In 1990, my wonderful father bought one of his dream cars. It was a 1989 Chrysler TC by Maserati. We always teasingly told everyone that asked about it, that it was a Chrysler to your tax and insurance man, but it was a Maserati to anyone else that asked.

Shortly after obtaining this great little sleeper auto, he came down with lung cancer and passed away at 57 years of age. Damn cigarettes!

Papa left me his wonderful Maserati, and although I loved that car, I left it sitting in the driveway most of the time. Every night returning from work, when I viewed the car, my first reaction was that Dad had come to visit. After my heart would swell, it would quickly deflate, when I realized that my dad was no longer with us.

I reluctantly sold his prize, knowing that I would own another one of these wonderful cars one day.

Well, we jump forward 13 years, and after many years of looking for the right TC, I finally bought my own wonderful Maserati TC in the Triple Black that I had always wanted. It was showroom condition, and I purchased it off of EBay.  I was definitely not expecting the car to be in that top condition.

My mom never cared one way or the other about my father’s TC, but when mine was delivered from Michigan to her Alabama home, she flat fell in love with it. She wanted to know if I would let her keep it.  My wife also fell in love with the car and asked if she could call it her own.

Well, here I was, after 13 years of looking for the right one, and the two most important people in my life both want MY CAR! You know you cannot tell your momma “no,” so she got the first one, and I started looking for another one for my wife and finally one for me.

We put out feelers, and you know the old saying, “Be careful what you ask for.”  We got bombarded with calls from people and dealers that had these little jewels.

My father and I had always wanted one of the truly ultra-rare 5-speed 16-valve models that have a Maserati head and GETRAG 5-speed tranny, but we had never even seen one, much less drove or really thought we’d own one.

I heard about another Triple Black TC, but this one was one of the rare ones (so rare, there were only 11 5-speed models made in this color combo). The car was in the Dallas, TX area.

I decided that this one would be mine, and thank goodness that my dear wife of 30 years does not drive a clutch, so this one would only be for me.

While going to get this slick Masi, I got a message from a dealer that I had talked to about his Buttercup/Black/Black 5-speed that was also in the Dallas area, and he had decided to come down on the price so drastically that I ended up buying that car, also, while there.

Now, while I am getting two 5-speeds for me, I still don't have a car for my wife. So, I ended up buying 11 Maserati TCs within 60 days of buying the first one on EBay!  That way, I figured I could let my wife take her pick.

Right after driving back with the two 5-speed models from Texas, we barely made it to the Maserati TC Car Club's annual Meet and Show in Florida. We brought five of our new acquisitions to the show (see photograph). The first TC we purchased won first place, and we also won rarest car for the Buttercup 5-speed model. Turns out there were only four of those made with the rare 5-speed from California.

We definitely have thinned the heard down to five TCs, but we are having a blast with them.

Story by: Tom Bawsel

Edited by: Becky McLaughlin