The Maserati Medici is a

concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle, show vehicle or prototype) is a car made to showcase new styling and/or new technology. They are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or ...

developed by the

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

design firm

Italdesign Italdesign Giugiaro S.p.A. is a design and engineering company and brand based in Moncalieri, Italy, that traces its roots to the 1968 foundation of Studi Italiani Realizzazione Prototipi S.p.A. by Giorgetto Giugiaro and Aldo Mantovani. Best kno ...

for

Maserati Maserati S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer. Established on 1 December 1914, in Bologna, Italy, the company's headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. The company has been owned by Stellantis since 2021. Ma ...

. Two slightly different models, the Medici I and the Medici II were produced in 1974 and 1976. The design was led by

Giorgetto Giugiaro Giorgetto Giugiaro (; born 7 August 1938) is an Italian automotive designer. He has worked on supercars and popular everyday vehicles. He was born in Garessio, Cuneo, Piedmont. Giugiaro was named Car Designer of the Century in 1999 and inducted ...

. The Medici's design had an influence on numerous other production vehicles in the 1970s. The Medici was named after the Florentine family of the same name, renowned for their power and patronage of the arts during the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

Concept

The Maserati Medici was a design study for a luxury sports sedan. Both versions of the Medici were designed on the frame of the

Maserati Indy The Maserati Indy (''Tipo AM116'') is a four-seater fastback grand tourer produced by the Italian car manufacturer Maserati from 1969 to 1975. It was the first car produced under the Citröen ownership. History The Indy was conceived as an alter ...

as a four door fastback. Both versions had a longitudinally mounted 4.9 Liter V8, which was also borrowed from the Indy.

Medici I

The Medici I was built in the spring of 1974, and it shared many design elements with Giugiaro's previous Asso Di Picche concept. One influential feature of the Medici I was the trapezoidal

C-pillar The pillars on a car with permanent roof body style (such as four-door sedans) are the vertical or nearly vertical supports of its window area or greenhouse—designated respectively as the ''A, B, C'' and (in larger cars such as 4-door stat ...

, which became wider as it ran down the side of the car. Giugiaro later used this design in many different cars, including the Lancia Delta I and the 1980

Audi Coupé The Audi Coupé was a liftback coupé version of the Audi 80, first shown in 1980. The bodywork was shared with the Audi Quattro. The second generation Coupé arrived in late 1988 and was based on the B3 Audi 80, albeit with a different suspensio ...

. While the Medici's C-pillar was made of solid sheet metal, other vehicles such as the Audi 80 B2 and the

Yugo Florida The Zastava Florida, also known as Yugo Sana, Yugo Miami or Yugo Florida, is a five-door hatchback which was introduced by Yugoslav automaker Zastava on 19 February 1987, and remained in production until 2008. The Florida was designed by Giorge ...

had an additional trapezoidal window in the C-pillar. The front end of the Medici I was very similar to Giugiaro's 1974 Maserati Coupé 2+2 (also known as ''Tipo 124''), which was the potential successor to the Indy. Alike the Medici, the Coupé 2+2's front fascia ended in a point and had pop-up headlights. Inside, the Medici I was designed to have six seats. Behind the two front seats were two benches installed opposite each other; the passengers in the middle row sat opposite to the direction of travel. The space in the rear cabin was crowded, leading to changes for the Medici II. The Medici I was first publicly displayed in April 1974 at the

Turin Auto Show The Turin Motor Show ( it, Salone dell'Automobile di Torino) was an auto show held annually in Turin, Italy. The first official show took place between 21 and 24 April 1900, at the Castle of Valentino, becoming a permanent fixture in Turin from ...

Medici II

In 1976, Giugiaro presented Medici II. Unlike the Medici I, it was a four-seater. The interior was fully redesigned, and the benches were replaced by two chairs. The rear also included a bar, refrigerator, desk, and file holder, as well as a television and a radiophone which were futuristic for the time. The main difference in the styling of the Medici II was in the front fascia. Instead of the semi-pointed front of the Medici I, the Medici II carried a higher front end, allowing for four high-set square headlights and a square, chrome-framed grille. The Medici II is considered the stylistic predecessor of the

Maserati Quattroporte III The Maserati Quattroporte () is a four-door full-size luxury sports sedan produced by Italian automobile manufacturer Maserati. The name translated from Italian means "four doors". The car is currently in its sixth generation, with the first ge ...

, which was produced starting in 1979. The Medici II was exhibited at the 1976

Paris Motor Show The Paris Motor Show (french: Mondial de l'Automobile) is a biennial auto show in Paris. Held during October, it is one of the most important auto shows, often with many new production automobile and concept car debuts. The show presently take ...

and sold in 1977 to

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi , title = Shahanshah Aryamehr Bozorg Arteshtaran , image = File:Shah_fullsize.jpg , caption = Shah in 1973 , succession = Shah of Iran , reign = 16 September 1941 – 11 February 1979 , coronation = 26 October ...

, the Shah of Persia, who had a fondness for Maserati models. The car now resides in the Louwman Collection.

References

{{Maserati timeline

Medici The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Muge ...

1974 introductions 1976 introductions