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My sincere thanks to Sig. Feroldi of OPAC Srl for the provision of this literature and his permission to publish it. | ||
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OPAC is a company specialized in the creation of prototypes and limited series productions. Situated in Rivalta di Torino, about 10 km from the centre of Turin, it is Italy's leading firm in top production for two-seaters and cabriolets. In 1994 at the 65th Turin Motor Show Opac displayed their very elegantly styled sports convertible based on the structural and mechanical base of the Maserati Spyder, but using the Shamal's 3.2-litre V8 engine. The Spider Maserati Convertible had evolved from the Spider Maserati-Opac that appeared the previous year and gained unanimous acclaim. This prototype enabled OPAC to demonstrate its capability to design and manufacture an innovative solution to the creation of greater versitility in the use of the motor car, in this case the sportscar. |
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The Spider Maserati-Opac first seen at the 1993 Turin Motor Show.
The particular feature of this 'Convertible' is, as its name implies, the possibility of having different options on a single basic body. The model on display was the 2+2 coupé hard-top version. By simply removing the hard-top, an operation which only takes a few minutes, it transforms into a 'California' four seat open-top spider.  The Spider Maserati-Opac with the hard-top.  The Spider Maserati-Opac without the hard-top. A soft-top version is also available, taking minutes to fold back and requiring no equipment or special technique. The easily removable single piece back seat is replaced with a bench-like structure, its back piece forms the division between the seats and top housing. This is preassembled on a solid cross-bar anchor permitting a rapid and easy assembly. Once done, all that remains is to put the 'tonneau cover' in place, and voilá the car is transformed into a fascinating two-seater sports car.  The Spider Maserati-Opac in its two-seater form with the soft-top neatly concealed. Whatever the version, this gutsy Convertible is both aesthetically appealing and elegant. It has a lot of personality from all points of view. - The front end, with retracting headlights, grille and front bumper is one singe piece, includes the hazard warning, side and indicator lights. Its lower part is spoilered which is an advantage for negative lift, and contains air-vents (an improvment over the previous version) for engine and brake cooling.  - The forward projection of the soft wedge-shaped profile gives the round shaped body shape, directly in line with the rear wheel arch, a more aggresive look. The absence of a roll-bar in the open top version and the "tonneau cover's" perfect fit in the two-seater, make the clean lines of this car more appreciable. - The clean rear lines with round double rear lights, in "revival" style, are sunken into the bodywork underneath a slight spoiler which is the continuation of the edge of the boot. The rear number plate is sunken into the boot bodywork which also acts as a bumper and from which the double twin exhaust pipes exit.  - The hard-top of the model on show was in sheet steel but there will be an aluminium (as is already used for the boot and the bonnet) or steel alloy, for reduced weight, version available - The soft-top is made from insulated double-layered protective cloth. It works either manually or automatically and in both cases advanced technology and Opac's experience in this field have made it an altogether very easy operation. | ||
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My sincere thanks to JP for providing me with these photographs of this rare and exciting prototype. |
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From 'The Lipperts' Gallery |
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