By the late 1960s, Maserati’s ambition to establish the company as a producer of high-performance road cars was fulfilled with a diverse range of products ranging from the Quattroporte and Mexico to the Sebring, and latterly Ghibli, and finally the Mistral.

Full production of the Mistral commenced in 1964. Thanks to a stiffer and shorter chassis composed of square section tubular elements, the new model was able to distinguish itself from the Sebring in driving characteristics by its more sporting character. Further advances were made from a stylistic perspective, with Pietro Frua penning an elegant and contemporary body for the car.

The Spyder version was introduced later in the year, with no fewer than three engine options; 3,485-cubic centimetre, 3,692-cubic centimetre, and 4,014-cubic centimetre variants of Maserati’s famous race-derived Tipo 109 straight-six. In 4.0-litre form, the car was endowed with dazzling performance, the sprint from 0–60 mph was achieved in just over six seconds, and the car had a top speed of over 150 mph. In the end, only 37 examples of the 4.0-litre variant of the Spyder were produced, making this car not only the ultimate version of the Mistral, but also exceptionally rare.

Chassis number 657 was manufactured in February 1967 and delivered in Bianco Polo Park with a red Connolly leather interior. The car has lived a remarkably sheltered life in the ownership of a handful of proud owners. Associated correspondences and invoices which accompany the vehicle show that the car was in Switzerland in the 1970s in the hands of John Boo; it is believed that Mr Boo was in fact the first owner of the car. In 1988, the car passed to Mark Dunajtschik and was exported to New Zealand. Correspondences covering the sale of the car in this period accompany the vehicle. Finally, the car was purchased in 2002 by an English collector, who returned the car to Europe and invested a considerable sum in re-commissioning and restoring the car, while retaining the original red interior.

As part of this work, in 2008 the car benefitted from a bare-metal re-spray, and in the following years, extensive mechanical restoration and re-commissioning was carried out by Bill McGrath in Hampshire, including a new hood and gearbox re-build. Today, the car is reported to perform extremely well.

This exceptionally rare 4.0-litre Spyder must be considered one of the finest road cars ever built by Maserati, and, given its rarity, it is highly unlikely that a comparable example will be seen on the open market for some time.