1964 Maserati 3500 GTi Convertible

In 1957, Maserati introduced the super-light 3500 GT, the company's first road car built in significant numbers. A luxury 2+2 design with the twin-overhead-cam, carbureted six-cylinder engine producing 220 horsepower, the 3500 GT was progressively updated during its production run.

This 3500 GTi was the 245th example of 248 built in total, a late production model with a desirable five-speed gearbox and four-wheel disc brakes (these cars having been initially built with a four-speed transmission and drum brakes). Thanks to the mechanical fuel injection, as indicated by GTi, this car develops 235 hp. The car resided in Spain for its first 25 years and then was in storage for 14 years in the U.K. A painstaking restoration has rendered this Vignale Spyder factory correct in Azzurro Metallizzato, with Connolly leather in Pelle Rosso.

This late-production Maserati 3500 GTi Spyder by Vignale was delivered new to Señor Domingo Gotarta of Barcelona, Spain. It was completed in 1963 and is believed to be the 245th example built and the fourth-from-last. The car spent twenty-five years in Spain with its last owner being Juan Alberto Jepus Fabres, the Mayor of Sarria. It was sold in 1989 to Malcom Clube who discovered the car in an underground parking garage. A deal was finally struck in October of that year and the car was imported to the United Kingdom and placed into storage where it remained for the next 14 years. It was then acquired by Kidston S.A. on behalf of a Swiss resident client who commissioned a comprehensive, rotisserie restoration to be performed in Italy. The work included a bare metal re-painted in the factory color of Azzurro Metallizzato, and all the bright work was re-chromed and polished. Every mechanical component was rebuilt, serviced, or replaced. The dual overhead cam inline six-cylinder engine was given a rebuild that included new cylinder liners, timing chains, cylinder heads with new valves, and water pump. The brake system were rebuilt with new calipers and given new servo and brake lines. Other rebuilt items included the water pump, the driveshaft, and the steering box. The ZF five-speed transmission received a new master cylinder and an all-new and correct wiring harness. The work was completed in 2006 and remained with the German collector until 2009. It then made its way back to the United States and entered the current owners care in 2015.

By Daniel Vaughan | Jul 2019