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The Touching Story of Maserati 3500GT Collector

You wanna know why talking about Maserati and Lancia brings a sad tear to everyone old time's eye? It's because of cars like this one, cars built with a real passion and sense of pride, the exact opposite of today's rebadged little Fiat.
The Maserati bug by Petrolicious 1 photo
Photo: Petrolicious
To really understand Maseratis of the past and the fandom they command, you've got to look at this next clip by Petrolicious, which follows a very passionate collector and owner of four 3500 GTs.

The 3500 GT gets its name from the 3.5-liter straight-six ylinder DOHC engine with Lucas fuel injection system. In its day, it was not only a comfortable tourer, but also one of the fastest cars on the road. It's not surprising then that Mr. Frank Mandarano fell in love with them.

Combining love and passion with a keen business sense, Frank created a huge Maserati car club in America back in the 70s in order to solve a very real problem of parts shortage. Now in the later years of his life, he can just kick back into the seat, put his beloved Maserati into third and just cruise up and down the desert, listening to what he calls a "primal" engine sound. 220 horsepower and 26 miles per gallon back in the 70s must have been the equivalent of a Porsche 918 Spyder from an engineering point of view. But the 3500GT's real selling point is that gorgeous body.

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About the author: Mihnea Radu
Mihnea Radu profile photo

Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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