Maserati Medici by Italdesign

Today’s question is a simple one: Maserati Medici I or Maserati Medici II? 

In 1974, and revised for 1976, the Maserati Medici sedan wowed auto show-goers with its exaggerated wedge shape and all-glass cabin. 

Did I mention both versions are 6-seaters, with four of those seats in the rear?

However, it's a unicorn — Medici I became Medici II.

In modern terms, it’s an Italian HiPhi Z that never became a production model, though based on a Maserati chassis and Maserati 5.0-liter V8.

(If anyone reading this has access to the corporate Stellantis credit card, charge your bosses a new version of this and be remembered as a hero.)

Giorgetto Giugiaro’s design brief for the car was simple: American comfort, with Italian power. Here’s the thing: he didn’t think he got it right. According to Giorgetto & Fabrizio Giugiaro’s official website: 

“Giugiaro is the first to ruthlessly criticize his own work and the Medici II is a highly representative example: dissatisfied with the first version's overly slanted front end, that threw the side way off balance, he reproportioned the car, meticulously ‘cutting and stitching’ the sheet metal.”

Inside, the two smaller rear-facing seats sat in the middle of the cabin, presumably as foot stools for the rearmost passengers…or jump seats if others needed to ride along.

Throughout, a high degree of period-correct luxury would greet any lucky drivers: wood, leather, and a steering wheel shared with the Citroën SM. (Thought we wouldn't notice, eh, GG?)

I rather like its lines, even though Italdesign went back to the drawing board and grafted on a more conventional, upright nose for the 1976 Medici II. Ever a pop-up light apologist, I prefer Medici I.

READ NEXT: Italdesign Medici I, Medici II; Giorgetto & Fabrizio Giugiaro Medici I, Medici II. Lowman Museum in the Netherlands has an exhibit for the Medici II.