The 1950s had proved very successful for Maserati in both sports car and Grand Prix racing and in 1957 the Italian sports car manufacturer announced an exciting new road car called the 3500GT.

The rakish new car was styled by Carrozzeria Touring of Milan and featured their new hallmark 'Superleggera' body construction which consisted of lightweight aluminium body panels supported underneath by thin steel tubing that followed the general shape of the car.

The engine was a road-going version of the competition 300/350S motor, a double overhead-camshaft straight-six unit with two spark plugs per cylinder, fuelled by a set of triple side-draft Weber carburettors with Lucas fuel injection as an option later in the model's production.

Many chose the fuel-injected engine when new but as the technology was in its infancy a great number of 3500 GT engines were converted retrospectively to Weber carburettors.

Factory original Weber-engined cars are therefore very rare.

Presented at the 1957...