Maserati Mistral, probably the most beautiful car made by the brand

Mistral is a strong, cold, north-western wind that blows from southern France into the Gulf of Lion in the northern Mediterranean. It is usually accompanied by clear, fresh weather, and it plays an important role in creating the climate of Provence and Côte d'Azur in France. The mistral takes place each time there is an anticyclone, or area of high pressure, in the Bay of Biscay, and an area of low pressure around the Gulf of Genoa. But we are not here to talk about winds are we?

Maserati in the 60s was a very busy place in Emilia Romagna. They decided to leave motor racing after the Mille Miglia Guidizzolo tragedy in 1957 and it was time for them to build road cars. Aldolfo Orsi (1888-1972) was the owner at the time (He sold the co to Citroen in 1968) and Maserati factory has was always been based in the foodie lover region of Emilia Romagna (nowadays it is still in Modena) where he was born. Maserati built the 3500 GT as a total success and it was the actual favourite car of the brand when in 1963 Maserati Mistral became available (and remained for sale all the way to 1970). It was a 2 seater Gran Turismo (the successor of the successful 3500 GT, what a pressure to deliver) styled by Pietro Frua and bodied by Maggiora in Turin. A total of 828 coupés and 125 Spyders (the convertible version which was designed by Michelotti) were built.

Maserati's renowned twin-spark, double overhead cam straight six engine was used for the Mistral. This engine was fitted in the Maserati 250F Grand Prix cars, where she won 8 Grand Prix between 1954 and 1960 and one F1 World Championship in 1957 driven by the great Argentinian Juan Manuel Fangio. The engine featured hemispherical combustion chambers fed by a Lucas indirect fuel injection system, a new development for Italian car manufacturers. Maserati had to develop V8 engines for their later production cars to keep up with the demand for ever more powerful machines. Three engines were fitted to the Mistral, displacing 3500, 3700 and 4000 cc and developing 235, 245 and 255 bhp respectively. All this served with a 5-speed ZF manual transmission and a front engined rear wheel drive. What a fabulous beast!

It is meant to be one of the most beautiful cars the Casa del Tridente has ever produced and we certainly like them a lot.

Maserati Mistral for sale

Even though the model has different versions and engines, it is one of these models where the convertible is more sought after and you rarely see them for sale, but then, the coupe versions, which are more available trade around 200.000€.