Another lovely convertible tailor made for Spring:
The Maserati 3500 GT was first shown at the 1957 Geneva Salon. It was offered only as a “rolling chassis” designed by chief engineer Giulio Alfieri; various exotic coach builders came up with different body designs. It was a seminal vehicle for Maserati — the company’s first successful attempt at the Gran Turismo market and series production.
Spyder’s body was made of steel, with aluminum doors, hood and trunk lid, as was the optional hardtop. Electric windows came as standard. Performance was suited to open-air motoring, with a top speed of 137 mph for the 3500GTI version.
The 3500 displaced 3485 cc and featured an aluminum block, dual overhead cams, twin-plug ignition and three twin-choke Weber carburetors. (Maserati 5000 GT got the V8). The straight six engine developed 220HP and was mated to a 4-speed gearbox, later replaced with a 5-speed box.
The lovely spyder you see below was the rarest factory iteration of the 3500 GT. It was bodied by Alfredo Vignale. These have sold for various prices: this is for sale at $629,500; the spyder below sold for $764,500,
Source: Fiskens
