1964 Maserati 3500 GTi Coupe

The Maserati brothers, Alfieri, Bindo and Ernesto, loved building fast cars, including Grand Prix entries for Diatto. When Diatto stopped producing race cars in 1926, the brothers founded their own marque. Alfieri Maserati won the 1926 Targa Florio, in one of their early efforts and they soon started building race cars with four, six, eight, and even sixteen cylinders. In 1937, they sold out to the Adolfo Orsi family. Racing success continued, including Indy 500 wins and a 1957 Juan-Manuel Fangio world championship. But, after the gruesome 1957 Mille Miglia tragedy, Maserati ended factory racing and focused more on road cars.

In 1957 at the Geneva Motor Show they unveiled a 3500GT 2+2 coupe with an aluminum body on Carrozzeria Touring's superleggera, or super light, frame. It was Maserati's first attempt at volume production. It had a 3485cc DOHC six-cylinder with 220 horsepower on a 102.4 inch wheelbase. The suspension had a front wishbone and coil-springs; the rear semi-elliptic springs and a live axle. They also had leather interiors, Jaeger-LeCoultre instruments and power windows.

The 3500 GTi was introduced in 1961 with Lucas fuel injection and a 235 horsepower engine in front of a 5-speed ZF gearbox. Disc brakes were standard all around. The dashing GTi body had a lowered roofline and different grille, rear lights, and vent windows. This car has the Borrani wire wheels and was discovered in a barn where it had resided since the early 1970's. It was rescued in 2009 and restored at the owner's body shop.