Archive: 1957-1964 Maserati 3500 GT

The 3500 GT of 1957-1964 was Maserati's first real series-production road car. By that we mean not born directly of a racing model and built more than one at a time with generally standardized coachwork and specs. It was a great success and took Maserati beyond the scope of race-car producer or maker of low-volume one-offs. The coachwork was by Touring of Milan; the original design brief called only for coupes.

Touring also tried its hand at a Spyder convertible version, and just a handful were built. Vignale designed and built the ultimate open 3500 variant. It's beautifully proportioned and nicely detailed; consider it a forbear of today's new GranTurismo convertible. Vignale is nowhere near the picture. The current coupe and convertible (now a four-seater) were designed by Pininfarina. Today, a Maserati 3500 Vignale convertible is a highly sought machine.

Coverage: February 1980

"Convertible Craze" was a unique notion in 1980, as there was a point in the mid-'70s when carmakers feared the convertible body style would be made illegal due to rollover-crash safety concerns. The treatment given this Toyota Celica by longtime carmaker Jack Griffith somewhat resembled that of an air-cooled Porsche 911 Targa. The conversion cost about $3000 on top of the sticker of your new Celica and included much-needed chassis reinforcing.