See the removable hardtop propped up against the wall over there? Well, it could be the most valuable hardtop in the world! It’s off a very rare Maserati 3500 GT Vignale Spyder and those cars have been known to sell in the high six figures! That almost makes the $26k price tag here on eBay almost seem reasonable. Right?
Here’s a better view of that very expensive helmet. If there was any sort of market for these things, I’d suggest we pool our money together and start manufacturing them. But, even if we sold one to every Vignale Spyder owner, the maximum we could sell is 242. That’s because there were only 242 of these cars ever built!
Here’s one that sold at auction a few years back for a breathtaking $850,000! You can read more about it here on RM Sothebys. The asking price for that hardtop may seem crazy, but where else are you going to get one? It may not be a complete car, but I wouldn’t mind finding a hardtop this valuable in an old barn. How about you?
At that price, a skilled panel beater could surely fabricate a copy for you cheaper.
But it won’t be the real part when you want the part you have pay.
It would not pass muster at a high end car show though. Original steel is highly valued and the experts can tell the difference.
It’s incomplete with no glass and some rust for 26K someone has hit the crazy pipe for that one I don’t care how rare it is. Oh and add shipping from Germany also right.
Who knows, there could be an interesting story behind this orphaned hardtop.
Right dgrass! I’d wanna know what happened to the car it fits? Then again, perhaps it’s an original ‘part’ from a dealer & never was finished & fitted to a car who wanders to this day, cold & topless!! Har!!
Car is behind the wall. Geraldo Rivera will be there for the extraction.
Never seen one of these before.(the pic of the green example). Beautiful lines, style-very classic. Of the 242 made, how many left that need a top? Interesting to see if and how much the top could sell for.
A few years back i bought a 1968 corvette roadster never had the conv. top. The original hardtop was sold long before i got the car so i had a roadster with no top. not long after i got the vette i found that a top was easy to get, but condition,rearglass,the latches even the headliner where all factors to finding a good one at a decent price and $1000 on up seem to be the kind of $$ i would have to put out. In the end a friend of a friend, and so on!!! I was able to get a near perfect one ,even was original red as my car was. Had it shipped from back east to Washington state for $600. When that top showed up,MAN,perfect fit, look everything!!! I was the happiest dude. That might be the case with this top but if you can afford the car and need the correct top, forget the money part. Just one of my many tales. wow that was long. Haven’t thought of that for a few years/F reminds me of those special times. At least special to me!!! GREAT SITE.
I’m either going to have to stop watching Barn Finds, or have the strength of my blood pressure pills souped up.
Nah, stick around, KKW, just to see how bacocked this hobby will go, although, in all fairness, common folk, like us, have no business collecting even parts of exotic Italian sports cars. To show you “what it’s worth to me” dept., this would make a great toboggan,,,
Isn’t that the truth, Rube. My finances have me trolling for Z31 300zx’s and Mark VIII’s and early 560SL’s. I am firmly in four figure territory. The cars I have -my Hudson and Ambassador are the valuable ones, but if I’m never selling, what does it matter? We all get our fun where we can. My only claim to fame is the only Ferrari I have ever driven was a 365GTB, and I had it for five days. WooHoo
A beautiful car. Definitely one of the most beautiful ever built. Maybe he’s selling the top because he can’t remember where he parked the rest of the car!
A rare item to be sure, but not $26K rare. And there is enough rust-through that you would need to have an expert metal fabricator make new edge stiffeners since the ones on there are like lace. I think a good fabricator could do that, but it would be pricey, and then you would need the bright trim to be fabricated, probably from aluminum. If the original was SS, tack on extra $$ for the skill required—way harder than aluminum. And then the fittings/fasteners, and the headlining…..
Good luck to the buyer…not an easy job. I would be tempted to just keep the car as a convertible, which for me would be more enjoyable anyway. Besides, having the car is the most important part. Having a hard top, not.
Maseratis were all hand built and panels were individual to the cars. I wonder how much massaging it would need to fit?
I was going to make that point. All these and the Ghiblis, etc. were handmade and the hardtops will only properly fit the car for which they were built. It would be a shot in the dark to buy this and hope it fits, but because of the trim and other details it might be cheaper to go this route than fabricating from scratch. Of course, then you need to fabricate a compound curved rear window.
You´re quite right. There is no guarantee this would fit another Vignale Spyder. $26000 for this makes no sense at all, even if it is a fraction of the value of a concours car.
Most rich people didn´t get their money by throwing good money after bad and their greatest fear is being made to look stupid. So here´s a bigger fool opportunity!
$26k for such a part is a steal when taking the overall value of one of these cars into consideration. It’s all relevant. Dice up some of the clapped out Porsches we often see on here and see what price is really being paid per part for what is often times a bunch of rust. GLWTS.
Somewhere, there is a guy with too much money and one of these cars missing it’s top, and the guy is going to think “What the hell, it’s only money, and where am I going to find another one?” and buy this piece of cra…eerrr… history.
Or so the seller thinks. Then again, he may be right.
Bingo!
OK I’ll bite.
I’ve spent enough time looking for correct/numbers C1 Corvette parts that I can appreciate the value of “parts” is relative to the vehicle they’re going on. This is not a top for a $12k MG (for example), this top’s value is relative to the fact it’s going on a vehicle with 50x+ that value. Whether driven by rarity, beauty, emotion, or pure stupidity – it’s irrelevant in my view. Everything is worth what someone will pay.
If the market drives a vehicles price through the stratosphere, the parts go along for the ride.
If one were to have a Maserati 3500 GT Vignale Spyder in their garage, my guess is, they’re well aware they’ve got to pay to play.
More money than my Dads first house. I think things are a little crazy !
Twice as much $ as my Dad’s first house! It was a big step up from running a chicken farm in exchange for rent. He sold it five years later for $1000 profit and thought he hit the jackpot!
Any time I get to thinking a hard to find part I need is too expensive, I think about what it would take to make it from scratch and all of the sudden it doesn’t seem to expensive anymore.
I have seen Mustang Boss 429 Air cleaners sell for over $25,000, so why not.
Use it for a sled for the kids until someone shows some interest in it.
I agree with what most every has said so far. So you buy that top. You have the skills to fab replacement parts to make it complete and remove all corrosion. You find the missing trim and use it as a template to make replacements. We know all these parts were hand pounded out back in the day. Maybe since ya have one you go ahead and make 5 more while your all tooled up to do the one ya got. Once you figure it all out it is just as easy to make 5 as it is to make one. Could be a profitable venture if you managed to do it right. Won’t be me though. LOL
Cheapest way in the world to say “Yeah, I have a Maserati 3500 in my garage. Missing a few parts”.
Regardless of how many of us think we could think of better ways to spend $26K…. the seller obviously knows what they’re doing. Feedback rating of 100% by exclusively selling Maserati parts. I’m sure this thing will find a home.
I’m also pretty sure if someone contacts him privately and offers $20K in cash, he’ll take it.