Tuesday 16 November 2010

Magnificent Gran Turismo - Maserati 3500 GT

Todays photo's come courtesy of my Rowdy buddy Steve Arnaudin of Brevard NC who recently kindly sent me some extraordinary photo's his Dad took in the late 1950's to early 1960's.



The vehicle above is the first Maserati Grand Turismo model a 3500 GT which was in production from 1957 to 1964. The evidence is that this picture was taken at Thompson CT in 1958 making the car an early model almost certainly one of the 119 made in the first year of production with drum brakes all round.

The 3500 was developed as part of a survival strategy successfully transforming Maserati from a racing car manufacturer to a manufacturer of road cars. Like its 250 F racing stable mate, that had been competitive in Formula One against all but the Mercedes team, from 1954 to 1957 the 3500 had a six cylinder engine all though at 3485 cc / 212 cui considerably larger than the 2490 cc / 151 cui of the racer.



The superleggra aluminium bodywork is by Carrozzeria Touring and it sits on a chassis with independent front suspension and live rear axle. 1973 of these vehicles were manufactured with around 12 others featuring alternative bodywork, excluding the rare Vignale Spider which sat on a shortened 3500 GT chassis.

Thanks again to Steve Arnaudin and his Dad for giving us a fascinating insight into motoring in 1958, I look forward to bringing you more from the Arnaudin collection in the fullness of time.

Thanks for popping by, looking forward to seeing what delights tomorrow's post will bring already, don't forget to come back now !

10 comments:

  1. SWEET! I didn't know anything about this car and found this to be truly interesting (as always!). At first I thought this was the car featured in the Clint Eastwood movie a few years back, but now I understand this is a Maserati. Very cool. Super pictures!! Thanks Steve and Art. Fantastic collaboration :-)

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  2. I can imagine the SFPD becoming a popular place to work if their 'Enforcers' were given a Maserati to cruise around in Chief ! :-)

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  3. Look behind the first photo about 100 feet. Is that a 1950s TR. It looks red.

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  4. Not a bad guess JC Steve's dad took a pic of that car which you can see here :-

    http://img832.imageshack.us/i/27st.jpg/

    It's a Maserati 150s which I am trying to find out some more details about before sharing the photo here.

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  5. Stunning!

    Hey Chief! It's white.

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  6. All Kudos to Steves Dad if I existed at all, I was probably now't more than a few cells of an embryo when this pic was taken !

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  7. It seems odd that the presumable owner of the Maserati is wearing a necktie. Just another day at the office, I guess.

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  8. I guess a man with a Maserati to fund in the '50's just couldn't afford to stop working :-)

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  9. Do you ever see any 1958 ferrari testarossas driving around town? I think that is the best looking car ever.

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  10. I've not seen one driven but I might have one in the archive JC, keep your eyes peeled here on Thursday :-)

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