What's the news?
At the Geneva Motorshow this year, Milan-based carrozzeria Touring Superleggera displayed a glorious Night Blue one-off called the Maserati Sciadipersia Cabriolet - and now here it is again, painted gold and heading for the Concorso d'Eleganza at Villa d'Este, on the shores of Italy's Lake Como.
Competing for the Design Award at the 90th rendition of the Concorso d'Eleganza, the Sciadipersia - named after the Shah of Persia, who used to commission coachbuilt Maseratis back in the day - is a four-seat open-top powered by the V8 from a GranCabrio or GranTurismo.
The exact colour is known as Sand over Ochre and Cream, with elaborate Sunray stitching in the cabin. This clothes a body with a distinctive Kamm tail, a profile view defined by strong shoulder lines and the impression of 'an arrow about to be loosed from a bow', and a front end with small headlights and a low-set grille. Dramatic, it most certainly is, but out-and-out beautiful...? We'll leave it for you to decide. Inside, there's a horizontal divide to the cabin that is emphasised by a continuous line encircling the passengers, which separates the darker upper layers of the cockpit from the lighter lower levels.
Carrozzeria Touring has a long history with Maserati. It designed and manufactured the body of Maser's first series production car, the 3500GT, built the Maserati 5000GT for the Shah of Persia soon after and was responsible for the absolutely glorious restoration of the A6G Gran Sport 2000 Coupe Frua of 1952 (VIN 2028), which will also be at the Concorso. More recent Touring creations for the annual Villa d'Este show - from manufacturers other than the Trident - included the MINI Superleggera Vision of 2014, the 2015 display of the 1950 Ferrari 166MM Barchetta with a Touring Superleggera body, and the beautiful Alfa Romeo Disco Volante; this won the Design Award at the event in both 2013 (as a Coupe) and 2016 (as a Spyder).
Anything else?
So Piero Mancardi, CEO of Touring, said: "We are thrilled at the idea of contending for the Design Award again this year, with a growing number of other companies that follow suit in entering the coach built domain. It is good for the Concorso and for our business alike."