1972 Maserati Ghibli Coupe

By the time the Maserati Ghibli left the factory in Modena, the company had been successfully building luxury supercars for more than a decade. At the heart of their designs were two outstanding engines: the 3,500cc six and the 4,719cc V8, both of which had twin overhead camshafts and provided enough power to sweep the six-cylinder Sebring and the sumptuous V8 Mexico four-seater coupe up to 138 mph at the driver’s command. First introduced at the Turin Auto Show in late 1966 as a two-door, two-seater coupe, the Ghibli was initially developed from the Maserati Mexico and, as a result, shared its stiff tubular steel chassis and its well-proven independent front and live rear axle suspension layout.

Weighing only 3,000 pounds, nearly 1,000 less than the Mexico, the car was clad with a sensationally exotic bodyshell of great elegance designed by Giugiaro and built by Ghia. The altogether pleasing Maserati Ghibli became a mainstay of Italian design until...