1959 Maserati 3500GT

Sold for $605,000 at 2017 RM Sothebys : Monterey.
Coachbuilder Pietro Frua of Torino built five custom bodies for the Maserati 3500 GT chassis. Only one example (this car - chassis number AM101 268) was an open spyder. One-of-a-kind features include headlights set into 'scooped' fenders, chrome strakes, and slightly flared tailfins.

The design was penned in 1958 and may have been intended as a demonstration for Maserati to consider for the eventual production 3500 GT Spyder. The contract, however, was awarded to Vignale.

The car was completed in January of 1959, after which it was test-driven by Maserati chief mechanic and test driver Guerino Bertocchi and German journalist Richard von Franckenberg on the Motodrom of Modena. It was then exported to France via Paris importer Simone et Thenpenier, and in 1960 was used by the actor Roger Pierre in a scene of the film La Francaise et l'amour, 'Love and the French Woman,' before being registered to its first owner, Floret Remy, as RM 27 in Eure.

The restoration was completed in December of 1991.

Subsequent owners include Philippe Olczyk, Ben Huisman, and Alfredo Brener. Mr. Brener had the restoration freshened between 1998 and 2000, with new cream paint.

In 2000 the car appeared at the Concorso Italiano and at the 2002 Los Angeles Auto Show.

The current owner acquired the 3500 GT from the Brener collection in 2003.

By Daniel Vaughan | Nov 2017