A few days ago, Maserati awarded its Classiche certification to a 5000 GT Frua that had been locked away in an Egyptian warehouse for thirty years.
Born in 1959, the Maserati 5000 GT was a pinnacle masterpiece from the golden age of the Trident brand. Between 1959 and 1964, only 34 were produced. And this 5000 GT Frua, with chassis number 103*064*, is not only the first prototype among the three 5000 GTs penned by designer Pietro Frua, but also the first Frua version 5000 GT to receive official classic certification.
In the late 1950s, after test-driving a Maserati 3500 GT, the King of Persia was highly impressed by its driving feel and design aesthetics, and wanted a more luxurious model. Technical director Giulio Alfieri transplanted a 5.0-liter V8 engine derived from the Maserati 450S race car into this civilian GT model, producing over 350 horsepower.
The car features a bespoke Luci di Mezzanotte paint finish, paired with a delicate and soft Camoscio suede interior. Its lower beltline and larger glass area give its overall silhouette a more streamlined and elegant look than the earlier Touring and Allemano models.
This Maserati 5000 GT Frua had a checkered history. The car returned to Modena at the end of 1963 and was sold to a new owner in Rome. In January 1966, this owner traded it in for a newer Maserati, returning the Frua model to the factory; at the request of its next buyer—Saudi Prince Majid bin Saud—the factory repainted it in "Light Ruby Red." Majid then gifted the car to his father, King Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia.
In 1967, after the Six-Day War ended, the King left Egypt, and the Egyptian authorities promptly seized the car. After that, it remained impounded in a warehouse in Cairo for more than thirty years.
In 2000, the car resurfaced, having covered about 7,900 miles, with its main components still intact. A collector from Texas bought it and shipped it back to Modena. After four years of restoration, it finally reappeared at the 2004 Villa d'Este Concorso d'Eleganza.
When the author of [Ku Car] saw the related report about this car on the motor1 website, they noticed that a commenter had added more details about the car's history. This commenter, named Ahmed Minaweid, wrote:
Translation: Some information is missing... This car was once sold at auction by the Egyptian customs department. My friend O. Rifaea—a well-known car collector in Cairo—bought it for 320,000 Egyptian pounds (about $95,000 at the exchange rate at the time). The auction estimate was only $5,000 to $8,000, simply because at the time no one knew it was a Maserati... except him. Then, three weeks before the auction opened, a journalist wrote an article about the upcoming event and published a photo of that "mystery car," which attracted several international dealers to bid and drove up the final price! The new Cairo owner encountered numerous difficulties in restoring the aluminum body, the suede interior, and resolving some engine issues, so he decided to ship it to Germany, where it was sold at auction and set a global auction record for a Maserati model.
