An excellent candidate for an good invest restoration.
Comes from Rudi Klein's world-famous junkyard in L.A.
1974 Maserati Merak Coupe. Production date 4.74. Engine number AM 114 51 30 600 020. USA Model. Odometer shows 95,356 miles. Last registered in July 1987. Accident damage to left front fender and right rear. Solid undercarriage and the engine turns over by hand. (Now keys) The vehicle comes equipped with a 5-speed manual transmission and Air Conditioning. This is for restoration. We are selling this vehicle AS IS as pictured with no warranties expressed or implied. This vehicle will need to be towed or picked up by a car hauler from our location. Additional pictures available on our website. Now jack and sparewheel. With USA Titel + Customsdocuments ( All import tax payt for)
Comes from Rudi Klein's world-famous junkyard in L.A.
Rudi Klein was a junk dealer and obsessed car collector. Nobody owned a larger collection of oddities than this eccentric. But he didn’t take care of his treasures, instead he left them to rot in the California sun.
As a young man, Rudi Klein immigrated first to Canada and then to the United States. There he started a strange business: he started buying expensive wrecked cars. His first model was a Mercedes 300 SL. Broken cars cost next to nothing. Soon after, he began acquiring prominently owned vehicles for his auto salvage, such as Tony Curtis’s Rolls-Royce convertible. On a large scale, Klein attacked in the first oil crisis. He bought noble gas guzzlers with big engines. After the end of the crisis, he resold them at a profit.
strange business practice
His empire of classic cars and parts was initially a trade, but Rudi Klein was an oddball and an oddball who refused to part with his treasures. He hated greedy souvenir hunters, and although his business seemed more like an endless junkyard, he knew the value of every grill.
His warehouse in South Central Los Angeles had grown to 16,000 square meters when Klein died in 2001. Full of car treasures waiting for better times lying there under the dust, dirt and bird droppings. Protected from the outside by high walls, only a few insiders knew that the largest open-air mausoleum of automotive treasures in the entire world was hidden there. The dimensions of the car park are unimaginable: Klein is said to have owned just 200 Porsche 356s. He amassed priceless one-of-a-kind items, such as Rudolf Caracciola’s 1935 Mercedes-Benz 500K Roadster sedan. The “Junk Yard” volume was created during a visit in Rudi Klein’s lifetime. The rotten dream car photos lead into a surreal parallel world of rust and peeling paint in the middle of Los Angeles.
intentionally careless
Klein’s business decisions were inscrutable. He spent millions investing in a new luxury car brand, but was considered a tough negotiator when it came to his accidents. If he didn’t like a customer or if a potential buyer made a mistake with an inappropriate response, Klein simply ordered double or didn’t sell at all.
It is said that BMW tried to acquire lost classics for the factory collection, but for some reason, Klein did not want to sell the cars to the manufacturer, they kept rotting. It would have been easy to better protect and cover expensive cars. Klein wasn’t interested in that either, just as little as the restorations. “I prefer them to the original,” was his brief explanation. After his death, his sons gradually dissolved the collection.
_collector.jpg "MASERATI MERAK Coupe ( Ex Hollywood ! ) Collector !")
_collector.jpg "MASERATI MERAK Coupe ( Ex Hollywood ! ) Collector !")
_collector.jpg "MASERATI MERAK Coupe ( Ex Hollywood ! ) Collector !")
_collector.jpg "MASERATI MERAK Coupe ( Ex Hollywood ! ) Collector !")
_collector.jpg "MASERATI MERAK Coupe ( Ex Hollywood ! ) Collector !")
_collector.jpg "MASERATI MERAK Coupe ( Ex Hollywood ! ) Collector !")
_collector.jpg "MASERATI MERAK Coupe ( Ex Hollywood ! ) Collector !")
_collector.jpg "MASERATI MERAK Coupe ( Ex Hollywood ! ) Collector !")
_collector.jpg "MASERATI MERAK Coupe ( Ex Hollywood ! ) Collector !")
_collector.jpg "MASERATI MERAK Coupe ( Ex Hollywood ! ) Collector !")
_collector.jpg "MASERATI MERAK Coupe ( Ex Hollywood ! ) Collector !")
_collector.jpg "MASERATI MERAK Coupe ( Ex Hollywood ! ) Collector !")
_collector.jpg "MASERATI MERAK Coupe ( Ex Hollywood ! ) Collector !")
_collector.jpg "MASERATI MERAK Coupe ( Ex Hollywood ! ) Collector !")
_collector.jpg "MASERATI MERAK Coupe ( Ex Hollywood ! ) Collector !")
_collector.jpg "MASERATI MERAK Coupe ( Ex Hollywood ! ) Collector !")
