Maserati had achieved great motorsport success during the 1950s, but despite taking Juan Manuel Fangio to his fifth and final Formula 1 World Championship in 1957, it announced its withdrawal from racing that year. The Italian company was in financial trouble and until that point it had built production road cars in only very small numbers. That changed in 1957 with the introduction of the 3500GT, which drew on Maserati’s racing experience but would be produced in far greater quantities than previous road cars. Originally launched as a 2+2 coupé, the 3500GT featured bodywork by Touring that was mounted on a tubular chassis. Beneath the bonnet was a 3485cc straight-six that was closely related to the marque’s competition engines and featured twin overhead camshafts, twin-plug ignition and a trio of twin-choke Webers. Following the success of the coupé, Touring and Frua both built prototypes for a keenly anticipated Spyder variant, but in the end Maserati commissioned a design of timeless elegance that had been created by Giovanni Michelotti for Vignale. When it was introduced in 1959, the 3500GT Spyder by Vignale featured drum brakes all round – those at the front were soon replaced by discs – while suspension was via wishbones and coil springs at the front, with semi-elliptic leaf springs at the rear. The wheelbase was slightly shorter than on the coupé, at 2500mm rather than 2600mm. Upgrades applied during its production run included a five-speed gearbox in place of the previous four-speeder, all-round disc brakes from 1962, and the development of the 3500GTI. Having been fitted with Lucas fuel-injection, the power output for this model was boosted to 235bhp – the carburettor-fed model gave in the region of 220bhp. In total, 245 Vignale Spyders were built between 1959 and 1964. When Road & Track magazine tested a 3500GT Spyder, it compared it favourably to the Ferrari 250 GT. With a top speed approaching 140mph, it certainly had the performance to go with its good looks, and it was little wonder that the Maserati became the Grand Tourer of choice for captains of industry and glamorous socialites alike.