Lot 311: Maserati Mistral Spyder

The name of Maserati is one of the oldest and most respected in Italian motoring history. Established in 1926 by racing driver Alfieri Maserati and his brothers, it began as a racing marque and developed into a sporting one. The production of road cars started in 1958 with the glamorous 3500GT, a Touring bodied coupe powered by a detuned version of Maserati's famed 350S competition engine of 1956. Representing the height of Grand Touring automobiles, the 3500 series proved to be a great success until it was superseded in 1963 by the Mistral, named after the wind which blows over the French Mediterranean coast. The new Mistral continued to use the race-proven twin-camshaft six cylinder engine, this time in 3.7 litre and later optional 4.0 litre guise, the latter representing the ultimate development of the engine. The Mistral was the last Maserati to use the straight six layout, all following models adopting V8 or V6 configurations. Coachwork was designed by Frua and built in steel, with the exception of doors, bonnet and boot lid, which were in aluminium. Two body styles were offered, a coupe and a spyder, and both were particularly attractive because of their unique styling. The Mistral enjoyed a long production life from 1963 until 1970, a total of 948 cars being built during this period and of which a mere 120 were spyders. Chassis AM 109S.063, a 3.7 litre model with five speed gearbox, was constructed in 1965 and first registered in Great Britain on 3rd January 1967. Subsequently owned by Roger Lucas, a Vice-President of the Maserati Owners Club, it was acquired for a private collection in 2002. Subject to a thorough refurbishment in the mid-'80s, including a full repaint, re-chroming of bumpers, a new clutch, new windscreen, new stainless steel exhaust system, and a complete overhaul of the starter, alternator, brakes, injection unit and suspension. Since then, the car has been featured in numerous books and magazine articles, including the main cover feature of the February 1999 issue of Auto Italia magazine (a copy comes with the car), in which it was pitted against a Ferrari California Spyder, as well as being featured in Ultimate Sports Car by Quentin Wilson, Maserati Heritage, published by Osprey, and La Storia, published in-house by Maserati. In addition, this Mistral has won a number of awards, including the Maserati Club Concours Award at Woodstock in 1988, the Best Maserati Award at the Auto Italia Brooklands festival 1998, and fifth Overall Concours Prize at the 1993 Maserati International Meeting in Cologne. Complete with a full file detailing all work carried out on the car since 1984 and a well documented and significant history, this is an excellent opportunity to acquire a very rare right-hand drive example of one of these highly sought-after classic Maseratis. A dream come true for any aficionado of fine classic sports cars.