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A silver 1965 Maserati Mistral 3500 Spyder that once belonged to Rush drummer and lyricist Neil Peart is live on Bring a Trailer, with bidding set to close Tuesday, October 13, at 2:00 p.m. ET. As of this morning the high bid was $350,000 with nine bids on the board.
Plenty of auction cars come with a famous name attached. This one comes with a documented paper trail and a theme. Peart collected silver sports cars and called the group his "Silver Surfers," and this Mistral was one of the seven that Gooding & Company sold at Pebble Beach in August 2021.
Why the Mistral Matters
The Mistral was Pietro Frua's sleek replacement for the Maserati 3500 GT, and the open Spyder arrived at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1964. Maserati built more than 950 Mistrals, but only 125 of them were Spyders, which makes this one a genuine rarity. It was also the last Maserati road car to use the company's race-derived, twin-plug straight-six.
According to the listing, chassis AM109S049 left the factory on March 4, 1965, bound for the U.S. through Hoffman Motor Cars in New York. It was originally finished in Cordoba.
The Silver Surfers Story
Peart's collection began with a 1964 Aston Martin DB5 he had wanted since childhood. Driving it along California's coast, he decided silver was the right color for the photos he was taking. In his words, "What other color looks as good in a blue photo?" The name "Silver Surfers" followed, and six silver cars and one black Shelby Cobra eventually made up the set.
The listing says Peart bought the Mistral around 2015 and had it refurbished, including a repaint in silver to fit the theme, a red leather interior and an overhaul of the Lucas mechanical fuel injection. Gooding's 2021 catalog backs up the key part of that: it describes the same chassis, AM109/S*049*, as restored by Ken Lovejoy of Boulder Creek, California, during Peart's ownership, and estimated it at $575,000 to $650,000. Peart died on January 7, 2020, and the full collection brought a reported $3.9 million, with only the Aston Martin failing to sell. We covered that sale at the time in our look at Neil Peart's classic car collection.
What Has Happened Since
The seller's account picks up after 2021. The car changed hands, then went to Automotive Restorations in Stratford, Connecticut, for body repairs, another repaint in silver and a new black convertible top, with that work running through 2023. The selling dealer, a BaT Local Partner in North Salem, New York, bought it this year.
A few details deserve a close read before bidding. The engine is a replacement 3.5-liter inline-six, stamped AM101.01871, rather than the original. The odometer shows 139 miles, but true mileage is unknown. Power goes to the rear wheels through a ZF five-speed manual, and the car rides on 16-inch Borrani wire wheels. It is offered with a copy of the factory shipping notice, invoices from the past decade, a tool kit and a Montana title.
The Peart connection itself is well supported by Gooding's records and independent coverage of the 2021 sale. The purchase date and the post-2021 work come from the seller's listing, so treat those as claims until you have seen the invoices.
More Maserati and Famous-Owner Finds
If this one has you hunting, we recently looked at a very different Mistral, a 1967 Mistral 4000 alloy coupe project that was offered after years of disassembly. For more stories of cars with famous owners, see our rundown of musicians with serious car collections and 12 celebrities' cars for sale.
Always check the listing for the latest bid, reserve status and details before bidding.
