Maserati Chubasco

The Maserati Chubasco was a prototype sports car that Maserati of Italy presented in December 1990. It took its name from a wind that blows across Central and South America. Marcello Gandini, who was working at Maserati at the time, drew a two-seat berlinetta body with the engine in the middle of the car. The designers paid close attention to aerodynamics: three air intakes at the front fed air beneath the car to outlets at the rear, which cooled the engine and increased ground effect. It had pop-up headlamps, scissor doors and an electric roof panel that could slide back over the engine bay. The engine was an updated version of the 3.2 litre twin-turbo V8 of the Maserati Shamal, rated at 430 CV and paired with a six-speed manual gearbox on the rear axle. The car proved too costly to build, so the project was shelved, and the only prototype is displayed in the Museo Panini Maserati in Modena. Its chassis was later used as the base of the Maserati Barchetta racing car.