Peter Ishkhans
– Hair Stylist, TV Personality, Maserati Owner
Maserati GranTurismo the ideal daily drive for Style Guru...

There’s a saying about style: "If you’ve got it, flaunt it". We’re not sure it’s entirely applicable to Maserati – while the cars are undeniably stylish, it’s understated rather than brash. It’s also not entirely applicable to Peter Ishkhans, who clearly prefers "If you’ve got it, use it to help others".

Residents of Beverly Hills may be familiar with his salon, Peter Ishkhans at JosephMartin, on North Canon Drive. Viewers of the Style Network TV channel will be familiar with him from his show, Peter Perfect, in which he carries out a lightning makeover of businesses which are struggling. Why are we telling you this? Because each show starts with Peter driving his new Maserati GranTurismo.

“The car makes a great introduction – when I arrive in my Maserati, the people immediately think: This guy knows what he’s doing, look what he’s driving,” Peter told us. “For the show, I go into small businesses and reinvent them, through style and image. The nature of what I do, with both the hair salon and my TV work, is all about style, and I think the GranTurismo really captures that about me.”

We spoke to Peter in his light, airy salon; due to his busy schedule we met up early in the morning, before his first client of the day arrived –  he was cheerful and full of life, laughing and joking all through our discussion. An example was his response when asked to name his favorite man-made wonder: “Yves Saint Laurent boots,” was his instant response. Although the salon is just a couple of blocks from his local dealership, Maserati of Beverly Hills, another dealership was responsible for his first encounter with the GranTurismo. “I already knew about the car, and on Thanksgiving Day in 2007 I was driving along the Pacific Coast Highway,” he explained. “I looked in my rear-view mirror and saw this car coming up, and I recognized it straight away as a Maserati GranTurismo. I actually flagged the car down, and spoke to the driver; he was a salesman at The Auto Gallery in Calabasas. The car was a demonstrator, which had just been delivered, and he was taking it out for a test drive – since it was Thanksgiving, there was very little traffic.”

“I saw the car again at the Los Angeles Auto Show, and told the people at the show that I wanted one,” Peter continued. “They told me that there was so much demand that I might have to wait a while – I told them that I’d take the one right off the stand to get one! I knew the people at Maserati of Beverly Hills, because I had done business with them before – they gave me a test drive, and I was just sold on the car straight away. I think the styling of the car is phenomenal aesthetically – I think it looks beautiful, and I feel that no one does it better than the Italians.”

Peter is justifiably proud of what he has achieved – he grew up in a one-parent family in a run-down area of east London – so when we asked him what the GranTurismo has replaced, we were surprised by his answer. “I had an Aston Martin DB9, but I found it very difficult to drive in Los Angeles – it’s too low,” he told us. “I couldn’t go to the grocery store, I couldn’t go to the bank – and when I took it to my gym, I came down the ramp and got stuck! So the Aston Martin was a pain in the arse, but I genuinely believe the GranTurismo represents me, more than any other car I’ve ever had – even though it’s not British! I never wear British clothes, I wear Italian clothes, I like that style. With the DB9 the image of the car was much more masculine; I feel the GranTurismo looks fairly masculine, but there’s definitely a blend of the feminine in it, too. It’s a much softer overall look – I call my car ‘Isabella Maserati’!”

That Peter feels the GranTurismo ‘represents’ him is quite a compliment, both because of who he is and the large number of cars he has owned. We were particularly envious of the first car he owned: “It was a Ford, a Mk.II Lotus Cortina – it cost me a fortune in insurance, but I didn’t care! I loved that car – it was the classic colors, white with the green stripe down the side,” he explained. “I’ve always had performance cars – my next car was a TVR, I had a few Triumph TR6, two 1976 Corvette Stingrays, a few Porsche, a Ferrari, a Mercedes SL55 and the Aston Martin. For me, buying a car is often a case of seeing something I like, and going after it. I saw the Maserati and went after it - when I first saw a picture of the GranTurismo, I immediately thought that I liked it, and decided that it was a car I wanted to own.”

The pricing of the GranTurismo was something which surprised Peter – although he was wary of talking about it. “I think the value of the car is absolutely excellent – although I hate to say that, because they might put the price up! I think it’s great, great value – I actually prefer it to the DB9, and that cost me almost $50,000 more, so I think it’s a much better value. I prefer the styling of the GranTurismo, and I think the interior of the Maserati is absolutely gorgeous when compared to the Aston Martin.”

As you might expect from his chosen career as a professional stylist, the style of the car was the dominant theme of the conversation. Since Peter feels that he gets noticed more in the GranTurismo than in the DB9 it replaced, we asked whether he felt that Maserati had succeeded in creating a car which turns heads, yet is sufficiently understated and classy to be a daily driver. “I think Maserati has avoided the flashiness of something like a Ferrari – the Ferrari gets more attention than the Maserati,” he told us. “I think Maserati has been able to come up with something that is prestigious and exclusive, and is ‘quieter’ than the Ferrari, more understated. The Italians have their own sensibility, their own design language – and for me, the GranTurismo is the sexiest car on the road.”

Besides its appearances on his show, Peter loves driving his car – it’s his daily driver, averaging close to 1,000 miles a month. “They’ve been great miles – I love driving it, the sound of it, the smoothness of it,” he said. “I’m excited about the Maserati, when I get in it every day, turn the engine on and drive it. It gives me a sense of accomplishment – from where I grew up, to be here driving one of the best brands in the world really is an accomplishment. It makes me feel good about myself, that I have achieved what I set out to do. I feel very free in it, every time I drive it – like I don’t have a care in the world. Every drive in the GranTurismo feels like a Sunday morning drive.”

“I love driving it up to Santa Barbara – going up the 101, there’s a stretch where the cops don’t hang out, so you can enjoy it a bit more,” Peter continued. It’s great driving it up around Mulholland Drive – it really is amazing how it handles a twisty road. Actually, I just love driving it every day; it’s a great car for that. I’d be interested to find out how the GranTurismo S handles – if that had been out, I’d have considered that. And it’s great that my car has proper rear seats – I only like two-door cars, but I do want to take people out. My friend Jimmy, who is six feet tall, fits in there comfortably – I think Maserati has done it perfectly.”

Since Peter spends almost all his time working on the style of other people, both in his salon and on his TV show, we were interested to know what he thought the GranTurismo said about him. “Maserati is a very distinctive brand, one that people recognize, and it has a lot of style and prestige,” he explained. “I think the car says that I’ve got some style – and I think it’s an ideal car for me – my friend Charlie is a real car enthusiast who has seen every car I’ve had, and he told me that this car is really ‘me’. That sounds arrogant, but it’s not meant that way – it’s about style, quality and exclusivity, but understated.”

Favourite drink: Red Bull
Favourite current TV show: I have two – one is the Fashion Police, starring Peter Ishkhans, the other is Peter Perfect, starring Peter Ishkhans.
Favourite movie: Bladerunner
Last movie you saw: Sweeney Todd
Favourite book: Sadhana of the Heart, by Gurumayi Chidvilasananda
Last book you read: Einstein: His Life and Universe, by Walter Isaacson
Favourite genre of music: Rock and roll
Favourite composer, performer or group: The Clash, and Van Morrison
To what place do you most like to return: India
Favourite man-made wonder: Yves Saint Laurent boots!
Whom do you most admire: Gandhi
Which figure from history would you most like to meet: Gandhi
If you changed professions, what would you most like to do: I’m doing exactly what I want to do
What do you still intend to accomplish: I’d like to get my TV show on network TV.