a Maserati XMas story

["Luke M. Kowalski" <interfaces@domain.elided>]

Greetings,

I wanted to repost a story from the Maserati digest, I
hope the author does not mind. I am reluctantly
admitting that I was moved when i finished reading it.
Maybe it has to do with the fact that I have married a
woman who understands my passion (she calls it
obsession) for italian automobiles. Read on to see
what I am talking about.

thx
luke, San Mateo, CA 94402
74 Spider, 82 GTV6, 95 164LS (guy says he is coming to
pick it up on the 27th, and then I am making an offer
on 3500 GT Maser)

- ---------------------------------------------------
from Maserati Digest:

   Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 20:22:21 EST
   From: SJAMESWAIN@domain.elided
Subject: A Most Amazing Woman

In 1974, while still a Captain in the Army, I
purchased a Ghibli (#962)
from 
Bob Grossman in Nyack, New York.  I had a great time
with the car, but
had to 
sell it to help pay for B-school.  Over the next 9
years I thought
about the 
car often, and managed to relocate it (with the help
of MIE) and
repurchase 
it.  Then began many long years of a restoration
process.  

At one point in 1997, when the car had lain fallow for
5 years due to
sheer 
frustration, a young woman who worked for me persuaded
me to get the
car out 
of the parking garage (where it was costing me $410 a
month just to sit

there) and at least put it in a shop where they could
spend $400 a
month 
working on it and parking would be free.  As this made
eminent sense, I
found 
a good shop which came and pulled the beast out of the
underground and
into 
the sunlight.  And my love was renewed.

A couple of weeks later the car was in good enough
shape for a drive up
to 
Newport with the same said young woman who was
ignoring every effort I
made 
to get her attention.  But it was a good drive,
regardless.   

Over the next two years, the work on the car
progressed, but the 
non-relationship didn't.  The woman left New York for
LA where the soul
of 
her art is.  We communicated semi-regularly and she
kept her interest
in the 
car alive.  

Meanwhile, there were two nagging problems with the
Ghibli:  a severe
power 
stumble in the 2700-3200 rpm range and a leaky/noisy
transmission.  It
was 
obvious at this point that the car was going to have
to undergo major
work so 
I took it to Tim Jessilonis' shop outside Baltimore
(which I highly 
recommend).  After great frustration and consultations
across the land,
Gary, 
Tim's ace mechanic finally traced the power stumble to
the fuel
diffusers in 
each carburetor throat being installed upside down! 
(That the car ran
at all 
is a testament to something.)  Then they set out to
rebuild the
transmission. 
 (I can only echo the difficulty of messing with these
transmissions,
as 
recounted recently on this site.)

So, recently, as the work Ghibli was nearing
completion, I received a
call 
from the young woman suggesting that we should get
together as she
would be 
in New York over the holidays and would like to see me
(you can guess
as to 
my response to that!).

So, there we were at dinner last night (at the Box
Tree, same
restaurant I 
had first taken her to dinner three years ago) when
she reached into
her 
pursed and pulled out a 4-inch in diameter, highly
machined, bronze
colored 
ring.  She held the ring firmly in her hand, covering
the bottom
quarter, and 
asked "What do you think this is?"  I looked at it and
looked at it and

finally said:  "I haven't seen anything like it
before, but my best
guess is 
that it is a synchro-ring."  She then handed me the
ring, from which
the 
bottom quarter had been cut out. While I was looking
at the
synchro-ring (and 
being entranced by the machining), she placed another
ring in my hand
- -- this 
one clearly meant to be worn.  

I was stunned.  This woman had contacted Gary and Tim,
gotten them to
send 
her a piece from the Ghibli, taken the part to a
jeweler who cut out a 
section, melted it down and forged two identical
rings, inscribed: 
"Worth 
The Wait".

And so, all are reunited again in a great happiness.  

For the curious, you can visit Jennifer's (the woman
in question) web
site at 
<A
HREF="http://www.jenniferhodges.com/";>http://www.jenniferhodges.com/</A>

Happy holidays to all,

Stephen J. Swain
Ghibli #962
Bora #584

P.S.  The rings are really industrial affairs.  For
the technically
minded 
they are 19mm inside diameter, 23mm outside, and 5mm
thick.  It's
wearing 
part of your car.  Forged links.  Synchronous.

end of story from Maserati Digest

- -------------------------------------

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