Maserati GranTurismo & Maserati Indy - A Family Reunion

Text by Enrico Falchetto - Photography by Robert May

Gran Turismo simply means big journey. So, let’s go on a big journey with a Maserati Indy – from 1974 through to the present to meet its latest ancestor, the brand new trident coupé GranTurismo.

Big names form the V8 GT story of Maserati. Mexico and Khamsin, Kyalami and Shamal even today sound like music in the ears of moneyed gentleman drivers. The most successful of all trident 2+2 seaters yet was the Indy, introduced in 1968 and ceased seven years later, the coupé scored a number of units of more than 1100.

The two Maserati GTs are separated by about three decades in construction – and poles apart in design

Optically a little outshined by the bigger, but two seats smaller, Ghibli, the Indy combined the design and power of a sports car with the comfort and room of a luxury limousine.

This might be the reason why so may owners called it their own for quite a long time, like the famous cartoon creator Walt Disney on this side, and the famous soccer star Paul Breitner on the other side of the ocean. Ernst Gruber pledges loyalty to his ruby colored Indy even since 1980, at that time the Austrian innkeeper bought it from the first owner for the converted price of 13,500 dollars.

Currently, the Veglia Borletti clock shows 67,000 miles. Other Maserati came and went in “Casa Gruber”, like a Khamsin, two Ghiblis and a Bora. The Indy stayed to this day. Once the body had to be restored, once the engine and once the interior. The latter costed some thousands of dollars – and the lives of about seven cows.

Seldom the Indy caused frustration, more often it provided plenty of pleasure. "The car feels really well when running at about 110 mph on the highway“, Ernst Gruber reports. Generally, with for seats that deserve their name, a trunk that the official brochure attests a size of 17,7 cubic feet, and an air condition that was as standard as power windows and power steering, you are on-route in an astonishingly modern way.

However, an “indypendent” suspension is only found on the front wheels, but the rigid rear axle with leaf springs forms a predictable character concerning steering behavior. A German automotive journalist once wrote: “Cornering gets the more joyful the faster you go.” And after all, the Indy who’s name should remind us of the Maserati victory at the 500 miles of Indianapolis in 1939 and 1940 is the first trident car with an integral body.

Also ventilated disc brakes do not raise vintage car feeling, least of all the athletic engine does. Though the 4.9 liter V8 never achieved 320 bhp like Maserati enthusiastically promised complaints about lack of power were unusual.

With four chain driven overhead camshafts this race engine derivated V8 was ahead of the times. Indeed, a quartet of twin carburetors from Eduardo Weber, the neighbor from Bologna, cared about the gas and air cocktail instead of the vulnerable Lucas injection like in some six-cylinder parent model or in the ultra rare 5000 GT.

Today, things of course look a little different. Four valve technology and fuel injection are courteous for Maserati since quite a long time, and turbo charging is not already en vogue since 2001. The brand new GranTurismo is based on the current Quattroporte that embellishes our streets since its introduction four years ago – even though in homeopathic doses only.

The new GT became a big car, thanks to front/mid-engine it is twinkle-toed in handling whereas a wheelbase of 9.65 feet has to be manoeuvered around corners anyway. In hairpin bends you also would like to wish for some more power out of low revs. But on it’s debut in 1968, the Indy also had a displacement of “only” 4.2 liters. Advances up to 4.7 followed, later on to 4.9 liters like on our model car. And so even today you can hear about a more powerful version of the GranTurismo – not only on test tracks around the Maserati factory in Modena.

The automatic gearbox was an option on the Indy at that time, today it is obligatory on the GranTurismo. What might sound boring is a blessing in real life – mainly if you remind the sequential gearbox of early 4200 GTs and the first Quattroporte V. The torque converter automatic (by the way, with ZF Maserati engaged the same supplier like for the manual gearbox of the Indy) seems to operate just as fast but much smoother at the same time. All-too speedy drivers can check it out in sport mode or patronizingly intervene via shifting pedals behind the steering wheel. The gentleman driver however, activates the winter mode and smoothly launches in second gear.

The taut but never hard suspension setting perfectly goes with the character of the GranTurismo, the adequately precise steering is mainly smooth when the car is moving slowly, the Brembo brake system little fine to dose. And not only those who just changed from a long ago Maserati GT will shake their heads when looking at the trunk capacity.

Multimedia devices, power seats, bi-xenon-lights and cruise control will zoom you into a modern world when changing from the Indy. Fortunately, also in the new GranTurismo sporty cultivated V8 sound recalls the great GT era of the 60s and 70s. A nice bow back to the golden times is also drawn by the lovingly handwork of the precious interior.

Of course, also the body of the new GT in the Maserati stable is breathtakingly beautiful. Only the design of the rear lights appears a little uninspired – courage concerning this seems to be frozen in 1998 with the big boomerang shot on the 3200 GT. Compared to this, the simple tail of the Indy looks more harmonious, even with the bigger lights of the later 4.9 models.

Looking for a Maserati Indy today, you should fork out at least 25.000 dollars and preferably watch out for a car of the 70's production. And you should not be put off by nightmare scenarios about Italian divas. Classic V8 coupés by Maserati are considered as relatively robust and reliable, provided that the previous owners were caretakers. But of course, character actors like the Indy already deserve more than a minimum of affection.

I would like to thank Enrico Falchetto and ALLES AUTO magazine for granting me permission to publish this excellent article for our enjoyment.