Touring Superleggera Maserati 3500 GT History
Touring's most prolific pre-closure commission — over 2,000 grand touring coupes that brought Maserati into the profitable road-car business.
Photo: “1958 Maserati 3500 GT coupé - white - fvr.jpg” by Rex Gray from Southern California / Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY 2.0. Cropped to 16:9.
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The Maserati 3500 GT was the car that transformed Maserati from a pure racing constructor into a viable road-car manufacturer. The first prototype — a white 2+2 Touring berlinetta nicknamed 'Dama Bianca' (White Lady) — was presented at the 1957 Geneva Motor Show with full Superleggera construction. Its elegant long-hood, short-deck proportions set the template for the production series.
Touring bodied the 3500 GT in coupe form throughout its production life (1957–1964); a Spyder variant was also produced, styled by Vignale. The coupe was Touring's most numerically significant commission: approximately 2,000 to 2,200 examples were completed, making it far more commercially important than the bespoke pre-war and Ferrari commissions that preceded it.
The 3500 GT was offered with a twin-cam 3.5-litre inline-six derived from Maserati's racing engines, later updated to direct fuel injection in the 3500 GTi variant. It established the Italian grand tourer formula — front-engine, rear-drive, handsome steel-tube/aluminium coachwork — that Touring would refine on subsequent commissions for Ferrari and Lamborghini.
Generations
3500 GT (carburetted) · 3500 GT
Photo: “1958 Maserati 3500 GT coupé - white - fvr.jpg” by Rex Gray from Southern California / Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY 2.0. Cropped to 16:9.
Superleggera coupe with twin-cam 3.5-litre six and triple Weber carburettors; the foundational grand-tourer that rescued Maserati's finances.
1958 Photo: “1958 Maserati 3500 GT coupé - white - fvr.jpg” by Rex Gray from Southern California / Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY 2.0
1960 Photo: “Bonhams - The Paris Sale 2012 - Maserati 3500GT Coupé - 1960 - 002.jpg” by Thesupermat / Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
3500 GTi (fuel-injected) · 3500 GTi
Photo: “Maserati 3500 GTI (1964) 1X7A0037.jpg” by Alexander Migl / Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped to 16:9.
Lucas fuel-injected update with improved power and driveability; the final evolution before the model was replaced by the Sebring.
1962 Photo: “1962 Maserati 3500 GT HCC23.jpg” by MrWalkr / Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
1964 Photo: “Maserati 3500 GTI (1964) 1X7A0037.jpg” by Alexander Migl / Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
Body styles
- Coupe
- Spyder
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