Alex Penkov around 1986. (photo: courtesy Jean Claude Maillard)Interview with Alex Penkov / Legend of the "Super Bora"
(Reprinted from the April 1997 issue of iL TRIDENTE)I first heard of Alex through George Garbutt of Maserati Automobiles, Inc. in Baltimore. At the time I was beginning our “Under the Hood” issue (6/95 iL TRIDENTE) and was contacting all the Maserati repair facilities I could find in the U.S. and Canada.
“There's someone you should talk to.” he said in his typical English accent. “He's been around quite a long time and he's very knowledgeable. Don't let his gruff demeanor throw you, as he's a bit of a character.” Yes, the English are often famous for understatement. In March of last year the opportunity presented itself to fly out to L.A. and meet Alex. I was looking forward to finding out more about this character with whom I was already familiar by way of numerous quizzical phone conversations. Quizzical to me partially because Alex speaks English with a heavy Russian accent.
I found, however, a warm, generous, and exceptionally gracious individual whose amazing story I hope you find as fascinating as I did.
In the late 60’s his gift for things mechanical turned towards Maserati and he eventually became a troubleshooter for Maserati/Baltimore when the regular dealer/service network broke down and could not solve the riddles of Italian auto mechanics. Since 1969 he has owned and operated H.M.I. (Hollywood Maserati Imports) where, along with his lovely assistant Mary Ann Yriarte, he runs one of the few shops in the U.S. that work on Maseratis exclusively.
SP: O.K., so tell me where you're from originally. Brooklyn?
AP: (Laughs) No, Cleveland, Ohio—the Polish section!
SP: Really?! (Both laughing)
AP: I was born in Bulgaria in 1940. My mother is Bulgarian, my father Russian.
SP: Did you grow up there?
AP: I lived there for quite awhile. During World War II I lived there and then after when the Soviets kept Bulgaria. My father disappeared and later came back—in ‘47 or ‘48. I was raised by my grandfather not far from the Danube River. At night I could see the Rumanian city of Ploesti (German oil supply during WWII) burning from the bombings. When my father came back he told me to pack up, we were going back to Russia.
SP: Where was your father from in Russia?
AP: He was from a little town, really a non-town, about 50 miles outside of Moscow. But we lived in Moscow until my father was sent back to Bulgaria again to work. He was a chemical engineer. In ‘54 I went to college in Bulgaria to study mechanical engineering and graduated in 1958.
After I left Russia, I worked for the U.S.
government in Europe. My station was Weisbaden. They let me fly transport planes in Europe, mostly “special” flights. I had a contract for 5 years and then in 1968 I arrived in Los Angeles.
SP: Whew! So how did you get started with Italian cars?
AP: Well basically I was just a dumb foreigner coming over with a little money. I had a bunch of interviews for a job with an airline company which didn't work out. So I said, “Well, I've always loved cars...” In those days there was a big dealer named Otto Zipper. You may have heard of him.
SP: Otto Zipper?
AP: Yes, from Moss Racing. A friend of mine introduced me to him and he asked me “Have you ever worked on cars?” I said “Never professionally but my degree is in mechanical engineering.” He said ”O.K., c’mon over!”
I worked for him about 6 or 7 months on Ferraris and other locally owned Italian cars. Then I went and opened my own business.
SP: What year was this?
AP: 1969.
SP: What was the first Maserati you worked on?
AP: The first Maserati was George Hamilton’s car.
SP: What kind?
AP: A Mistral coupe. It was when I was at Zipper’s place. After I left, Zipper sent me all his Maserati work because they only wanted to work on Ferrari and Lamborghini. He helped me get all the Maserati customers.
SP: What was it like back in those days, working on Maseratis?
AP: No different from today. We still have overheating problems!
SP: Especially out here in California.
AP: I always have to do these modifications. Make bigger radiators, change the fans, the shrouds... My biggest challenge was on a Ghibli. In 1969 the factory sent a technician who later became a friend of mine—Jean Pierre Tinarelle. We worked together until he went back to Italy. He was raised around the factory His father had a service place in Milan. The factory sent over a special Ghibli. It was the real SS version with a 4.9 engine with four exhaust pipes, two on each side. It was one of the fastest cars they ever built. It had a center muffler then it split off to two pipes, like the later Biturbos (430 & 228 in the U.S.), two on each side.
The car was sold (from the dealership) but after 5000 miles it lost oil pressure. So he brought the car to me. In those days we didn't have service manuals, nothing, only owner's manual. I installed a mechanical oil pressure gauge and started the motor. At 1000 rpm the pressure was 3 kg. At 3000 rpm the pressure drops down to 1.5 kg. I performed the same test 2 or 3 times but still no steady oil pressure. The Ghibli has a dry sump, pressure pump, and circulation pump which take the oil from the motor oil pan and sends the oil to the oil tank. I said to my Italian friend,
“Do you know the oil system diagram on the Ghibli?”
“No Alex.”
I explained there was a tank, a circulation pump, and probably the Italians screwed up the bearings when they assembled the motor. They shipped us a brand new motor from the factory which we installed but still we had the same problem. I said,
“It's not the motor. Do you know what's inside the oil tank?”
“No Alex I never opened one.”
“O.K. we'll do it the old fashioned way.”
We put down a 5-gal. plastic bucket for the oil with return and suction hoses inside. The pressure was perfect. I said “Now let's open the tank.” Right on the suction side the Italians put four 1/2” x 1/2” “mosquito” screens which got plugged. The motor will suck the oil and therefore cannot circulate it. That was my first modification adventure.
I tried to tell the factory but they never did change it (on successive models) and I've had to modify almost every Ghibli tank I've come across. Some other people have claimed credit for this but I was the one who first discovered this problem. Many more modifications (to other Maseratis) followed.
SP: Have you been to the factory?
AP: Oh yeah.
SP: What year?
AP: Well the last time I was there was in ‘89. No I think ‘86-’87.
SP: Were you there before that?
AP: Oh sure. I was stationed in Bari (east coast of Italy) when I was a pilot. That was way back.
SP: It must've been very different in those days.
AP: Oh of course. But I was always impressed how Maserati stood compared to Ferrari. It was always a much more comfortable car than Ferrari.
Then there was the Biturbo. In ‘85 I had a friend of mine, Greg Long, called me and said “C’mon over I'm going to buy you lunch so you can see this %$#@! car.” He bought a brand new Biturbo in ‘85. His company, I cant remember what state he was from originally, had transferred him to L.A. and he thought what a pleasure it would be to drive this car across country. Well he arrived all right! It took him a whole year to bring the car back with him! Finally he decided to take the car straight back to the distributor but the car broke down in his driveway! He gave them the keys and said, “Just send me a (refund) check.”
SP: Yeah. That car came out on the market too soon with too little development.
AP: There were so many mistakes on that car! I mean stupid mistakes!
SP: If they had come out with a car with more development, say along the lines of the ‘89 cars and up, they would've cleaned up in that market.
AP: Right, exactly. But that early car was what you call a “nightmare car!” For the owners, and for me too. They gave me an early series motor which I took apart with only a couple thousand miles on it. Already the left cam is wiped out, bearings wiped out. When I examined the check valves on the cylinder head you could see right through! The bearing holes were too small on the early motors so they didn't receive enough lubrication. I mean nightmare!
I had to practically redesign that whole engine. I used to drill out the bearing holes to make them bigger. I ordered special seals from Vittelone in Germany instead of those cheap Gago seals they came with. I rebuilt the check valves. I made a copper radiator. In ‘86 Casarini (chief engineer for DeTomaso Industries) was here with a bunch of other people and I show him this car with the copper radiator and tell him “still the car runs hot, around 300° oil temperature.” He says “It's O.K. every car runs like that.” I said “Why don't you guys think about making an oil cooler?” “It's O.K.” they said. “It usually only runs around 260-280°.” I said “Sure when the outside temperature is 85-90°. But what about at Palm Springs when it hits 110°? Then the oil temperature climbs to 340-360°!” Anyway, I finally decided to build one myself.
SP: That oil cooler you've built is fabulous. A real help to the Biturbo owners.
AP: The same for the power steering cooler.
SP: That is surprisingly effective. I had a black 430 that I used to run on the track all the time and every time I’d come off it I’d raise the hood to find power steering fluid sprayed all over the inside of it. Now that I have that cooler installed—no problem.
AP: Sure, well now the temperature will never get above 120°. Also the rack will last a lot longer.
SP: Well now the factory is showing progress. They recalled a lot of the new version Ghiblis and installed coolers on them. Plus the new cars are much better equipped. Too bad that now we can't get them!
AP: The thing I'm doing now is installing louvers in the hoods of the Biturbos to let the heat escape. It makes a tremendous difference in temperature.
I have several things more to fix: the noisy gearshifts, the computer chips, the rubber bushing on the steering racks—which drive me bananas. Then that's it. No more modifications! I'm ready to retire!
SP: I’ll bet!
(We then arrived at our destination— Arroyo Grande, CA—site of the ‘95 MOCNA Pismo Beach Rally organized by Joe Martin and Don Shearer. We checked into our rooms and then headed out for a nice dinner together. The next day we all lined up to start the rally and while we waited for our turn we continued the interview.)
ABOVE: Engine bay shots of the turbocharged "Super-Bora". (photo: courtesy Jean Claude Maillard)SP: Tell me about the “Super-Bora.”
AP: Well...
SP: How did that all get started?
AP: I got a phone call from this guy...Randall. Randall food company. I think they sold chickens.
SP: What year was this?
AP: It was 1986. The Bora was a stock ‘73 model. He got hold of my name I believe from Baltimore. He approached me about making this Bora into a “Super Bora.”
SP: What specifically did he want to change.
AP: Well he wanted to turbocharge it, and to add the Bosch fuel injection system out of the Mercedes 450SL. He had already had another shop work on it but I guess they gave up on the project. He went to pick it up before work one morning, paid something like $28,000 for the whole job, and never even made it to his place of business!
SP: Broke down?
AP: Yes. So I told him first thing I had to do was find out what “work” they did on the car. I went through his bill receipts and started taking it apart. The first thing I noticed when I started the car is that there's 12 kg of oil pressure. So I figured out that since they used oversize bearings they didn't leave clearance between the crankshaft and the bearings. Next thing I find is that a couple of the cylinders are picking up water inside.
SP: So this other shop had tried to set-up this Bosch injection system and made a mess of it?
AP: Exactly. I spoke to the shop but nobody remembers how they did it, why they did it—nobody knows nothing!
So I tell him I have to take the engine out and start from scratch. When I take the engine apart I find out that the reason there was 12 kg of oil pressure was that they didn't leave the proper clearance between the crank journals and the bearings, main, and rod. I replaced the bearings and polish the crankshaft and that solves the problem.
The next thing was that the pistons were made here in America and were supposed to be low compression ratio compared to OEM. They weren't, they were 8.5:1, the same as the Bora’s original pistons, never mind that they left like .008 mm clearance. So when it started in the morning you heard all this “clak-clak-clak” until the piston expanded.
Another mistake they made was they honed the block inside down below the piston and dropped in sleeves. I pulled all the sleeves out one by one. Now what do we do? You don't have oversize pistons in the bottom shoulder, we have all standard size pistons. So, I machined the block and got new sleeves made. It just went on and on and on.
When I got to the turbochargers I found that the wastegate pressure had been set to 14.8 psi. However, the motor was overheating because the radiator was clogged. So I made a new radiator and added a motor oil cooler, anything I could think of to get it to run cooler.
Finally I finished the car. The car was so quick I was almost killed the first time we tested it! Man that thing was noisy though!
SP: No mufflers?
AP: No just straight pipes behind the turbochargers.
SP: That must've been one loud engine!
AP: A cop almost pulled me over just because of the sound! So I pulled off the intercooler which was useless anyway due to the fact that they had mounted it where the original mufflers were and all the heat from the engine just hit the intercoolers.
SP: Well that was an effective design!
AP: So I put OEM mufflers back on and it then idled smoothly at 800 rpm. Then I started testing it. I started in the city, then got up on the freeway where, running in 3rd gear, doing 3000 rpm, running only 2 lb. of boost, I was doing 120 mph!
SP: Unbelievable! This was a single turbocharger?
AP: Twin. I had used a system exactly like on a Porsche Turbo where there's a pump which you activate from the starter solenoid to start with 1 lb. of boost. Then when you are started you reverse the relays to continue the boost.
About this time this Frenchman, Jean Claude Maillard, a member of the French Maserati Club, came because he heard about this prototype car. So we ran some performance tests and got 6 seconds to 100 mph! You didn't need to fasten your belt because the G-force just pinned you to the seat! I told him I was afraid to go faster because I thought it would take off and I wasn't ready to go flying in a ‘73 Bora!
The owner came to get the car but I told him there were a few things left to adjust in the fuel injection system. A low condition, medium condition, and high-speed condition setup. I didn't have the right gauges, but I had people I could send him to where he could finish this. But apparently when they installed a gauge to check the pressure from the fuel pump they then forgot to tighten the fitting from the fuel delivery line when they were done. It must've been alright for a little while, because he got about 14 miles before the car caught on fire. The vibration must've loosened the fitting causing more fuel to dump out. The biggest mistake was that he jumped out of the car without turning the ignition off. The fuel kept coming and the car burned up.
SP: The car burned completely?
AP: All the back part of the car melted, taillight lenses, everything. I guess he panicked with the fire in back of his head.SP: How much money did he have invested?
AP: Close to $70,000.SP: Plus the car?
AP: Yes, plus the car. He had the remains of the car and wanted me to restore it but I told him I didn't want to spend 5-6 years of my life on it. He'd be better with another Bora, starting from scratch.
SP: Amazing story.
AP: I tell you another strange story concerning an Indy. There was this guy, some big shot, who was interested to buy a modified Indy I worked on. He came to look at it on a Friday afternoon at
3:00 P.M. He says, “Alex, can I take it for a spin?” I said, “Sure, take it.” But the guy never returned the car until Monday afternoon! When he came back I looked at the odometer and it had 4,000 more miles on it! So I said “Where’ve you been?! Did you drive to New York and back??!!” He said “Oh everywhere...Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada!!” I said “How fast did you go?” “Oh, about 160!” But he bought the car right on the spot. So I said “Why don’t you bring your wife around, I want to have a talk with her!”
SP: What a character!
At this point the rally started and we were off to try and decipher Don Shearer’s directions. Alex was incredibly hospitable to us all over the weekend and proved once again to be a great friend to the Maserati community.
