to prove
you can have the supercar experience...
Oh, it just wants to go, go, go, go, go!
...without splashing supercar money.
Nice one. I love these.
They are a budget Ferrari, aren't they?
This Maserati is packing some serious power...
A-ha! What a monster.
...but it could warp us in the wallet.
The components themselves can come in at over £1,000.
So we need to keep a tight hold of the purse strings.
-That would be around about £2,000. -Two grand for the radio?
If we're to show this budget supercar,
it's up there with the big boys.
-This car's got some beef to it. -Oh-ho, it really has.
It's like holding on to a wild beast.
-I'm Mike Brewer... -O-ho.
...and I've been buying and selling cars for nearly 40 years.
It's rattly, smelly, and it's bloomin' brilliant.
Now I've set up shop in Britain's motoring heritage heartland...
Oh, yes!
...along with ex-Formula One mechanic,
-Marc 'Elvis' Priestly. -[laughs]
So that engine management light never put you off then?
Together, we're going to buy...
-Top man. -...and fix up...
Look at the state of it. It's got Spirit of Ecstasy and everything.
...the most iconic and exciting cars on the market.
Oh, yes!
Bolt a supercharger to it and you end up with a car that does this!
-[engine revving] -With Elvis's engineering skill...
-And there it is, the offending article. -...and my car-dealing clout.
He's gonna be over the moon.
Elvis better get the Porsche tools ready.
...we should be able to make ourselves a tidy profit.
Don't break it because we've got to sell it,
so just drive it carefully now.
Guess what passed me on the way into work,
I mean, like, flew past me this morning?
-What? -A Ferrari 360.
Yeah. Nice car. Not cheap, though. I mean, out of our league, surely.
-Yeah. I've looked on the internet at 50-grand-plus. -Yeah.
But it did get me thinking, how can you get
that supercar experience without having to spend
Ferrari money?
It's tricky, innit? 'Cause a Ferrari is a Ferrari,
so you can't just do it on the cheap.
Back in the late 1990s, into the noughties,
Ferrari was owned by Fiat
and they also owned Maserati at the same time.
-Yeah. -And there's a car in the range of 4200GT
that is essentially a Ferrari, but with a Maserati wing on it.
-What are they going for nowadays? -Well, I found one
that's got a naturally aspirated V8 engine,
looks really good in terms
of the color combination, and it's ten grand.
-Can you believe it? -Wow. No, that's decent, isn't it?
'Cause it's a Ferrari engine, and that's Fiat money.
The word "supercar," it froze up all kinds of connotations
about high performance, but also high price tags.
The dream of owning a supercar
could be just that for most people out there,
couldn't it? Just a dream.
That's unless you're willing to think outside the box.
In the late '90s, Ferrari took over a struggling Maserati
teetering on the brink of extinction.
Their expertise led to the launch of the 4200GT,
a top-quality yet affordable supercar.
It had the Maserati badge, 18-inch alloy wheels,
plenty of room to make it a daily driver,
and under the bonnet, a naturally aspirated
4.2-liter Ferrari V8.
And that's why I know the 2005 4200GT
I'm going to see could be a bargain buy.
You know, I've been around a few Maseratis
and there are quite a few gremlins you need to look out for.
They do suffer with electrical problems,
and then sticky dash.
The material on the knobs and buttons
on the dashboard tends to melt.
It can be cured, but unfortunately, it costs money.
So, I'm not going to deny it. I'm... I'm pretty excited
because I'm on my way to go and see an actual car dealer
who's got this car for sale on his forecourt.
He's had it there a while.
He hasn't sold it yet. His name is Andrew.
And on the phone, he's already said that he'd let it go for ten grand.
If I can get it for anything, something grand,
I just won't be able to contain my excitement.
-You must be Andy. I am. -I am. You must be Mike.
[both] Nice to see you.
And then I get greeted by this,
a Maserati marked up under ten grand. I like it.
-You had it in stock long? -We've had it a few months.
Bought it from a client, part of his collection.
He had a 3200, which he wanted to keep.
So we bought the 4200 off him.
Oh, listen, I'm here to have a good look around it.
-Can we start with the engine? Yeah, lovely. -Of course, we can.
-[engine whirring] -Oh, nice.
Mate, that sounds fantastic. This is the Ferrari engine, isn't it?
It is, it's the 4.2, 390 brake horsepower.
Wow, it's a lot of engine, isn't it?
-It's a great engine. -And in the time you've had it, no trouble?
Nothing at all.
Right, let's turn this off. Wow. Look at that interior.
-That's something else, innit? -With the red carpets.
Yeah, it's got the electric multi-function heated seats,
flappy paddle gearbox.
No tears, no rips. Dashboard looks good.
-Everything looks good. -It has got the issue with the sticky black dials.
Yeah, which is a bit of a shame, isn't it?
So that's a thing that will need doing on this.
Right, well, let's have a look down the back, shall we?
Wheels are good, aren't they? Yeah, lovely.
Look at that shape.
I love the four exhaust pipes that are sitting out the back there.
It's lovely, isn't it?
You've got that grille at the back as well,
little Venturi tunnel, big fat tires.
-Yeah, looks all right, doesn't it? -Lovely.
Sharp as well. Let's have a look inside the boot.
Oh, that looks all right, the boot, doesn't it?
Looks nice and tidy. And what's this,
-the service history? -That's your service history, Mike.
Last service to 88,000 miles.
it's now done 115, it's ready for a service.
Right, so between 88,000 miles and 115,000 miles,
it's kind of a, well, it'd be a big service missing there.
Yes.
Okay, well that's nice of you to let me know,
-so that will need doing, won't it? -Absolutely.
Okay, that's fair enough. Listen, I really like the car,
I think it looks really smart.
Do you like it enough to buy it?
[chuckles] Well, I like it enough to try it.
So if you don't mind, can I take it out for a quick spin? Love you to.
[ENGINE STARTING]
Right, here we go.
It just hauls this car,
it really does, that Ferrari V8 engine upfront,
it just, oh, it just wants to go, go, go, go, go!
It doesn't want to slow down.
[laughs]
Right. It seems that I've touched the paddles.
Here we go into manual mode.
I'm going to come down to almost a crawl.
So I can just put it up through this
paddle shift. Make sure it's good.
-[rattling] -Ooh, that's not good.
That could be a little bit of a problem
because it's just not changing up and down
as quickly as I would like. It's kind of lazy,
the way it's doing it,
and that's not the end of it, listen to that.
That's the rear quarter
on my left-hand side on the passenger side.
That is a little rattle coming off the suspension.
Da-da-da-da-da-da-da.
That's just rattling away. So that's another problem.
The only thing that lets this interior down
is that Ferrari problem.
It's got the sticky buttons everywhere, in all the vents.
All the sticky stuff is just nasty.
Every time you touch it, you actually get it,
look, on your fingers, this sticky stuff.
So somebody is going to spend
an awful lot of time trying to tidy it up.
Lots of these problems would send
a noble customer running for the hills.
But does all this distract from this car?
Do I still like this Maserati?
Well, I think buying a car that does nought to 60
-in sub five seconds, it sounds... -[engine revving]
[chuckling] ...like that, and it does this to your face.
[laughs]
And it feels the way it does
when you're holding on to the steering wheel,
yeah, I can definitely see this one
coming back to the workshop with me and Elvis.
I mean, the car, there's some real good positives about it.
The engine's lovely, but it is a bit slow, that gearbox.
So, maybe that might need looking at.
But, Mike, you've got to bear in mind,
-it's a 17-year-old Italian supercar. -Yeah, it's true.
So, it will have an issue or two.
Of course, it will. There's just a few surprises.
-But you do like it? -I like the car.
I just think that I'm gonna need a little bit help, price-wise,
to cover all these little jobs.
-So you've got to advertise for ten grand on Fiverr? -Yeah.
I was thinking, you know, what's fair for this car is £9,500.
-£9,500 is a fair bit. -Lovely.
-Just bought myself a Maserati 4200GT -Good deal.
with a Ferrari engine.
Yes! £9,500
bags me a Maserati with a Ferrari engine.
Oh, getting it for that price
really does give me and Elvis a head start
so we can start doing some of the important work
we're going to need to do
to be able to turn a profit on this car.
I just hope that boy's got a big smile on his face
when I get this back to the workshop.
[honks]
Ha-ha. Yes. There it is.
-You bought it. Nice one. I love these. -Yes.
I mean they're a budget Ferrari, aren't they?
They certainly are a budget Ferrari. Yeah. A Maserati.
It's a good one as well. It's the 4200GT.
Do you want to have a look at what's under there?
Of course, I do. Yeah, let me at it. [chuckles]
Let's have a look. What a monster!
But it's a Ferrari, so when it goes wrong, it's expensive.
Yes, it's got a lot of V8 Ferrari complicatedness
-in there. -Yes, that's what I'm worried about.
I mean, it's got no oil leaks.
-It's nice and bone dry underneath. -The rest of it drives well?
Well, it drives very well. It's got... Can be,
of course, the gearbox.
So it is, dare I say, a little bit sloppy.
It's got a sport mode, so it can be aggressive.
But in normal mode, it's just a little bit lazy.
It's slow. You've got to keep your fingers crossed
it's nothing big and mechanical inside the gearbox
-because that could become expensive. -It's not gonna be that.
There's a rattle coming from this rear upright?
So whether it's a lower wishbone, suspension bushes.
So, it rattles down the road like a one-man band?
A little bit like that, yeah. The horn section being the exhaust.
Good. On the interior,
-you're going to like this. -Look at that.
I mean, mate, that's amazing. It's so over the top, isn't it?
But yet so kind of supercar-esque.
No rips, no tears, no, nothing wrong with it.
Just the same problem that you get with every Ferrari,
Fiat, and Maserati of this generation.
-Sticky dash? -Sticky dash. Why didn't they ever get on top of that?
Ah, it drives you mad, doesn't it? Because they've all got it.
Then this one's particularly bad. Look at the vents.
Look, they're horrible. It actually rubs off in your hands.
Sticks your fingers together. It's nasty, but it's fixable.
Other than that, mate, you happy?
I absolutely love it, mate. I mean, it's a beauty, isn't it?
I actually got this car for £9,500.
-[chuckling] No, you didn't. Oh, my word. -Yes.
That is an absolute bargain. Mate, you've done so well.
I mean, we got to keep our fingers crossed,
'cause we still don't know the extent of the repair bills.
-But, hey, I love it. -Okay, well, I'll get the door.
-You can have a play with that gearbox. -[chuckles]
When it comes to finding a car with all the attributes
of a supercar but without the price tag,
you'd struggle to do better than the 4200GT.
Albeit this one is far from perfect.
But that does not take away the excitement
of now having an Italian supercar right here in our workshop.
And it's all about what's underneath there.
A 4.2-liter beast producing almost 400 horsepower
and taking this car from nought to 60 in 4.7 seconds
with a top speed of 177 miles an hour.
For a budget price, we've got a Maserati here
capable of holding its own against supercars
of many times its value.
Traditionally, brands like Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini
all created barriers to entry because of a high purchase price,
but also because repair and servicing bills
were so astronomically high
that it put a lot of people off experiencing the joys of ownership.
In recent years, though, one or two companies have popped up
making aftermarket parts for these cars.
And that means that spares have become more readily available.
With a little bit of know-how, you can find parts
to keep these things on the road, and get many of these jobs done yourself.
On Mike's test drive, he noticed
our Maserati's gear shifts were a little lazy.
So I need to see if I can get to the root of the problem.
Now, to give me a much clearer picture
of exactly what state our Maserati is in,
I've borrowed this, it's called a Leonardo diagnostics machine,
and it can flag up any errors that might need my attention.
I've already been through the engine parameters,
the ECU, and they all look good.
As Mike said, that Ferrari power unit in there, looking sweet.
But one thing that's worried me
right from the moment Mike turned up with this car was the clutch.
The components themselves can come in at over £1,000.
I can run a diagnostics and it'll tell me how much
of the existing clutch is worn already.
Now, if I get a number
that's anywhere close to 75% worn,
well, I absolutely need to pull that clutch out and replace it.
So if we run the diagnostics...
Okay, there we go. Clutch wear, 29%.
That is a massive, massive relief. [chuckling]
I can't tell you how relieved I am with that.
29% might sound like a significant number,
but actually, in one of these, it's absolutely fine,
and has already saved us a huge amount of money.
Okay, the clutch is in good nick,
but that still leaves me with a question mark
over what's causing the lazy gear-change issue.
To investigate further, I need to take a look underneath the car.
Right, let's have a look.
Okay. Well, at first glance, actually, it doesn't look too bad.
Oh, okay.
All right, that's the actuator for the gearbox that's got a leak.
And it's quite a bad leak, I've gotta say.
What happens is, when you pull a gear
on the paddles behind the steering wheel,
it uses hydraulic pressure down those lines there
that cues that actuator to then select a gear inside the gearbox.
Because it's got such a bad leak,
yeah, that's going to cause a loss of pressure.
I wonder, that could actually be one of the reasons
that Mike found that gear change to be sloppy or a little bit slow.
Either way, that's gonna have to come off the car
and be serviced to find out exactly where it's leaking from.
But hopefully, it's not too bad a fix.
Okay, first job to do then.
[Mike] While Elvis cracks on in the garage,
I found someone who can solve our sticky button problem
and for a fraction of the price of buying new ones.
His name is Roland,
and he's based out of this unit in Peterlee near Middlesbrough.
-Roland. -Hi, Mike. Mate, how are you?
-All good. -You can shake my hand. I don't mind. Nice to see you.
-You all right? I recognize this. -Nice to see you too.
-This is my Maserati interior. -Yep.
-Wow. -Just in the process of giving them a quick
clean-down, ready to paint.
Lovely, but I don't want to disturb you while you're working.
-Shall I grab a chair? Nice. -Yeah, yeah.
Right, then, Roland. So this is a problem, isn't it?
And it's a problem I've faced before actually.
Anything from the Fiat group, like a Maserati,
Ferrari, Fiat,
they tend to just get these sticky button problems.
-Why is it? -I believe
it breaks down due to fluids that detailers use.
'Cause the coating's a really weird texture, isn't it?
I mean, if I take this, for instance, it's got a soft texture.
So it's that soft texture that's getting broken down
-by the chemicals and turning sticky? -Correct.
What's the method, then, to get rid of it?
So basically, the process I use is all by hand,
just isopropanol, a rag,
and just hours and hours of scrubbing.
-All right. -Basically, till you get back down
to bare plastic, clean, and then use a laser.
-Sorry. You do what? -So, we use a laser
-to etch the symbols back in. -Right. So, what's the first job, then?
Just take some of this stuff and we just keep cleaning?
-Yeah? -You just give it a clean.
The isopropanol completely strips
all the paints off the buttons, taking them back to bare plastic.
What if I was to get in touch with Maserati
and say, "I need new buttons," what would they charge me?
Well, for instance, these six buttons,
-they would be around about £1,000. -Oh, you're kidding me.
Seriously?
No, no. The radio, that would be around about £2,000.
-I beg your pardon? -Yeah, about £2,000.
-So, it makes sense to... -To redo this.
Yeah. Well, I'm happy to clean away and save the money.
Once the buttons have been stripped back,
the next step is to repaint them.
So what's the process here? What are you gonna do first?
So, we basically put a couple of coats
of base coat on, white, and then black.
Obviously, let it dry, and then we'll do some lasering on them.
Right. Gotcha. So the white base coat,
once you laser etch the black off,
-that reveals the icons? I gotcha. -Yeah.
Okay, well, listen, I'll leave you to get on with this bit
'cause of safety and all the rest of it.
I'm up here through the window
-if that's all right with you? -Yeah, no problem.
Roland uses standard automotive paint for the buttons,
but crucially, adds his own top-secret coating to seal them,
preventing the stickiness from returning in the future.
There's an amazing level of detail you have to go through
to get that sort of supercar finish.
The final step of the process is to take the plain black buttons
and reinstate the individual markings.
Whilst those are drying,
Roland has the console prepped and ready to go.
So this one was prepped earlier on.
So we've put some white on, put some black on.
-Now, it's a case of giving this a quick laser. -How do you operate it?
Yeah, so basically, we use a computer
which has all the pre-determined symbols on,
and then we basically just line the laser
-and let it fire away. -Super. All right. Show me in action.
Do I have to put any safety equipment on?
-Yeah, there's glasses. -Right.
I wondered why these 40 glasses were up there.
These are gonna look nice. Oh, yeah, look at that.
Nice one. Right, laser away.
The laser Roland is using is specially calibrated
to emit just enough heat to evaporate the black paint
without melting the plastic underneath.
In less than 60 seconds, the whole console will be complete.
[laughs]
Ah, it's just brilliant. I just love it.
Look at that.
I've never seen anything like it before in my life.
That is so class, isn't it? What a job!
All that stripping down and repairing.
Our budget supercar is no longer a budget supercar.
It looks factory-fresh, doesn't it?
Well done, mate. Absolutely, love it.
-No problem at all. -Isn't that amazing?
Roland's refurbished all that sticky dash,
and for just £550,
a fraction of what Maserati would have charged.
[Elvis] I'm also out on the road,
having sent our NACA gear actuator to my mate Simon's shed.
But it's not just any old shed.
This is where Simon's company, SS AutoTech,
work their magic on refurbing parts.
I've got all the specialist care and knowledge to get it working again.
What are the main things that go wrong?
[Simon] Leakage is the most common problem.
Obviously, you've got dynamic moving parts in here.
So, you've got Teflon-based seal material
moving on steel pistons. They do wear out.
Eventually, you lose more and more pressure
and you get sluggish gear changes.
-Which is exactly the fault that Mike found on -Yes,
-the test drive. -yes.
Okay, so we're gonna strip this down,
have a closer look inside
-and hopefully rectify those problems. -Yep.
-We'll do that. -Right, where do we start?
Okay. So, let's put her in the jig and we'll get our tools on it
and start stripping the whole thing down.
As we strip the actuator down, it's not long before we spot
one of the potential culprits for the gearshift issue.
Well, look at that. That is the seal.
-That's what we're talking about. -You can see the wear here
on the end 'cause you've got another seal that houses this chamber
-and that's polished. Polished that out. -Yeah.
So, yeah, she's worn.
So, the good news is, it's quite a common thing.
We can replace those seals and that should then hold that pressure
and give us that positive gear shift back.
-Absolutely, it'd be... It would work as good as new. -Perfect.
Before we replace the worn-out seals,
every part of our actuator needs to be cleaned by hand,
then placed in an ultrasonic bath.
The machine creates bubbles which burst in the water
due to sound waves emitted within the bath.
These bursting bubbles remove all the remaining
fine dirt particles and grease,
leaving us with parts which look brand-new.
Right, Simon, everything's now clean.
We've got new seals and everything. New gaskets as well.
There are a couple of new components here, aren't there?
There are. So, when we rebuild
and we don't want to build it as standard because they do fail,
so what we've done, the first thing is a selector shaft...
the original one here, where the selector, the finger bobs to,
has been wasted and that can bend around there.
That becomes a weak point that you've seen bend over time?
That is a weak point, exactly.
So what we've done to overcome that, we've made it out of a solid
and we've clocked the position of the bolt holes here,
and that is made out of very strong tool steel.
-Not gonna bend. -So you can see it's stronger.
That's one of your little modifications.
That's one of our little modifications.
And then one of the other mods we've made,
now this is a very important one on these hydraulic rams.
See this black shiny coating,
-that's the DLC coating. -What's DLC stand for?
Diamond-like carbon.
-So it's a very, very hard, like diamond, coating... -Yeah.
and the base of this is a graphite.
So it's a lubricity as well.
That will give you 20% to 30% less friction.
Oh, okay. So that's a huge amount.
It should last a lot longer with that. That's the idea.
That's what we want to do, is to make it a much stronger,
improved actuator.
All that's left to do is reassemble the actuator.
Then we can put it through its paces
on this hydraulic rig, which will recreate the gear-changing motions
it'll experience when it's back on the car.
-Okay, so you can see the actuation happening. -Yeah.
All the gear cycles here.
So you've got that radial movement as well as
-the sort of forward... -That's right.
-And it's holding pressure.
And it's holding pressure very well, so I'm happy with that.
Your potentiometers are reading correctly as well.
-So that's good to go. I'm happy with that. -That's great.
Yeah. Well, I'm very happy with that. Nice one.
Right, well, listen, I'm so pleased that it's now working,
but now that it is, whilst I got the car apart,
and up in the air, is there anything else I should think about?
Are there any other weak points in this system
I should think about replenishing or replacing?
Yeah, I would definitely look at the F1 pump.
-Okay. -The brush motors. And they do wear out.
They sound expensive, though. Everything's expensive in these systems.
If you go to a main dealer, Maserati or Ferrari,
it's going to be extremely expensive.
But there are Alfa pumps,
which is the same thing. It's a Selespeed pump
at a fraction of the cost, and it will do the same job.
So it's the same part, but it's a cut-price option?
-That's right. That's right. They're out there. -Gotta get Mike onto that.
That's brilliant, thanks, mate.
No problem at all. You're welcome.
-How are ya, fella? I'm a man bearing gifts. -I'm all right, mate.
-What you got? -Right, remember that Maserati dashboard you gave me?
-Look at it now. -That's not the same one.
-That is the same one there. -What? That is amazing!
It looks brand-new. That's gonna make the interior
-absolutely phenomenal. -It's gonna be great.
Also, I picked up that Selespeed pump for you.
-Well done. Nice. -Crazy that they can charge
£1,383 for a Ferrari or Maserati,
and yet the same Alfa part is £169.
Yeah, exactly, yeah, and it does exactly the same thing.
With the actuator and the Selespeed pump,
we're gonna have a nice snappy gear change.
-Yeah. Yeah. -And we've done all of this, remember, on a budget.
We should put this car up against a proper supercar, shouldn't we?
I was thinking something along those lines because I really would like
to test this and I mean, properly test it, put it through its paces
'cause I can't wait to get behind the wheel.
Well, let me give you that and I'll find out somewhere we can take it.
Nice one. And after I've fitted this,
I've got the suspension to sort out as well.
Mike did a great job finding this Alfa Romeo Selespeed pump,
which has saved us a huge chunk of change.
It's a like-for-like replacement,
so I can just bolt it in place where the old one used to sit.
Right. Now before we fit our newly refurbished actuator,
it's a really good tip to install these high-pressure hydraulic lines
that go from the valve block into the actuator itself
before we install the unit. Because once it's up in the car,
they become very difficult to access.
But it's also really, really important
we get these in the right order, they all look very similar.
But they have to go in a very specific position.
On the valve block itself, the manufacturer has stamped
numbers from one to five to designate the order.
But as I took the lines off,
I took the time to put the corresponding number of tie wraps
onto the end of those lines, so there's no way I can get them mixed up.
Now, basically, the way it works is, as hydraulic fluid under pressure,
around 50 bar, comes through the hydraulic lines
and into these five ports,
it comes in in different combinations,
depending on which gear you select,
and those different combinations translate into either lateral
or vertical movement here at the actuator,
and it's that that selects the right gear in the gearbox.
All I need to do now is to get it fitted.
Using my tie wraps as a guide,
I can fit the hydraulic lines in the correct positions on the pump.
Then apply sealant around the edges...
and get it bolted back onto the gearbox.
This is where that little tip really pays you back,
knowing that I can't get these wrong.
I just need to match the numbered lines
from the pump with the valve block, and Bob's your uncle.
Well, there we go. That's it. Pretty much all back together.
All I need to do now is put the reservoir back on,
fill it up with fluid and bleed it.
Then we should have a fully functioning Cambio Corsa gear box,
like this car should have always had.
And the best bit is we haven't had to pay a supercar premium
to get it done.
Elvis, fella, come over here.
I think I've found us the perfect place to take the Maserati.
-Where? -Well, I know how much you like a racetrack,
there's a supercar meet at Castle Combe.
Amazing. I mean, look, I would love to get that on a racetrack.
I've entered us into the event,
but there's some really good company there.
Ferrari 550,
Porsche 911 Turbo S,
Aston Martin Vantage 007 Edition.
They've even got a Vanquish Zagato.
-Wow. -And then there's this turning up as well.
-An Aventador. -[laughs] Wow!
That's some proper list of cars.
That has got a 6.2-liter V12 engine.
I'm not sure we'll keep up with it, but we can definitely have a lot of fun.
Definitely have some fun. We'll prove to these people
that you don't need to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds,
like they did, to go and have fun.
Mate, that's a great idea. I love it. Nice one.
I've got one last mechanical job to do on our Maserati,
and that's trying to solve the handling issue
Mike noticed on the test drive.
Now Mike told me there were some problems with the handling of this car.
He said it was loose and sloppy at the rear end.
Not like a Maserati should be.
And so I've been through all of the components,
checking bushes, dampers, linkages,
trying to find a source of that problem.
I have also spoken to a specialist,
and both of those things have led me to this point here.
This little bush on the end of this linkage
that controls the rear track of the car has play in it.
You can see it moving like that, and that shouldn't be the case.
Now, if you take that to a Maserati main dealer,
they are most likely gonna want to change this entire lower arm
at a cost of close to £2,000.
That's no good for us. So I've done a bit of digging online,
and I have found myself this
which is just that little replacement bush
on its own at a cost of just £55,
which is much more like it. So I should be to replace it myself.
Now because the bush that I need to change
is inside the end of this adjustable track control arm,
I need to measure it now to make sure that when I put it back,
it goes back at exactly the same length,
so I don't adversely affect the tracking of the car.
The adjustable arm length is 240mm.
So I need to make sure it's exactly the same
when I put it back together.
With that checked, I can set about getting to that worn-out bush.
Now this stud here runs through the linkage
and through the bottom of the upright and into
the lower arm on the other side.
But I need to get it out to be able to remove
this linkage and change the bush.
I could use a stud extractor to get that stud out of there,
but you do risk damaging threads when you do that.
So I'm going to use this old-school method
of winding two nuts onto that thread,
locking them against each other, and use those to wind the stud out.
The second nut locks the first one in place.
So when I get my spanner on the first one...
with a bit of brute force, I can get the stud moving.
Then I can get the linkage off and over to the bench.
Right, with the two rubber dust covers out of the way,
now it gives me access to the bush itself.
This is the bit that has all the play in it that I need to replace.
Because of its unique design, I need to get a special tool
with a very thin wall that will slot over the top
of this top hat insert
and then be able to press on the part of the bush
that has the interference fit inside the link itself.
Sometimes you can use the socket to do that,
but in this case, I needed this. Cost me about £40,
which can make the job a whole lot easier.
I'm using the hydraulic press to remove the bush,
as it's purpose-built for the job.
But you could do this at home carefully using a mallet.
Once the old bush is out,
I just need to use the press again to push the new one in.
Then after applying a bit of grease, I can get it back on the car.
Right. There we go. That's the last
of all the major jobs on this car now done.
I've still got to give it a service and check
the tracking, but it all looks good.
And I'm really pleased that all of the jobs we've done
have somehow improved this car, either through its performance
or handling, like this, without spending a fortune.
And I hope that that gets us just a little bit closer
to proving that you can have the supercar experience
without having to spend supercar money.
[grunts softly] Perfect.
When Mike bought it, there were a number of reasons
why our Maserati was going cheap.
That is a little rattle coming off the suspension.
Da-da-da-da-da-da-da. That's just rattling away.
I set about fixing the mechanical gremlins.
We can replace those seals, and that should then hold that pressure
and give us that positive gear shift back.
Absolutely. It'd be... It would work as good as new.
While Mike restored its supercar luxury.
Ah. It's just brilliant. I just love it.
[chuckling] Look at that.
And now we're hoping we've unleashed its full potential
and got bags of supercar power on a shoestring budget.
Mike bought the car for £9,500.
Refurbing the sticky buttons and vents was £550.
I saved us a few quid by helping to rebuild
the gear selector, which cost £800.
The new suspension bushes were £136...
and the Selespeed pump £170.
Finally, the service kit and fresh oil was 217 quid.
Giving us a grand total of £11,373,
a fraction of the cost
of most supercars on the market.
[engines revving]
And what better place to put it through its paces
than a supercar track day
at the historic Castle Combe Circuit?
I used to come here all the time. I am so at home at a racetrack.
But before we hit the track, I need to find Mike,
who I'm sure is going to be in his element amongst this lot.
Wow, what a lineup of cars.
Wow. Look at this.
And here he is. He is gonna be so excited.
That looks incredible. How are you, fella?
-Yeah, amazing. -It's finished.
-Any problems with it, finishing it off? -No problem, as always.
-It's absolutely brilliant. It drives amazingly well. -And don't it look good?
It looks amazing, doesn't it? I mean, we are amongst, like, royalty here.
We've got Lamborghinis. We've got Porsches,
Ferraris, Aston Martins, Maserati.
Yeah, what a lineup. And it does feel at home, doesn't it?
Well, listen, mate, before we get out there on the track,
do you wanna go and meet a few of the owners?
-Yes. That's the one you showed me a picture of. -Yes, let's go meet the owner.
-Hello, fellas, how are ya? -Hi. Nice to meet you.
-Nice to meet ya. Nice to meet ya. -So, we were drawn by these
two lovely-looking cars. Who owns that McClaren?
-That's mine. -Yeah, that's absolutely lovely,
that, isn't it? What a wicked-looking car.
But this one is, like, a superstar, isn't it?
-Is this yours? -Yes, it is, yeah.
Can you tell us a bit about the car?
Yeah, it's a Lamborghini Aventador Miura edition.
They made 50 of them to celebrate 50 years of Lamborghini Miura.
Erm, that came out in 2016.
I think they were released at Goodwood.
So I got this car three years ago.
I think they did them in black, yellow, green,
and the orange.
Now the Lamborghini Miura was penned as the world's first-ever supercar.
The word "supercar" was invented once that car was on the road.
-Can I ask how much are they? -Yeah.
They're about £250,000 to £300,000,
they kind of fluctuate a little bit.
You know, I got it a little bit cheaper when I bought it.
Hopefully, it's gone up a bit since then,
and hopefully keep going up and we'll see what happens.
We were hoping that we could have the same experience
as what you're getting out of this, but in our budget supercar.
-Yeah. Love it. -A Maserati, what do you think of that?
Because it's the best car you could buy for that kind of money.
Ferrari-based engine, the sound's incredible.
You know, if you shut your eyes, you wouldn't,
you'd think you're in a, you know, 150 grand supercar.
-That's fantastic. -Well, we can't wait to see this out on the track.
No doubt we're just gonna be in your rear view mirror.
I think our slot is rapidly approaching,
so we better get... Helmet it up and get out there.
-We'll see you on the tracks. Thanks, chaps. -Take care. Cheers.
The Castle Combe Circuit is just a shade under three kilometers long.
And it's renowned for being
one of the fastest racetracks in the country.
It's the perfect test for our Maserati.
[engine revving]
Wow, this car goes, wow!
Wow, look at that! This car's got some beef to it.
Oh-ho, it really has.
It's so at home right here on a racetrack.
I love this place as well. It's a proper fast circuit, this one.
Right, now when I'd got the car,
obviously it had a few little issues.
One of the issues being was that gear change.
-Talk me through it. What's it feel like? -It feels amazing.
It feels so sweet. I mean, it's literally smooth.
It's crisp, it's brilliant.
Yi, yi, yi, yi, yi!
[laughs]
Come on, Elvis! Oh, yes!
-Here we go. Turns in beautifully. -Yeah, it really does.
That is sharp, isn't it, the way it turns in?
-That's lovely. -And how about the sounds?
Sound is glorious. Now when I'd got the car, again,
I noticed, on the rear felt really, really loose.
But now, whoa, I mean,
from this seat, from the passenger seat,
it hurts when you push it to the corner.
It's so grippy on the rear.
Oh, yes, it's just hanging on and hanging on.
Go on, Elvis. Go on, attack that corner.
Brake, brake, brake, turn!
[both laughing]
We've got all these guys turning up here today,
and the potential customer for this car...
-Yes. -...is turning up here today.
And these guys would have spent £60,000, £70,000,
£80,000, £100,000, £200,000 to get the same experience,
the same thrills we're getting in this car at a fraction of the cost.
It's so true, mate. Yeah, and I can tell you what,
from this seat, it feels every bit a supercar.
[engine revving]
Oh, that's good. Oh, it's tight, isn't it?
-Oh, and it picks up so fast. -Yeah, it really does.
Right, talking of supercars, Elvis,
we're not going to be charging
supercar money when we come to sell this car.
-No, that's the point. Yes. -Remember, I bought it for under ten grand...
and what, with the savings we've made,
we can put this car into the market for 12 grand today.
And I don't want to take any less than 12 grand
for it, it's such a good car.
And a locker for 12 grand, innit?
Yeah, it's very true, mate.
It feels like a car worth way more than that right now.
Right, well, I can see the fella with his nose pressed to the fence.
Let's hope that when he sees how this car performs today,
he is willing to put a deal together.
John was quick off the mark when I listed our Maserati online.
From chatting to him on the phone,
I know he's a supercar aficionado.
So I hope he likes what he's seen so far.
That was fantastic.
-You must be John. How you doing, mate? -Hi, Mike. Nice to see you.
-It's a pleasure. -You've been standing out
on that pit wall watching us go by?
Yeah, and hearing it. And what an amazing car.
This Maserati is a special car. But why a Maserati?
I love Italian design,
and the shape is just timeless.
The color is amazing, and also, it's got a Ferrari engine in it.
-Have you ever owned a Ferrari? -I have, actually.
I owned a 360, and I had the Ferrari bills as well.
And it put me off, I can tell you.
Yeah. They come with "Ferrari tax".
-Oh, yes. -They certainly do.
Well, listen, Elvis has been driving this car pretty hard.
In fact, he feels more like an ex-Formula One driver
rather than a Formula One mechanic.
Well, that's what he thinks he is. But I'm thinking we're here,
we've got a circuit, I've got a helmet in the car.
-Why don't you have a drive? -I'd love that. That's really kind of you.
-Thank you. Brilliant. -Yeah, go and enjoy yourself.
With Elvis alongside him, John can really
put the car through its paces out on the track.
And if he loves it as much as we do,
hopefully, we'll secure a sale.
Right. Okay, then, John.
All right, here we go. Perfect place to test it out.
-Yeah. -Total freedom. No other cars on the road at the moment.
What's your first impression behind the wheel?
The steering's really nice,
and actually, it's really relaxing to drive it,
but you know you've got the power underneath when you want it.
It sounds amazing. You can hear the Ferrari engine in it for sure.
It's got that incredible sound, and because it's the V8,
you do get that proper rumble and you feel it
-through the car as well, don't you? -Yeah.
-The brakes are really good as well. -Yeah.
Which is important. [chuckles]
Go on. There we go. [laughs]
Wow.
I mean, there's not many cars where you can get that experience
-for the price of a Ford Fiesta. -I know.
I couldn't believe it when I saw it. I was just absolutely gobsmacked.
The value for money, really, what you get.
Well, speaking of money, I mean, you know what we're asking for it.
-Yeah. -You've seen the advert. You've spoken to Mike.
We need £12,000 for it.
Having now sat behind the wheel, I'm pretty sure I can see
a great, big grin underneath that crash helmet.
What do you say, twelve grand for this unbelievable car?
Do you know what? I'm not even going to haggle. Absolutely.
-Deal. Absolutely. -Yeah?
-Done? -Not a penny less.
We didn't even need Mike Brewer?
-No, no. -[laughs] Amazing.
Wait till I tell him. Well, John, congratulations, mate.
I'm so happy for you. Go on, give it another blast.
Oh, he's driven it hard. I can feel the heat coming off the car.
You've got a big smile on your face over here.
-Look at that. Was it good? -That was amazing. Loved it.
-Absolutely loved it. -Ah, fantastic.
Well, listen, I feel that with the work we've done to it,
me and Elvis are going to sell this quite, quite easily.
-I've actually done the deal already, Mike. Yep. -Have you?
-Really? -Deal.
What, you've done the deal with the car?
-Yeah. -Well, congratulations.
-Thanks. -You did buy yourself a cracking motor,
and well done, Elvis.
Suppose I better have a turn on the spanners there, don't I?
We set out to prove that you can have all the fun
of a supercar without having to spend supercar money.
And through some canny Wheeler Dealer-ing, me and Elvis
pulled it off with this one because we've turned out
an amazing car that sits amongst its peers
really proudly.
Plus, we found the perfect buyer
who returned us a tidy profit for it.
And I know that he's going to enjoy this car
for many years to come.
If you want to see more iconic cars like this
being turned around by me and Elvis, then join us again
soon on Wheeler Dealers. Ta-la.