1968 Maserati Ghibli Spyder

The Maserati Ghibli, penned by Giorgetto Giugiaro while he was working for Ghia, was fitted with a potent 4.7-liter V8 engine. It had superb driving dynamics, attractive styling, and a price tag that was more than a Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona.

This particular Ghibli is one of the one hundred twenty-eight spyders and it has chassis and engine number AM115/S 1001, making it the first Ghibli Spyder ever produced. It was also the first example ever shown to the public. Ghia pulled the sheets off of this very car at Turin in October of 1968. At Turin, it wore bright Giallo (yellow) paintwork with a Testa di moro (dark brown) leather interior.

The prototype and production examples were similar, however, the prototype did have a number of subtle differences. The prototype was given recesses in the door panels where the door handles are mounted. Also, the external fuel filler doors found on the rear deck of the production cars are not present on chassis 1001. Thus, the filler caps can only be accessed by opening the boot. The boot lid is longer on chassis 1001 than on the production spyders that followed, and it has a character line added to stiffen the lid. The radio antenna was mounted at the rear of the fender, and there is a trunk-lid release lever that operates inversely to that on production Ghibli Spyders. The Maserati and Ghibli badges are located on the driver's side of the rear fascia rather than split, as found on the production spyders. Under the bonnet, the cylinder heads on the engine have extra impressions to allow for twin-spark ignition for each cylinder; this was a configuration found on early versions of the 4.7-liter engine.

Maserati used the Spyder for display, developing and testing purposes. After it served those duties, the car was sold to its first private owner, Mr. Antonio Capuano, of Italy, in October 1969. Mr. Capuano retained the car for six years before selling it in 1975 to Libero Girardi. Mr. Girardi imported the car from Italy to the United States and sold it to his son-in-law, John Ferro. Mr. Ferro used the car sparingly before putting it into storage in 1986. At that time, the mileage was recorded to be just over 66,144 kilometers (41,100 miles). The car remained in static storage for nearly 3 decades before it would be seen again by the public.

The current caretaker acquired the car from Mr. Ferro.

It is believed that the car was given a repaint in its proper shade of Giallo in 1975. It has new tires and the stereo speakers and external mirrors were added at the time of the repaint. It has its original factory Campagnolo stickers on its alloy wheels.

The car's first public outing in nearly three decades was at the 2014 Concours d'Elegance of America in Plymouth, Michigan, where the car won the Debut Award in its inaugural concours appearance. Later that year, the Ghibli Spyder was shown at the Hilton Head Island Concours d'Elegance and received a Palmetto Award.

By Daniel Vaughan | Sep 2015

The first Ghibli was a two-door, 2+2 GT released in 1967. It debuted at the 1966 Turin Motor Show and proved to be the most popular Maserati since the 1950s, outselling the Ferrari Daytona and the Lamborghini Miura.

Ghia's Giorgetto Giugiaro designed the Ghibli's steel body, characterized by its low, shark-shaped nose. The first car was powered by a front mid-engine quad-cam 4.7-liter 310 horsepower V8 engine, making 0-60 mph in 6.8 seconds with a top speed of 154 mph. Buyers could choose a ZF five-speed manual or three-speed automatic transmission. That kind of performance requires large amounts of fuel, so the car was fitted with two 13-gallon fuel tanks. It also features pop-up headlamps, leather sport seats and alloy wheels. The convertible Ghibli Spyder was introduced in 1969.

This particular car was the first Ghibli Spyder built, completed in 1968. It has subtle differences from production models: badge locations, fuel filler doors and space for a second set of spark plugs in the cylinder head. It was used as a show car for introduction at the Turin Motor Show in October 1968 and again at Geneva in March 1969. It was finally sold as a used car in 1969 to an Italian buyer. In 1975, it was sold to a broker in the United States who kept it in excellent condition with ideal storage conditions. The present owner acquired it in April 2014.

With only 1,170 coupes and 128 Spyders produced, all Ghibli Spyders are rare - but only one car can be the first, making this example truly one-of-a-kind.

The car was shown for the first time in several decades at the 2014 Concours d'Elegance of America in Plymouth, MI. Also in 2014, chassis 1001 was shown at the Hilton Head (SC) Island Concours d' Elegance and was awarded the Palmetto Award in a Maserati class assembled to celebrate the marque's 100th anniversary.