In the Spring of 1998 my wife and I were on holiday in Italy and while looking through an Italian car magazine I saw a 1995 Ghibli II being advertised by Interauto of Reggio Emilia, one of the biggest Mercedes dealers in Italy. Having pencilled in several cars to look at that day we travelled across Italy to see these cars. I had already seen five cars that day but I was looking for a low mileage car which was in immaculate condition. The cars we had seen were either the wrong colour or had covered too many miles. I wanted a new car for a lot less money.

We arrived at Interauto late that afternoon and after looking around for a little while saw the car in a corner of the showroom. It appeared that the sale of this Maserati was not a priority. I asked to see the car and I liked it straight away. It was like new. The car had covered only 25,000Km, the interior was immaculate and when the salesman opened the bonnet the engine bay was mint. I doubt the car had ever seen the rain. I didn't even need to take the car for a test drive. We negotiated a suitable price which included a full service. It was then that the salesman recommended the pre delivery service be carried out by a well known Maserati specialist, Sig. Giuseppe Candini whose workshop is in Modena.