59-year-old Maserati barn find goes for $225k

This 1962 Maserati 3500 GT has just brought its seller nearly a quarter of a million U.S. dollars, an amount that would look less surprising had the car not been abandoned for 43 years.

The Italian marque’s first road-legal vehicle debuted at the Geneva Motor Show in the distant year 1957. The company produced fewer than 2,000 such coupes and convertibles, and the seller claims that the combination of ivory body and scarlet interior seen here is especially unique.

The exorbitant auction bid notwithstanding, the buyer will still have to fork over heaps of bills to have the coupe restored to its former glory. Having been left for dead in a garage for 43 years, its bodywork has rusted through and the leather upholstery reduced to a cracked, dry shell.

Back in its younger days, the ride used a 3.5-liter V6 rated at 220 PS (217 hp / 162 kW) in conjunction with a five-speed manual transmission.