Maserati 3200 GT | The Brave Pill

Does it get any more courageous than a four-figure Maserati?

It's not hard to create a list of cars that have transformed the companies of the cars that made them, but it's tough to think of any that have done so as dramatically and decisively as the Maserati 3200 GT.

Before its arrival Italy's third-most famous sports car maker had become a punchline, volumes sagging ever closer to the x-axis as buyers found more compelling alternatives to its eccentric and infamously unreliable coupes and saloons. But behind the scenes, Italian national pride was at stake, and after starting out with a minority stake to De Tomaso, Fiat took full control in 1993, ponying up the funds to develop a new model shortly afterwards.

The idea was definitely for a clean break. Although appealing to anyone attracted to straight lines, the Gandini-designed Ghibli and Shamal looked dated, especially as sports cars had grown plumper and rounder. Styling for the new model was contracted to Italdesign, where big boss Giorgetto Giugiaro had previously created the 1966 Ghibli as well as the Bora and Merak - none renowned as munters. He closely supervised work on what would become the 3200 GT.

The GT was first shown in 1998, and was an immediate critical hit. It was sleek, curvaceous and good-looking from all angles, but its standout feature came at the back. The distinctive 'boomerang' rear lights were the first LED units fitted to a production car, and would soon spawn a wave of inferior imitators. The cabin was a dramatic leap forward, too - with evidence of ergonomic thought, solid construction and more leather than a Texan S&M convention, pretty much everything that wasn't either glass or switchgear between carpet and ceiling once mooed.

Mechanically the 3200 GT was less radical, drawing on the company's long-established expertise with turbocharged powerplants. In this case a 3.2-litre version of the company's 32-valve 90-degree V8, as already fitted to the contemporary Quattroporte, but with its twin intercooled IHI turbochargers now delivering 370hp. A six-speed manual gearbox was standard, and Maserati claimed the 3200 GT could blast its way from 0-60mph in five dead and go onto a top speed of 174mph. That made it fractionally faster than the Jaguar XKR, with the Maser's £59,925 UK launch price undercutting the auto-only Jag by £100. The 3200 GT was also quicker than the base 996-generation 911 Carrera, as well as being nearly five grand cheaper and, thanks to its surprisingly spacious rear seats and boot, considerably more practical.

Excitement came as standard with the 3200 GT, even when you weren't looking for it. I attended the launch of the GT Automatica in 1999, this intended for those parts of the world that weren't manly enough to deal with a clutch pedal. Not really understanding such buyers, Maserati had made the odd choice of a slushy four-speed torque converter box from Australia, this combining strangely with the snappy responses of the heavily boosted V8. Finesse was limited on part throttle as the two sides of the powertrain swung handbags at each other, but ultimate performance was barely slower than the manual, the turbochargers doing an excellent job of filling the chasms between the gearbox's widely spaced ratios.

But even the pillowy gearbox couldn't hide the difficulties the 3200 GT's chassis had in digesting so much torque, especially on the tight Tuscan roads chosen for the first drive. The Maserati's ASR traction control intervened like an angry bouncer, pretty much choke-chaining the engine in tighter turns. But turning it off revealed snappy manners and a tendency to bite. On the press launch Maserati's then-boss Luca di Montezemolo did a magnificent spin-job at the lunch stop - three courses and wine, naturally - suggesting this was merely the sort of challenge that true red-blooded sports car buyers would expect any Maserati to deliver. Maybe so, but the line between heroic and "fetch a dustpan" always felt like a fine one in an early 3200 GT.

None of which stopped the 3200 GT from being a solid hit, its success persuading Ferrari to increase the 50 per cent stake it had taken in Maserati to full control. Nearly 5,000 were made in under four years - despite the lack of a roadster - with more than 700 of those coming to the UK. Build quality had been improved dramatically over earlier Maseratis, but owners soon discovered the GT was not short of foibles - ones that some official dealers struggled to cure, or even pretend they particularly cared about. Some cars suffered from persistent electrical issues, often with those snazzy boomerang lights. Servicing was intensive and running costs were high.

As the car aged, so its reputation for scary expenditure grew. I know a bloke who decided not to buy one after discovering the receipts that proved its previous owner had dropped £15,000 into care and repair over just three years. By the early 2010s less desirable 3200 GTs were already inside four figures and were still falling, renowned for their ability to produce the sort of bills that leave glowing holes in the floor as the head towards the earth's core. The arrival of the less buggy '4200 GT' Coupe/ Spyder also depressed prices further, with the market regarding the naturally aspirated cars as being the ones to have for a long time.

Yet things have changed, buyers coming to appreciate both the significance of the 3200 GT, but also its ability to spike adrenaline and fire-up sweat glands. Values have risen steadily to the extent prices now overlap with the 4200 GT. It's a point made by our Pill, a silver manual which is the cheapest currently in the classifieds and which is being advertised for nearly exactly the same as the ex-Dwight Yorke 2003 4200 GT Cambiocorsa that featured here last year - £9,950 before haggling.

In another coincidence this week's Pill, like that one, is being sold in Northern Ireland, something which may create some logistical problems for anyone looking to purchase it from elsewhere in the UK. Being on the other side of the Irish Sea denies us a look at its online MOT history, although it last had a test in Britain as recently as November 2017. If the tester's fingers are to be believed, and the odometer is working, it has covered just 62 miles since then. The MOT prior to that one was in December 2013, and just 250 miles earlier. So it's fair to say it hasn't stretched its legs for a while. The most recent pass came after a fail with some of the issues you'd expect from a late middle-aged Maserati: under performing wipers, cloudy headlamps and a knackered handbrake.

There will likely be some costs beyond the purchase price in bringing this 3200 GT back to fettle after such a long hibernation, but there's also some margin to do so - the next-cheapest 3200 GT in the classifieds is £5,000 more expensive. Life with any Maserati 3200 GT will rarely be straightforward, and never cheap - 15mpg will see to that, before anything breaks - but it will always be exciting.

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