RIGHT FIRST TIME

With this long-hidden prototype, Marcello Gandini defi ned the shape of the seminal Maserati Khamsin. Marc Sonnery explores its history – and uncovers the detail differences that establish its provenance

- Marc Sonnery

Change was afoot at Maserati in the early 1970s, following its acquisition by Citroën. The ageing Ghibli was beautiful but the mid-engined Bora and Merak were evidence of modern thinking at Viale Ciro Menotti. The Modenese firm simply needed a new front-engined gentleman's GT to match.

There was a brief exchange with Pininfarina, and Pininfarina's response exists in a private archive near Modena. However, because Pininfarina was the designer for Ferrari, Maserati's board chose Bertone for the task, which fell to design chief Marcello Gandini. The design would follow the wedge-shaped Alfa Carabo and Lancia Stratos Zero concepts, not to mention the Lamborghini Countach, but this was the late maestro's first opportunity to apply that design language to a front-engined car. As he once confirmed to me, his starting point was the Lamborghini Urraco, though the job wasn't as simple as moving the glasshouse back.

The result was stunning. Unusually for that era, the production models would be very, very similar to the prototype - which is the car you see here, chassis AM120-004. There from the start were the bonnet's asymmetrical louvres, hinting at a mighty motor beneath. The horizontal and vertical surfaces were given impeccably tapered transitions and flowed seamlessly and deliciously from nose to tail in a masterclass of subtlety. At the rear, Gandini set the tail-lights into a glazed panel, as he had on Lamborghini's Espada, only even more stylishly here. The Khamsin was ethereal and arresting, named after a Mediterranean wind.