Viale Ciro Menotti, Issue #100 n 21

n the early months of 1985 while working at a local Kirk-land, Washington, Italian restaurant I would spend part of my off hours looking for potentially more interesting work. I loved the restaurant business, the late hours, the food and the friendships made while hanging out after hours in the bar after our closing routines were completed. Those were great days in my life. At the time, my daily ride was a deep ruby red 1973 Porsche 914 with the 1.7L. I traded up my Honda V45 Magna and some cash. I absolutely loved it. The Porsche was just one of many cars or motorcycles that I had owned in my younger days. It seemed I was driving something different just about every nine or ten months, and my social relation-ships would often parallel those changes. The cars I owned often shaped my younger personalities. Each car came with new discoveries of how this or that worked. At the time, my

A RetRospective JouRney in My tiMe And Life

only formal car repair experience was a semester of auto

shop my senior year (1979) in high school. I was a tinkerer

from an early age. Tearing apart and rendering many objects

useless, unaware of the eventual career opportunities such

destructive playfulness would bring, and how it might help

me in my present day life.

I can remember clearly one Sunday morning in March 1985,

combing the local paper want ads for employment possibili-

ties when I stumbled upon a job posting that immediately had

my adrenalin spiked. I believe the job description read some-

thing like – Position: automotive parts sales for small

Bellevue service and restoration company specializ-

ing in exotic Italian cars. Must be automotive minded.

Good phone and office skills desired. Are you kidding

with MIE Corporation & Maserati Club International

{ }

By Stuart avery{ }

I

PHoTo courTESy MAndArAno ArcHIVECirca 1986.

22 n Viale Ciro Menotti, Issue #100

me? I phoned immediately only to reach a weekend phone

machine (remember those?). I left a name and number, but

could hardly stand waiting until the following Monday. After

what seemed to be the longest 24 hours in my life, I called

in first thing Monday morning and spoke with a reception-

ist who took my name and number and said that someone

would be phoning. I didn’t leave the house and stayed close

to the phone until the call came in. This was pre-cell phone

days, when you needed to hang around the house if you ex-

pected a call. The phone call came within a couple hours. It

was Janet Mandarano, and she asked me several questions

about my office experience and skills, as well as why I was

interested in the job. She then scheduled an interview for

later that afternoon. I pulled into the Bellevue business park

and parked the Porsche at the front, right next to a renault

r5 and what appeared to be a brand new Maserati Biturbo.

The interview took about twenty minutes, which included

a quick tour of the facility. At that time in MIE’s history the

company was very large and occupied a huge portion of an

industrial building in Bellevue, Washington. They had just re-

cently moved into the larger space after outgrowing the pre-

vious location nearby. The offices were bright and open with

a huge conference room that overlooked a large shop area

populated with several Maserati models.

At the time, I had no previous knowledge of Maserati, and

was a bit overwhelmed by the scale and uniqueness of the

operation. I did my best to be very matter-of-fact while on

the tour, but inside I was almost unable to processes the

excitement I was feeling. After the tour, I was placed in the

conference room for a short time, and then was called into

Mr. Frank Mandarano’s office. Frank sat me down and gave

me a brief dissertation about the company and what his vi-

sion was and what he wanted from the applicant. He said the

spare parts business was growing and his wife Janet needed

some help to field orders and package and ship parts. The

person that was helping had just quit to go work for a bear-

ing and seals supply company. I can still remember the guy’s

name (Lance). I kept thinking to myself why someone would

quit my dream job? Frank asked me some basic automotive

questions, like what does a thermostat do, and do I know the

principal of an internal combustion engine. Fortunately, those

were some of the things I did know. Frank then said, “oK,

thanks, we’ll let you know.”

The next day Janet phoned and said that she wanted to

have a second interview. I came in and was led back into

the conference room where Frank and Janet sat down with

me and said that they wanted to hire me. They told me

that the Porsche was a factor. I was the only applicant that

drove a European car, and I seemed pretty intelligent. Janet

Stuart, circa 1997. PHoTo courTESy MAndArAno ArcHIVE

explained more the scope of the job, which was to field sales calls for parts, sign up new club members and help with pull-ing and packaging parts, and shipping. I signed the employ-ment agreement not fully understanding how my life had just changed forever. They sent me home with a couple of the spare parts manuals for the Maseratis and asked me to fa-miliarize myself with them. That was when I realized that ev-erything in these manuals was written in Italian. “don’t worry, just study the drawing,” they said. I must have spent hours pouring over these manuals not fully understanding what I was looking at, but completely fascinated with the mechani-cal nature of the exploded drawings and full of a sense of giddiness. Thus began a 27-year journey into the world of Maserati.

In the early years the shop was always busy with restoration or service projects. The MIE, Michael robinson-designed Biturbo body kits and Quicker Engineering suspension kits were coming in fresh from the contracted suppliers, the fax and telex machine were spitting out parts requests and the phones were always ringing.

Frank had just invested in a Heidelberg press for the Viale

Ciro Menotti magazine. We were making the transition to full color. The only way to justify the cost and operation of the new press was to sell advertisement printing on the side, so we hired an ad salesman. At nights the press was run-ning inserts for a local newspaper, and by day it was running magazine proofs. We had just launched a unIX-based inven-tory control program, which by today’s standards was com-plicated and slow. But in that era, we were state-of-the-art. Frank and Janet were always busy, but each day they carved out an hour to go out and have lunch together.

Meanwhile, the service shop and parts department were in constant movement. My education on Maserati parts came from the fortunate ability to look at most of the cars to

Viale Ciro Menotti, Issue #100 n 23

understand what customers were talking about. We didn’t have the Internet, or email for photos. I had to figure things out by description, and asking a lot of questions. The spare parts manuals were an invaluable tool, and when the cus-tomer also had the manuals it helped tremendously. We sold a lot of parts manuals back in the day.

There was no substitute for having a wide assortment of Maserati models in the shop undergoing service or restora-tion. There were always several donor cars undercover out back to pick from when an obscure part might be needed. I would often put a phone customer on hold and go look into one of the cars to understand what the customer was trying to describe to me. There were times when I could say without doubt that we had more Maserati GT cars in one location than any other part of the country, and possibly the world. We had three full-time technicians, two upholsterers, and two working the body shop and paint booth. There were also three working parts department sales and shipping, and a shop foreman to keep everyone on task. not to mention, we always had a wonderful office receptionist to brighten the days with warm cookies or bagels.

the weekend gathering, and the evenings would become big outdoor parties. Little did I know that I was witnessing the birth of concorso Italiano. In those years the Maserati days weekend was an Italian car fest like no other. not yet corpo-rate, or overblown with vendors, ticket sales and social atti-tude. At the peak, Maserati days was just about the cars and the people and unbridled late night partying. As concorso Italiano birthed into existence, those simpler days faded into the “those were good times” file, and the Maserati weekend became a very hard working holiday for the staff of MIE.

In the early nineties when Maserati was struggling with north American sales and Italy decided to stop exporting to the uS and canada, MIE purchased the remaining inventory of Biturbo, Merak and Quattroporte III spare parts from the nA distributor. It took several semi-trucks and months of work to finally get the parts onto shelves, and cataloged into the computers. Even today, we still have some of that purchased inventory, which has gone largely untouched. As you would imagine, there were a lot of slower selling, or non-selling parts mixed in with the good stuff.

The wide range of SKus solidified our parts department as the single largest independent inventory of Maserati spare parts in the uSA, and possibly worldwide. Around that same time, the collectable car market took a serious nosedive, and the pressure and stress of operating a full restoration house came to a head. Gone were the days of buying a Maserati and having it pre-sold before ever taking possession. The restoration and service shop wound down to a close, and some of the company-owned cars were put under wraps, not fully completed.

The parts department carried on as the European Biturbos were still selling well and there was still plenty of global de-mand for parts to keep them running or repaired. Email and Internet were now becoming an important element is sales and sourcing, and the VcM magazines continued to outdo each previous issue. There has always been a great deal of pride within MIE that the Viale ciro Menotti magazine had always been an “in-house” printed magazine. not long after the service and restorations shut down, Frank and Janet pur-chased a building about 200 yards further down the street. It took several weeks to move the parts operation and press to the new building, and when the dust settled we had ourselves a gorgeous showroom style office with a small two-bay shop and massive parts warehouse. The lower level had several suites to lease out to other businesses or special interests.

The high values of the Maserati models, which peaked in the late eighties, had not yet come back so Frank was continuing to supplement parts sales by finding Maseratis to purchase and resell. Very few people understood that Maserati club

Every year in mid-summer, things would slow down, and the company gears would shift towards Maserati days. Maserati days back in the eighties was a bunch of McI club members getting together for a few days of drinking, eating, driving and sharing the excitement of each person’s passion. That has not changed much in all these years, but the size and locations certainly have. I can remember my first Maserati days at Lake Tahoe’s northstar resort. We brought in a load of hay bales and set up a racetrack in one of the parking lots. unthinkable today, but all good fun then. In later years at Quail Lodge, the Lamborghini owners would join us for

Service shop and parts department in the early days.

24 n Viale Ciro Menotti, Issue #100

International could not possibly exist if it were not for spare parts sales and car sales. The premium quality of the publica-tion, the time, and production costs to produce them always often exceeded the income from membership subscriptions. But it was such an important tool for communications in the pre-internet world. Even today, we are printing the magazines in-house, although the pre-production and printing technolo-gies have simplified that process considerably.

As the company transitioned into a new millennium, concor-so Italiano had become its biggest asset. The annual event had become International and was drawing globally recog-nized talent, both automotive and individual. It had grown to a level where the logistics of placing a car on center green for cI on Friday, and then getting it over to Pebble in time for Sunday became routine for many owners and restoration houses.

In those years Mitch Poe, Jeff Tucker and I were running the parts operations mostly independent of Frank’s direct over-sight. We would have morning meetings to report in with sales figures, special needs, or to discuss delicate customer relations strategies, but for the most part the spare parts divi-sion was largely on its own. It was a double edge sword. As company resources were redirected to special events and cars sales, growth was stagnating as the investments in de-veloping new parts, or reproducing obsolete parts stalled.

Fast-forward several years to 2002. Frank and Janet make a difficult decision to sell the MIE corporation to Kerry Mc-Mullen and his partner, Michael Latsis. The Mandarano’s

recognized that MIE Maserati parts and Maserati club Inter-national needed a fresh and enthusiastic change. After the sale of MIE, the operations were moved about 25 miles south to its present Auburn, Washington location.

concorso Italiano remained with the Mandarano’s, which from my perspective, was a blessing. now my job descrip-tion no longer contained a mandatory early August work marathon to help set up and manage the big show, I was now able to go down to Monterey and actually enjoy the show from a proper enthusiast perspective, right alongside all the other participants and spectators.

The change of ownership bringing in the McMullen ownership era has proven to be worth the growing pains that accom-panied it. With a new dedication to solving parts problems and the eagerness to invest in making more of the obscure parts available, we slowly began the process of accelerat-ing our range of available parts. This includes a willingness to support small cottage manufactures in limited production runs. Few people understand the dynamics of niche market parts. Marques like Maserati fall into a gray area. Most ma-jor spares manufactures and warehouse distributors don’t even have listings for Maserati. often making parts available to the market is a matter of discovery and research. My of-fice is cluttered (literally) with dozens upon dozens of sample original parts that I am hoping to find replacement solutions. The challenge can be described as the same process that someone uses when putting together a jigsaw puzzle, visual-ly combing over a wide range of pieces looking for the shape and features of the right piece to fit the need. With auto parts, it may mean studying catalogs, web sites, tech forums, and image searches, hunting for clues to finding those solutions. often the tips and hints provided by other Maserati owners have led to successful parts solutions coming back onto the market. one of the best feelings is seeing the results of some-one’s service or restoration work. receiving emailed photos of someone’s long-term restoration project after completion is always an uplifting event.

The other element of serving Maserati club members over

I owe much of who I am (both good and bad) to each of you. I look forward to

many more years of serving your needs.

{ }

Stuart at the 2008 Maserati Days Award Banquet.

Viale Ciro Menotti, Issue #100 n 25

the years is technical support. In the Internet world, there are now many arenas of technical information and resources at hand. I always encourage people to educate themselves about the cars they love and drive. It still mystifies me to this day how many people don’t have an illustrated spare parts manual for their Maserati. Even the GT parts manuals which, were only available with Italian text, are still an unbelievable wealth of information into the anatomy of the car and the parts that make them. never have I owned an automobile and not sought out and obtained any and every available manual. Parts, service, wiring, etc.

As you read this I am in the midst of resurrecting my first and very own Maserati, a 1984 Biturbo. you might be asking yourself why someone who has spent 27 years working in, around, beside and next to some of the world’s most impor-tant Maserati models, would end up owning a 1984 Biturbo as a personal car. don’t misunderstand me, I absolutely love most all of the Maserati models, but the Biturbo has been the model that I have walked side-by-side from the very day my journey started at MIE corporation. When I started in 1985, the Biturbo was ‘the’ Maserati that everyone was talking about, and they were selling well. We were making body kits, suspension kits, and were servicing them regularly. I have

always found the Biturbo as a car with such potential, but with little respect.

I have driven many Maserati models over my many years: Ghibli, Bora, Sebring, 3500, Kyalami, Quattroporte I and III, Indy and Khamsin. But none have teased me quite like the Biturbo. There is something about those twin turbochargers kicking in, and the shear ability for this model to get quick-ly up to speed that make it a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The Biturbo is a model that can easily get you into trouble. It’s so easy to push if from mild-mannered to “oh-shit” and it’s that experience that makes them worth owning and driving despite the ridicule they receive from the unknowing masses. I am having an absolute blast working on it, and with some occasional help from my oldest son, I am looking forward to showing it off in the months ahead.

If you are one of the thousands of Maserati owners or service techs that I have spoken with over these past years, I thank you for being a part of my Maserati experience. It has been a combination of your patronage, your enthusiasm and the sharing of your experiences that has fueled my interests to carry on doing what I do. I owe much of who I am (both good and bad) to each of you. I look forward to many more years of serving your needs. VCM

Stuart, at his second home – the parts department, August 2012.