Special Editions

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@domain.elided>]

There is little (and nothing of importance) to add to what Brian Shorey, Russ
Neely, and Lance Dong wrote about the Maratona, but there is that little.
FWIW, they were less numerous than the Balocco SE, thus presumably more
valuable to those who are susceptible: there were just 150, far fewer than the
Balocco SE's 350. The sales brochure refers to the translucent tea-tray (clear
per Russ, smoked grey per Lance, which I think is correct) as an "Engine
view-port located on hood", #1 of the four numbered and many unnumbered listed
features; #2 was "Rear window louvered sun reflector", #3 "Speedline light
alloy wheels", #4 "Sliding sunroof", then with bullets but unnumbered,
Michelin TRX 200/60 x360 radial tires, Aerodynamic trim package, Halogen
headlights and foglights, and Hand-polished wood-grain steering wheel. The
longer list on the last page added some other features which were probably
standard on all the last GTV 6s but not on earlier ones, such as the "Rear
filler panel", and a lot which should have been taken for granted, like the
"Full size spare tire on alloy wheel".

There were some at ARI who took a dim view of "special editions" generally - a
standard half-jest about the cars generally was that 'we sell you an engine
and throw the car in free', and people with those priorities would not be
impressed by gilding what they thought of as the lesser half of the package. I
understand that all the SEs were produced when either Ernesto Vettore or Aldo
Bozzi was C.E.O. at ARI, the USA subsidiary which executed them for this
market, and that a third, earlier, C.E.O., Arturo Reitz, would have nothing to
do with anything of the sort. One of the like-minded critics referred to a
proposed Special Edition Register as the "Elenco de Stile Italiana
Masturbata", and to one of the SEs in particular as a 'pimpmobile', not
intended as a compliment. On the plus side, people who are drawn to them
probably take far better care of their cars than many other people do, and
when the last of the irreplaceable plastic add-ons falls apart someone will be
left with one of the very best surviving examples of a stock GTV 6 to be found
anywhere. Which isn't a bad thing to be left with.

YMMV. Enjoy yours,

John H.

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