Named for a country, this GT was a fast, plush, and rare machine.
Maserati has long followed the beat of its own drummer, and for contemporary evidence, look no further than its new-generation GranTurismo, which offers the choice of internal combustion or full EV powertrains in the same body.
That bold spirit is deeply rooted in Maserati’s history, and its model line in the 1960s exemplified that trait. Maserati was the only marque in its segment at the time to offer a four-door sedan, the Quattroporte. Based on a shortened version of that chassis, the automaker created a strikingly elegant coupe, the Mexico, in 1966. With just 485 built over six years, the Mexico would be one of the rarer Maserati models of the period. Gooding & Company is offering a first-year Mexico at its Pebble Beach auction at no reserve. The pre-sale estimate is $90,000-$120,000.
Maserati Evolution
Following two short-run batches of the A6G grand tourer in the early 1950s, Maserati entered the road car business in earnest with the 3500 GT in 1957. Despite having a six-cylinder engine adapted from Maserati racecars, the 3500 GT was a true luxury grand tourer, not a semi-racer slightly tamed for the road. In that regard, it was perhaps more like an Aston Martin than some Ferraris of the time.
That template would continue into the 1960s with the Sebring, which was essentially a new coupe body on the shorter-wheelbase 3500 GT Spyder chassis. A sleeker,more performance-oriented GT, the Mistral, was built on a yet shorter wheelbase, and was also offered in coupe and Spyder models.
The only regular-production Maserati with more power at the time was the V8 Quattroporte. Maserati also offered its elite customers, including international royalty, the super-rare 5000 GT, which was essentially the 3500 GT chassis with a slightly detuned race V8 and using bodies made by various coachbuilders. Just 34 were made, 22 of those with bodies by Allemano. In 1966 and 1967, Maserati would finally offer two-seat and four-seat production models with the V8, the Mexico and the Ghibli, respectively.
Named for a Customer’s Country
The Maserati Mexico’s origin story is also the source of its name, and no, it was not named to mark a race victory in Mexico. Rather, it started when country president Adolfo López Mateos bought one of the Allemano-bodied 5000 GTs in 1961. When that car was damaged in a crash, it was sent back to Maserati for repair. It got a whole new, more modern body from Vignale.
Before going back to Mexico, the as-yet-unnamed car was shown at the 1965 Turin Motor Show, spurring customer demand for a production model. The automaker decided to name the resulting car “Mexico” for its loyal client. That’s according to Maserati, which has also affirmed that British racer John Surtees ending the 1966 Formula 1 season by winning the Mexican Grand Prix in a Cooper-Maserati T81 was just a happy coincidence.
A Chip Off the Old Block
Although the Maserati Mexico looked like that prototype, it was quite a different car. The production model was built on a shorter-wheelbase version of the Quattroporte sedan’s steel unit body (104 inches for the Mexico vs. 108.3 for the larger sedan). The Mexico’s design has been attributed to Virginio Vairo at Vignale. Like the Quattroporte, the coupe was conservatively upright and with a large greenhouse for excellent outward visibility.
Overall, though, the Mexico had crisper lines than the Quattroporte, in tune with evolving design trends. The Mexico had a rear side window profile with a “kink” that BMW had claimed as the “Hoffmeister kink” a few years before but that could be traced back to late-1940s General Motors coupes.
Dashing and Fast
The Mexico debuted in 1966 with a 4.7-liter V8 rated at 290 horsepower at 5,500 rpm and 282 lb-ft. of peak torque at 4,000 rpm. The V8 used an aluminum cylinder block and heads and dual overhead camshafts. Fueling was by four twin- choke Weber carburetors. Unlike the racing engine from which it was derived, the V8 used a single spark plug for each cylinder, not two.
The V8’s power essentially matched that of the Ferrari 330 GT 2+2’s 4.0-liter V12. The same engine would power Maserati’s Ghibli two-seat GT the following year, and Maserati also made the less powerful 4.2-liter V8 available in the Mexico. A five-speed manual transmission was standard, and a three-speed automatic was optional. The 4,000-pound Mexico could run from 0-60 in about 7 seconds and reach a 140+ mph top speed. Like other Maseratis of that period, the Mexico used a solid rear axle using leaf springs. This was about the same setup used on the Ferrari 330 GT 2+2, a competitor for the Mexico. The car had anti-roll bars front and rear, as well as power-assisted four-wheel disc brakes. The Borrani 15 x 7.5-inch wire-spoke wheels were shod with Pirelli radial tires.
Luxurious, and Pricey
One look at the Mexico’s interior shows luxury at least on par with the Ferrari 330 GT 2+2, with a soft leather-lined cabin featuring wood trim and thick carpeting. The Mexico cost about $16,000 in the U.S. when new, a staggering sum for the time. Maserati would ultimately build just 485 Mexico models through 1972. Of those, 175 had the 4.7-liter V8, and the rest had the 4.2-liter version. Its true successor, the somewhat smaller Kyalami, did not arrive until 1976.
The Burgundy Mexico offered by Gooding & Company at Pebble Beach has the desirable 4.7-liter V8 with 5-speed, plus the optional air conditioning, power steering, and stereo. The car is reported to have received an extensive restoration under previous ownership.
