Looking at the present-day luxury saloon, you might think that the Ghibli was always a four-door sedan. But, introduced in 1966 at the Turin Motor Show, the Ghibli was born as a GT car with a V-8 under the hood. As a result, the OG Ghibli is as sporty as the current-gen model, and there’s one that could sell at auction for less than $10,000. Furthermore, this first-gen Ghibli is a 1968 model, and is in a decent condition, considering it is a 54-year-old car.
Italian cars ace the design aesthetics, and the Ghibli Coupe is no different, even though it is from 1968. This example of the coupe is one of the 1,170 examples made during its six-year production run. The seller acquired the car in February 2021 and ensures that the Ghibli coupe has a clean Kansas title with a recent service. The exterior is painted red but has chrome parts on the window surrounds, front grille, side skirts, and the rear bumper. The front fascia features pop-up headlights, and the foglights are carefully hidden inside the grille.
The overall design is a bit boxy-looking, but there is nothing to complain about because the car is over 50 years old. The sides expose the fender vents, 15-inch silver-colored alloy wheels, and the Falken Sincera Touring tires which wrap them. The Ghibli Coupe comes with disk brakes on four wheels, and the seller replaced the sway bar end links in May 2022. The rear of the car features dual-exhaust tips
Were you wondering about the performance? The 4.7-liter naturally aspirated V-8 under the hood was rated at 306 horsepower and 290 pound-feet of torque from the factory. The engine comes mated to a five-speed manual gearbox and drives the rear wheels. A final service was done before the auction in May 2022, including an oil change, spark plugs replacement, coolant flush, new ignition wires, battery, and fuel filter. As for the mileage, the odometer reads 38,000 miles, but it is not the actual mileage.
As a Maserati, the Ghibli Coupe comes impressively equipped with air-conditioning, lap harnesses, an analog clock, a heater, aftermarket speakers, and a CD stereo. The whole interior is themed in black and has leather upholstery with black trimmings. In addition, the driver-side dashboard houses multiple analog instrument dials from Veglia. A wooden steering wheel comes factory-fitted and is a three-spoke unit with the Maserati Trident in the center.
The car is not perfect and has a few paint imperfections on the rear and the door panels. The car is even a victim of corrosion, which is more evident under the hood and beneath the body. But it could be the perfect light restoration project for someone with the right knowhow/