Maserati 5000 GT Ghia

The Maserati 5000 GT Ghia chassis AM103.018 was completed in July 1961 as the ninth example of Maserati’s ultra-limited AM103 series and the sole car bodied by Carrozzeria Ghia. Conceived after the success of the 3500 GT, the 5000 GT programme sought to transplant Maserati’s competition technology into a road-going gran turismo. Giulio Alfieri re-engineered the 3500 GT structure to accept the 4.9-litre V8 developed for the 450S sports-racer, reinforcing the chassis and creating a platform that became the basis for just 34 cars constructed from 1959 into the mid-1960s. AM103.018 was ordered by Milanese industrialist Ferdinando Innocenti, founder of Lambretta, who required a unique interpretation of the already rare model. Maserati supplied the mechanical package, while Ghia, under Sergio Sartorelli, was charged with styling and construction. Sartorelli devised a distinctive five-window coupé combining thin pillars with a full-width oval grille aperture and an advanced rhombic dashboard layout, details that anticipated Ghia’s design language of the early 1960s. The specification included a silver exterior, dark-blue interior trim, and purpose-made fitted luggage. Prior to delivery, the car was displayed on Ghia’s stand at the 1961 Turin Motor Show. Maserati then provided AM103.018 to Bernard Cahier of Sports Car Graphic for testing; Cahier recorded forceful acceleration and reported exceeding 135 mph when shifting from third to top gear during initial trials. Innocenti’s tenure lasted less than a year, after which the Maserati passed among Italian private owners, including a petroleum company in Milan. During the 1970s it was exported to the Middle East and acquired by a Saudi sheikh who later gifted it to an employee. Unaware of its significance, the recipient stored the non-running car outdoors, where it remained for decades and was even marked in Arabic as abandoned and intended for scrapping. Following the owner’s death the heirs moved the car indoors. Assessment showed remarkable completeness despite long exposure: original glazing, spare wheel, structural integrity, and surviving traces of the initial silver beneath a mid-1960s blue repaint. The odometer reading of 15,561 km aligns with the vehicle’s prolonged period off the road. In August 2019 the car resurfaced at RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction, achieving US$533,000. AM103.018 continues to represent the only Ghia-bodied 5000 GT, preserving a singular coachbuilt interpretation within Maserati’s most exclusive early V8 series.