The Maserati Karif was designed to be luxurious, sporty and agile enough to allow the driver to ‘feel like a racing driver again, or for the first time’.

At the car’s unveiling, Alejandro de Tomaso declared a very limited production run of 250 examples.  In a throwback to Maserati’s earlier naming practices for two-seater GTs, the car was named after the wind called ‘Karif’, which blows South West across the Gulf of Aden at Berbera, Somalia.The Karif was built on the same shortened chassis as the Zagato-bodied Maserati Spyder model, adding a fixed notchback coupé roof.

It used the most powerful Maserati Biturbo engine: the AM473, a 2.8-litre 90° V6 engine with 3 valves per cylinder, producing 285bhp at 5,500rpm.

According to Maserati the Karif could reach 60mph from a standstill in 4.8 seconds, and achieve a top speed of over 158mph.  Maserati Karifs are exceptionally rare; only 250 were ever built, with only twenty-five in right drive form and only 7 remaining in existence.  This c...