Maserati Khamsin

The last modernist Maserati design

A classic Gandini design in being both delicate and yet strong of form, and, as many other early seventies designs, one that firmly looked forwards with dart-like profile and sheer surfaces between crisp edges.  

The Khamsin was seductively long and low, very fast rear decked, and with marked tumblehome and body-side tuck-in.  These proportions gave it a unique design identity blend of GT-substance, super-car speed, and sports-car agility.  It made competing 2+2 GTs like the Aston Martin V8, Jaguar XJS, Ferrari 365GT4/400, and Lamborghini Espada look like bludgeons.  

The design was also significant for being the last of the old-school Maseratis with the oil crisis and change of ownership taking place as it debuted in 1974, and the next new Maserati GT not arriving for another quarter of a century in the form of the 1998 3200GT; a handsome design but one that looked back to the sixties in its vernacular (as did many other contemporary GTs, such as the Aston Martin DB7, Jaguar XK8 and Ferrari 456) and had the ignominy of being a recycled Daewoo concept car design (the 1995 Bucrane) from Ital design…

The Khamsin: the last design from when the brand was still proper royalty, the last modernist Maserati — and an achingly fine thing to behold.