Maserati Tipo 101 3500GT/GTI


 
Tipo 101 3500GT/GTI
Years of construction 1957-1964
Two-seater Gran Turismo
3½-litre 6-cyl in line
Two overhead camshafts with two valves per cylinder
Engine cubic capacity - 3485cc
Bore 86 mm x Stroke 100 mm
Compression ratio - 8.5:1
Induction by 3 Weber 42DCOE carburettors
Power output - 220 bhp @ 5500 rpm
Weight - 1300 kg
Top speed - 230 kph
1973 models constructed
40 cars exported to the UK between 1960 and 1964
NOTE: From 1961 Lucas indirect fuel injection (235 bhp @ 5800 rpm)
BACK

Alfieri's plan was a simple but effective one and was influenced by the need to make production as economical as possible whilst ensuring quality and reliability. To achieve this Alfieri modified the competition 6-cyl engine from the 350S for road use and incorporated some major components from leading manufactures in Europe: a ZF (Zahnradfabrik of Friedrichshafen) gearbox, a Borg and Beck clutch, a Salisbury rear differential and front and rear suspension parts from Alford Alder. The 3500GT was first presented at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1957. Two prototypes were displayed on the Maserati stand: one by Allemano, the then traditional designer for the 'Casa del Tridente' and the other the work of Carrozzeria Touring of Milan. Touring had designed a very elegant 2+2 coupé and Omer Orsi chose this design for the series production.

The 3500GT's twin overhead camshaft six cylinder engine fed by three twin choke 42 DCOE Weber carburettors had a cubic capacity of 3,485 with a compression ratio of 8.5 to 1 developing some 220 bhp at 5,500 rpm. The chassis frame was a multi-tubular structure of high-duty steel giving the car a total dry weight of 1300 kg. Braking was by hydraulically operated 12-inch drum brakes. The front suspension was by coil-springs and wishbones with a torsion anti-roll bar and rear suspension by semi-elliptical leaf-springs with a live rear axle.

Between late 1957 and early 1958 the 3500GT entered production. The production 3500GTs differed slightly from the prototype with alterations to the headlamps and indicators, a re-designed radiator grille, minor alterations to the dashboard and other smaller details. The 3500GT remained unchanged until early 1965 when numerous modifications were made many of which were optional. In 1959 optional front disc brakes were available (standard equipment in 1960), a limited slip differential (standard equipment in 1960) and Borrani knock-on wire wheels.

In 1958 after having captured the Formula 1 World Championship and, but for some bad luck, almost capturing the World Sportscar Championship Maserati entered some dark days financially.

Omer Orsi had given Giulio Alfieri the task of designing a fast reliable road going sports car that could be produced in larger numbers. Maserati had until then produced competition cars in very low numbers mainly in response to orders from individual customers. It was this strategy that was to change Maserati's fortunes.

Alfieri's plan was a simple but effective one and was influenced by the need to make production as economical as possible whilst ensuring quality and reliability. To achieve this Alfieri modified the competition 6-cyl engine from the 350S for road use and incorporated some major components from leading manufactures in Europe: a ZF (Zahnradfabrik of Friedrichshafen) gearbox, a Borg and Beck clutch, a Salisbury rear differential and front and rear suspension parts from Alford Alder.

The 3500GT was first presented at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1957. Two prototypes were displayed on the Maserati stand: one by Allemano, the then traditional designer for the 'Casa del Tridente' and the other the work of Carrozzeria Touring of Milan. Touring had designed a very elegant 2+2 coupé and Omer Orsi chose this design for the series production. The 3500GT's twin overhead camshaft six cylinder engine fed by three twin choke 42 DCOE Weber carburettors had a cubic capacity of 3,485 with a compression ratio of 8.5 to 1 developing some 220 bhp at 5,500 rpm. The chassis frame was a multi-tubular structure of high-duty steel giving the car a total dry weight of 1300 kg. Braking was by hydraulically operated 12-inch drum brakes. The front suspension was by coil-springs and wishbones with a torsion anti-roll bar and rear suspension by semi-elliptical leaf-springs with a live rear axle.

Between late 1957 and early 1958 the 3500GT entered production. The production 3500GTs differed slightly from the prototype with alterations to the headlamps and indicators, a re-designed radiator grille, minor alterations to the dashboard and other smaller details. The 3500GT remained unchanged until early 1965 when numerous modifications were made many of which were optional. In 1959 optional front disc brakes were available (standard equipment in 1960), a limited slip differential (standard equipment in 1960) and Borrani knock-on wire wheels.

In 1961 a five-speed ZF gearbox was fitted as standard but the major change was the introduction of the 3500GTI fitted with a Lucas direct fuel injection system with power increased to 235bhp. In 1962 with the 3500GT beginning to look dated some alterations were made to improve its looks with the removal of the side and bonnet air vents. In 1960, Carrozziera Vignale introduced a 3500 spider on a shortened chassis, a design strongly influenced by the Coupé of Touring.

The 3500GT was more entitled to be named a 'sports car' than a 'gran turismo'. Powered by an engine evolved from the 250F and based on the successful 350S sports racer, the 3500GT had a maximum speed of around 145 mph and excellent acceleration.

However when it came to appearances, there was nothing sports racer about this car with its elegant coachwork and an interior that oozed luxury.

The 3500GT is important in that it was Maserati's first production car to be built in substantial numbers with 1972 cars built over a period of nine years. During this period Frua, Bertone, Zagato and Michelotti designed bodies on the 3500's chassis but none possessed the classic lines of the Touring design.
The first true road GT to roll out of the Via Ciro Menotti factory was beautiful, fast and reliable, but its success was also due to the extremely modern concepts it embodied. A different grand touring car, not just because it hailed from Modena rather than Maranello, Stüttgart or Coventry or because in the menagerie of horses and jaguars that populated the supercar Olympus, it proposed a trident. The 3500 GT was different by culture and necessity. Its culture came from racing and, in a period when it could afford not to make me-too cars, Maserati had pursued and cultivated a technical philosophy of its own highly attentive to the chassis and with a special predilection for straight-six engines. The necessity was the urgency to shore up a leaky financial situation in which the company's survival was linked to the availability of bank credit. Paradoxically, the marque's clamorous racing success on roads and tracks the world over was the reason for the financial straits : the irresistible stimulus to throw itself more and more into competitive activity had meant enormous investments, and even in those days victory did not always translate into business. Fortunately they had thought even before then to exploit the image fallout from racing success to sell a "series" road model. So on the eve of its most triumphant racing season, in March 1957, Maserati picked the Geneva Auto Show to unveil the prototype of its model 101 in two body versions, one by Touring, the other by Allemano. It was a sort of public "clinic test" designed to take the pulse of the market, query the clientele and take a vote on the two styling solutions. The returns were more than positive and, reassuring for owner Orsi and designer Alfieri, appreciation was expressed for the basic concept of this car: a fast GT that was also comfortable, exciting to drive but also practical for daily use. These factors, which seem trivial on the threshold of the third millennium, were anything but trivial in the '50s, when exceeding 200 km/h was the thrill of the few at the wheel of highly special machines. On the one hand was Ferrari with its fantastic 12-cylinders and breathtaking belligerence, on the other Jaguar, which was giving lessons in styling with an aristocratic disdain for anything modern or simply rational. Maserati, which till then had had only marginal contact with "bourgeois" cars, had conceived a new way to exalt its technical excellence by blending it with the the utmost level of refinement and exceptional attention to the customer. Such fine ideas and fascinating design clashed, however, with a harsh reality: the strident contrast between the world constructors' championship with Juan Manuel Fangio, a factory being dismembered to pay debts and entry into receivership in 1958. Luckily, Alfieri's thinking, oriented toward rationality and efficiency, was to assemble a car with the best material available, regardless of whether it was produced independently or procured on the market. It is obvious how this approach simplified all the design and production procedures and surprising how it anticipated by more than 40 years the current practice of utilizing outside component manufacturers : in a word, "outsourcing". Alfieri retained the fundamental, more technical part, i.e. engine and chassis, while he turned to the market for transmission, brakes and, of course, the body. The gear- box was ZF (4-speed in 1958 and 1959 and 5-speed in 1960), the rear axle Salisbury, the brake system Girling, the suspensions Alford & Adler, the steering box Burman & Sons, the clutch Borg & Beck and so on. It was not yet the age of just-in-time, but production could already be considered lean and mean, to exploit what there was and create synergies with the equipment of the racing department, then being dismantled. In no time (1958) a production area was set up where the cars were assembled on cradles : not until the early '60s was a true assembly line created with a raised ramp that permitted work above and below the car simultaneously. Here the pre-painted bodies from the coachbuilder were mounted and finished. To minimize capital investment, production virtually followed sales and proceeded by successive job orders of 200 units: 200 chassis and 200 engines produced in-house with relative outsourced components. Each car was made to order by customers, although the only options were body colour, type of interior and, in some cases, self-blocking differential. Nonetheless, Maserati was the first to make customer satisfaction and after-sale service into solid marketing subjects. Orsi's pronouncement "the customer is sacred" was not just a slogan but a practice followed by the entire company. A team of test-drivers and mechanics schooled at the track was always ready to demonstrate on the road the marvels of the 3500 GT but also to concern themselves at home with the maintenance of a car that was made to be driven all-out on the first semi-deserted motorways of the period. In 1959, at the initiative of the dealers, a real rally of Maserati customers was even organized at Viareggio to enhance the loyalty of the first 3500 GT owners and gratify them with a field tune-up by the racing team's fantastic men with the "golden screwdrivers". Maserati had countered the enthusiastic, elitist clientele of Ferrari with a broader universe of impassioned customers who accepted going a bit slower but driving more, for work as well as play, and appreciate that bit of extra space and comfort. This does not mean there were no daring road duels between Emilian “cousins”, and the sparks would fly. The Milan dealer at the time, Franco Cornacchia, a "heavy foot" who had participated actively in the 3500 GT development team, regularly drove the Autostrada del Sole between Milan and Modena in the hope of meeting some who could challenge his record toll booth-to-toll booth time of 39 minutes!