1962 Maserati 3500 GT

Despite being at the pinnacle of its racetrack success, Maserati was facing a bleak feature in 1957. Juan Manuel Fangio had earned his fifth World Championship at the wheel of a 250F and the runner-up spot in the World Sports Car Championship with the 450S. The company's financial difficulties forced a withdrawal from racing, shifting its focus to survival rather than conquering the most elite forms of racing. The Modena marque's new era began with a new line of road-going cars named the 3500 GT, its first road car built in significant numbers.

The Maserati 3500 GT wore Superleggera aluminum coachwork by Carrozzeria Touring with 2+2 seating. Designed by Giulio Alfieri, creator of the Tipo 60/61 'Birdcage' sports-racer and the individual responsible for developing the 250F into a World Championship winner, its mechanical construction drew heavily from the company's experience, employing a tubular chassis frame and an engine derived from the 350S sports car unit of 1956 and a close relative of the 250F. The twin-overhead-camshaft, six-cylinder engine developed 220 horsepower initially, later rising to 235 bhp with the installation of Lucas mechanical fuel injection. The 12-valve engine had a bore of 86mm and a stroke of 100 mm, with an overall displacement of 3,485.29 cc. The engine block and cylinder heads were aluminum, and the cylinder sleeves, hemispherical combustion chambers, and valve seats were cast iron. Early examples used three twin-choke 42 DCOE Weber carburetors while later examples used Lucas mechanical fuel injection.

The suspension setup in the rear was conventional with a live axle and semi-elliptic arrangement, while the front was independent by wishbones and coil springs. Early examples used drum brakes and a four-speed (ZF S4-17) transmission, but progressive updates brought about a five-speed (ZF S5-17) transmission, front disc brakes, and finally, all-disc braking. Front disc brakes and limited-slip differential became optional in 1959 and were standardized in 1960. By 1962, rear disc brakes became standard.

Italy's finest carrozzeria's clothed the 3500 GT, including Allemano, Bertone and Frua. Most coupe bodies were the work of Touring, while all but one (a Frua-bodied example) of the much less common Spyder version were the work of Carrozzeria Vignale.

The Maserati 3500 GT was introduced in 1957 at the Geneva Motor Show and produced through 1964, with 2,226 examples produced. Eighteen cars were built in 1957 and each outfitted with leather interiors and Jaeger instrumentation. The first convertible prototype with coachwork by Touring was shown at the Turin Motor Show in 1958. The design that went into production as 3500 GT Convertible was the Carrozzeria Vignale proposal to a design by Michelloti, first show in 1959 at the Salon de l'Auto in Paris. Unlike the Touring Superleggera-built examples, the Vignale-bodied cars used steel for much of the exterior, with aluminum for the trunk (bonnet) lid, bonnet, and optional hardtop. It rested on a 3.9-inch shorter wheelbase platform and weighed 3,040 pounds.

Of the 2,226 examples built, 245 were Vignale convertible and 1,981 were Touring coupes. Four coupes, including the 1957 protoytpe, were by Carrozzeria Allemano. Pietro Frua built a spider and two or three coupes, and Bertone built a coupe to a design by Franco Scaglione for the 1959 Turin Motor Show. Carrozzeria Boneschi crated a coupe designed by Rodolfo Bonetto and shown at the 1962 Turin Motor Show and the 1963 Geneva Motor Show. Moretti built a coupe that was shown in 1966 at the Geneva Motor Show.

by Daniel Vaughan | Sep 2021