1964 Maserati 3500 GTi

By the mid-1950s, Maserati was both successful on the road and the track. Juan Manuel Fangio had won a fifth World Championship behind the wheel of a 250F and was runner-up in the World Sportscar Championship with the 450S. Despite its successes, Maserati was in trouble financially and the company was eventually forced to withdraw from racing. In 1957, the company introduced the Touring-bodied 3500GT, its first road model built in significant numbers. Using the company's competition experience, it was given a tubular chassis frame and an engine derived from the 350S sports car of 1956. It wore a design by Giulio Alfieri, whose resume included the creation of the legendary Tipo 60/61 'Birdcage' sports racer and development work on the 250F. The six-cylinder engine had twin-overhead-camshafts and offered around 220 horsepower initially on carburetors, with later development including Lucas mechanical fuel injection and a boost in power to 235 bhp. Drum brakes and a four-speed transmission were later replaced with five speeds and front disc brakes. Later, all disc brakes were standard prior to production coming to a close in 1964.

Production began in late 1957 with eighteen examples built that year. The interiors were done in leather with Jaeger instrumentation. In 1958, at the Turin Motor Show, a Touring convertible prototype was shown. It was, however, the Carrozzeria Vignale proposal shown at the 1959 Salon de l'Auto in Paris that went into production as 3500 GT Convertible. The convertibles had a steel body with an aluminum hood, boot lid, and optional hardtop. They rested on a 3.9-inch shorter wheelbase and weighed just over 3,000 pounds.

In 1959, a limited slip differential and front disc brakes became optional, before becoming standardized in 1960. Rear disc brakes became standard two years later.

Maserati introduced the 3500 GTi at the 1960 Salon International de l'Auto, with the 'i' representing the use of a Lucas mechanical fuel injection system. This was the first fuel-injected Italian production car.

During its production lifespan, lasting from 1957 through 1964, a total 2,226 3500 GT coupés and convertibles were built. The best year was 1961 when 500 examples were built. The majority of production were coupes with nearly 2000 examples built. Touring bodied 1,981 of these coupes while the rest were bodied by other coachbuilders, including Carrozzeria Allemano who built four coupes including the 1957 prototype. Carrozzeria Boneschi, Bertone, and Pietro Frua also built examples. 245 examples were Vignale convertibles.

by Daniel Vaughan | Jul 2019