Giorgetto Giugiaro designed the Maserati Ghibli Spyder for Ghia shortly before founding Italdesign, transforming the coupe into a two-seat convertible without altering the proportions built around its front-mounted engine. The long hood remained a defining feature, together with the steeply raked windshield and a cabin positioned close to the rear axle. Even without a fixed roof, the body retained the clean, continuous profile of the coupe. The project became one of Giugiaro’s final designs for the Turin-based coachbuilder.
Maserati Ghibli Spyder: only 125 examples of this elegant V8 convertible were built
The fabric soft top folded behind the seats and disappeared beneath a rear cover, keeping the roof hidden whenever the car traveled with the top down. Switching between open and closed configurations took only a few minutes and did not require owners to remove or store separate components.
Some customers instead ordered a removable hardtop, which offered additional protection during winter but had to be stored outside the car once removed. Available records suggest that Maserati delivered only around 20 to 25 examples with this optional hardtop.
A 4.7-liter V8 powered the original Ghibli Spyder, while Maserati later introduced the Ghibli Spyder SS with displacement increased to 4.9 liters. The SS engine produced 335 hp and gave the car a claimed top speed of 168 mph (270 km/h).
Maserati also offered an automatic transmission as an option, and a significant number of buyers selected it. The United States represented the model’s main export market, where customers generally showed a stronger preference for automatic transmissions than European buyers.
Total production reached just 125 Ghibli Spyders over five years, while only around one-fifth received the larger SS engine. That figure suggests Maserati built roughly 25 Spyder SS examples, making the more powerful version particularly rare today.
The customer list also included members of the international jet set, while a substantial share of production went to the United States, then the most important market for the model. The small number of SS cars and the limited quantity of examples ordered with the removable hardtop add further rarity to certain configurations.
Maserati later introduced several updates at the Turin Motor Show, including changes to the front lighting, dashboard and headrests. These revisions affected immediately visible details of the exterior and cabin but left the basic formula unchanged.
The Ghibli Spyder continued to use a front-mounted V8, a strict two-seat layout and the same folding-roof concept throughout its production run. Maserati kept the model on sale for five years with both 4.7- and 4.9-liter engines, while customers could continue to specify the automatic transmission as an option.