Maserati Mistral 1964-1970

[B]A Short History[/B]

The 'Mistral' was the last model from the House of the Trident to be equipped with a straight six cylinder DOHC engine, before Maserati moved on to use V8 engines for their production cars; it was the first model to be given to the name of a wind 'The Mistral', a cold northerly wind of southern France; it is also, in the view of many, the most beautiful body to come from Piero Frua of Turin. The 'Maserati Mistral', a classic Italian granturismo, was shown for the first time at the Turin Motor Show of 1963.

Named originally the '3500 GT Iniezione Coupé Frua', this new granturismo from the Modena factory was last descendant of the '3500GT' family born in 1957 to be equipped with the engine derived from that of the '350S' competition sports car.

This new Maserati, equipped with a 3694cc 6-cyl in line engine using indirect fuel injection and producing 245 bhp, was based on the same tubular chassis of the 3500GT convertible by Vignale and the 'Sebring' coupé. However the chassis of the Mistral was more than 10 cm shorter than that of the 3500GT.

The bodyline was very sleek with its long sloping bonnet meeting a full width chrome bumper over a full width front grille, adorned with a large trident and its rear having a large windowed tailgate giving access to its more than ample baggage space. Finished off with Borrani chrome wire wheels, this new coupé from Frua was the star attraction on the Maserati stand at the Turin Motor Show in 1964.

When first put on sale this magnificent coupé was priced at only 5,700,000 Italian lire, 300,000 lire more than the 3500GTI by Touring. Equipped with disc brakes on all four wheels and a five speed gearbox this coupé was capable of nearly 150 mph.

In 1964 the Mistral Convertible was launched.

In 1966 minor alterations were made to the bodywork and the interior. A bigger engine was available as an option, this time 4014.2 cc giving another 10 bhp, with a top speed of nearly 160 mph.

Production of the Mistral ended in 1970. In a period of seven years 830 coupès and 120 spyders were built.

[SIZE="1"]Sources: maserati-indy.co.uk, bonhams.com[/SIZE]

Maserati Mistral #2

Superb.

Thanks for sharing.

indeed, a nice update for the hide-out

Cheers guys. :)

Sublime.
Thank you, sir. :)

That is a beautiful car. Its almost one that you tend to minimalize in that you don't see them that often. But when you do, they usually are in the company of all sorts of fancy Ferraris and such. So they can be over looked.

But when you put the car in sequence with the events of the day, you end up with a beautiful handbuilt Italian sports car with 245 hp and a production run of right around 1000 cars. It must be a real pain to source particular parts for that car. I can only imagine what it would cost to try and properly restore one.

I guess that ends up in the category that you couldn't restore the car for the price you can buy one for.

Thanks for sharing.

ken

[QUOTE=kvisser;884941]That is a beautiful car. Its almost one that you tend to minimalize in that you don't see them that often. But when you do, they usually are in the company of all sorts of fancy Ferraris and such. So they can be over looked.

But when you put the car in sequence with the events of the day, you end up with a beautiful handbuilt Italian sports car with 245 hp and a production run of right around 1000 cars. It must be a real pain to source particular parts for that car. I can only imagine what it would cost to try and properly restore one.

I guess that ends up in the category that you couldn't restore the car for the price you can buy one for.

Thanks for sharing.

ken[/QUOTE]
That is the case for many pre-Biturbo Maseratis and their contemporary Ferraris. I wouldn't say that's necessarily a bad thing though. It makes them cheaper and more exclusive. They are cars for the connoiseurs.

very nice car by the look of it, one that i was previously unaware of :o

Gorgeous. Thanks for the pics. The color combo on the convertible is great, and I love the steering wheel. I always forget how cool this car is.

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