Launched at the Turin Motorshow in 1966, The Maserati Ghibli may well be the most glamorous GT Maserati has ever produced. Named after a hot, dry wind blowing over the Sahara, the Ghibli was designed by a young Giorgetto Giugario. The car‘s visual impact was profound particularly near the time of its launch. Car and Driver simply referred to it as gorgeous, and the most visually spectacular car of 1968.

The Ghibli really is a remarkably good looking car with low lines and classical long bonnet proportions yet the design was a true stepping stone in the transition between the curvaceous rounded forms of more traditional GT’s of the early sixties to the tauter flatter surfaces which became increasingly commonplace in the seventies. The front end design was particularly clean with the entire bumper doubling as the Maserati grille and superbly simple graphics which were made possible by the use of pop up headlamps. Overnight Maserati had a truly modern looking fashionable flagship and influential buyers queued to buy the new model. Initially planned as a run of just 100 cars, production eventually totalled 1170 Coupes and 125 spiders

Whilst the Ghibli performance was truly in the Supercar league of the time, with a quoted top speed of 174mph and a 0-60 time of 6.6 seconds, the car was designed to be untemperamental and luxurious in nature with fittings like air conditioning and electric windows standard. Even power steering was offered as an option unlike its rivals from Ferrari and Lamborghini. Similarly, the V8 engine, although descended from Maserati’s 450S sports racer of 1956, was a unit endowed with effortless torque at lower revs rather than a high revving V12 screamer. Initially offered as a dry sumped 4.7 litre unit, a 4.9 soon appeared to special order and this engine became standard in the later SS vehicles. Carburation was by 4 pairs of Weber DCNL’s and these were later superseded by the easier to adjust DCNF’s in later cars. Power was quoted as 310bhp in the 4.7 litre cars rising to 335 in the later 4.9 derivatives.

In contrast to the modern exterior, the underpinnings were a development of the 3500 and Mexico chassis with additional bracing added to stiffen up the design. Although the front suspension was double wishbone with coil springs, hydraulic shock absorbers and an anti-roll bar, the rear was relatively old school with the continued use of a leaf sprung live rear axle. The end result is a credit to the Engineers that developed the car however. Despite the specifications the car handled very well and is comfortable over sharp ridges and bumps although the rear can feel livelier than a true independent set up.

The Ghibli was a relatively expensive car when new at $19,000 USD and buyers could have bought any number of top shelf alternatives. The Ghibli is reputed to be one of the best finished cars of its era and the build quality of the bodies built by Ghia for Maserati was every bit as good as the beautifully appointed interior.
Modern buyers can still buy a classic Ghibli for a fraction of the price of its rivals although prices have risen sharply over the last few years. Historically, the Ghibli has been much more affordable than its competitors and until fairly recently the high cost of a full restoration would not have been recovered at resale. However this situation is changing rapidly and as a consequence the number of Ghiblis receiving top quality restorations is now growing.