Well, it’s now been a whole week since I spent an hour on the train to Colne (in Lancashire) to go and pick up a blue Maserati 3200 GT.
It was sitting in the train station car park where the owner reluctantly handed over the keys. The beast was now mine!
Coming from a Nissan 200SX, the Masser was a whole other kettle of fish. The Nissan wasn’t short of power but this was so much more. Actually quite intimidating (still is a bit).
Adjusting to the short throw gearbox and heavier clutch resulted in a fairly…jerky journey home. Gear changes were a tad clunky to say the least!
Almost got stuck up a side street after my sat nav got a bit confused – had to read the manual to work out how to put it into reverse!
Took it out on the Sunday to try and get the hang of it, all good, started it up on Monday morning to go to work – engine management warning light shining like a beacon in the darkness of the dashboard. And, as I discovered when I went to pull out of my drive, it was now limited to 3000 RPM.
Took the Nissan into the office for a couple of days whilst I tried to get a mechanic (with no luck, by the way), then decided to take the Masser in on Wed’s afternoon, getting used to short shifting. Which actually is easier in the Masser than the Nissan – the extra torque of the V8 means the power picks up from quite low in the rev range.
And then on Thursday I went to drive home from work at lunchtime and…the light was gone. No more warning light. I have no idea why.
But at last, the engine could be unleashed! Or at least it could have been if the low fuel warning light hadn’t come on.
So I ended up driving like Miss. Daisy. Not like I was driving Miss. Daisy, like I actually was Miss. Daisy learning to drive. Might as well have been wearing a dress. Low revs, barely tickling the throttle, watching the fuel gauge sink inexorably down.
I made it to Sainsbury’s though and now I have a fuelled up, functioning car!
Almost getting the hang of it now. My gear changes still aren’t the smoothest but they’re a lot better and I’m getting used to using the extra torque instead of having to shift down like I did in the Nissan. Still not sure I’ve got the ideal driving position and the elevated throttle pedal (relative to the Nissan) is making my foot ache a bit, but that aside it’s all good!
Here’s hoping it continues…
Oh yeah, and it needs a new stereo that plays MP3s.
