The Maserati Mistral (''Tipo AM109'') is a 2-seat gran turismo produced by

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

car manufacturer

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 ...

between 1963 and 1970. The successor to the 3500 GT, it was styled by Frua and bodied by

Maggiora Maggiora is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Novara in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about northwest of Novara. Maggiora borders the following municipalities: Boca, Borgomanero, Cureggio Cureg ...

of Turin. A total of 828

coupé A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...

s and 125 Spyders were built. Named after a cold northerly wind of southern France, it was also the first in a series of classic Maseratis to be given the name of a wind. The Mistral was succeeded by the

Ghibli Ghibli (Italian: , also used in English), the name of a hot desert wind also known as sirocco, derived from Libyan Arabic (, ). Ghibli may refer to: Vehicles * Maserati Ghibli, a model of car made by Italian auto manufacturer Maserati * Capron ...

gran turismo, which overlapped production from 1967 on.

History

The Mistral is the last model from the ''Casa del Tridente'' (“House of the Trident”) to have the company's renowned twin-spark, double overhead cam straight six engine. Fitted to the

Maserati 250F The Maserati 250F was a racing car made by Maserati of Italy used in '2.5 litre' Formula One racing between January 1954 and November 1960. Twenty-six examples were made. Mechanical details The 250F principally used the SSG 220 bhp (@ 7400 rpm) ...

Grand Prix cars, this engine won eight Grand Prix between 1954 and 1960 and the F1 World Championship in 1957 driven by Juan Manuel Fangio. The engine featured hemispherical combustion chambers fed by a

Lucas Lucas or LUCAS may refer to: People * Lucas (surname) * Lucas (given name) Arts and entertainment * Luca Family Singers, also known as "lucas ligner en torsk" * ''Lucas'' (album) (2007), an album by Skeletons and the Kings of All Cities * ''L ...

indirect fuel injection system, a new development for Italian car manufacturers. Maserati subsequently moved on to V8 engines for their later production cars to keep up with the demand for ever more powerful machines. Three engine were fitted to the Mistral, displacing 3500, 3700 and 4000 cc and developing at 5500 rpm, at 5500 rpm and at 5200 rpm, respectively. Only the earliest of the Mistrals were equipped with the 3500 cc, the most sought after derivative is the 4000 cc model. Unusually, the body was offered in both aluminium and, from 1967, in steel, but no one is quite sure how many of each were built. The automobile was equipped with a standard five-speed ZF transmission and four-wheel solid

disc brakes A disc brake is a type of brake that uses the calipers to squeeze pairs of pads against a disc or a "rotor" to create friction. This action slows the rotation of a shaft, such as a vehicle axle, either to reduce its rotational speed or to hol ...

. Per Maserati practice, the front suspension was independent and the rear solid axle. Acceleration from 0-60 mph (97 km/h) for both the 3.7- and 4.0-liter engines was around or just under 7 seconds, and top speed approximately to . When leaving the factory the car was originally fitted with

Pirelli Cinturato The Pirelli Cinturato is a Pirelli-developed car tyre that was the first example of a wrap-around radial tyre structure. It was used to good effect in motorsport, and most modern tyres are based upon the design. The five-times Formula One World C ...

185VR16 CA67, then later 205VR15 tyres (CN72) on

Borrani Ruote Borrani S.p.A. (established 1922 in Milan) is an Italian manufacturer of automobile and motorcycle wheels. They are known for supplying Rudge-Whitworth design centerlocking wire wheels to many Italian racing cars, sports cars and luxury cars. ...

wire wheels. Only the Spyder received the 3500 engine; just 12 were made, along with 76 3.7 L and 37 4.0 L Spyders. 20 of the spyders built were right hand drive. The body was designed by

Pietro Frua Pietro Frua (2 May 1913 - 28 June 1983) was one of the leading Italian coachbuilders and car designers during the 1950s and 1960s. Early years Frua was born in Turin, the centre of coachbuilding in northern Italy. He was the fourth son of Angela, ...

and first shown in a preview at the

Salone Internazionale dell'Automobile di Torino 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 ...

in November 1963. It is also often confused with the very similar looking but larger and more powerful Frua designed

AC Frua The AC Frua or AC 428 is a British GT built by AC Cars from 1965 to 1973. Production was 81 cars built in total: 49 coupés (known as fastbacks), 29 convertibles, and 3 special bodied. History The Frua is built on an AC Cobra 427 Mark III chas ...

Gallery

File:Maserati Mistral 4000 red vr.jpg, 4000 Coupé File:1967 Maserati Mistral Spyder.jpg, 1967 Spyder File:Maserati Mistral 4000 Spider 1X7A7867.jpg, 4000 Spyder File:Maserati (4890003196).jpg, Interior

References

Enrico's Maserati Page - The Maserati Mistral
{{Maserati early timeline

Mistral Mistral may refer to: * Mistral (wind) in southern France and Sardinia Automobiles * Maserati Mistral, a Maserati grand tourer produced from 1963 until 1970 * Nissan Mistral, or Terrano II, a Nissan 4×4 produced from 1993 until 2006 * Microp ...

Rear-wheel-drive vehicles Grand tourers 1970s cars Cars introduced in 1963