Flashes of light dancing energetically on the rear view mirror broke him from his lonely reverie and signalled forthcoming drama. Gently manipulating the car to the side of the track, he braced himself as the leaders came past. The clamorous combination of elements and OSCA delayed the acoustic arrival of the Gonzales-Trintignant Ferrari but when illuminated in the beam of the Marchal headlights, the sonic boom from the mighty 375 Plus was awesome and Giardini could but spectate from the best seat in the house. Moments later, a broader, basso tone followed as a D type Jaguar gave chase at approaching 180 mph.

They had by now rounded the infamous kink, something that the OSCA could take flat out and although he waited for the landmarks that signalled the braking area, the fairground illuminations of the leaders brake lights ahead warned that now was the time for Giardini to pull himself up into command of the car and focus his mind on the difficult corners between here and the start of another lap.

The year was 1954, but it was not to be Giardinis as although history does not record whether it was he or co-driver Peron, it does however record that after seeing the Pit board at the end of the Mulsanne straight in the twenty third hour which showed their OSCA, number 42 as leading the class, one or other of it’s drivers, struck by the excitement of potential honours, suffered a momentary lapse of concentration and as the French put it ‘depart le circuit’.
The 1500 cc twin plug engine had been fitted in the car specifically for the 24 hour race and back in Bologna, it was substituted for the original single plug 1100 cc unit which the car had used for it’s first abortive competitive event, the ’54 Mille Miglia. As such, Giardini participated in more home grown competitions throughout the rest of the ‘54 season, most notably gaining a second in class at the Coppa D’Oro Delle Dolomiti. At the end of the year, the car was sold to Attilio Brandi of Florence who pressed it into further, successful competition during 1955 (1st in class at the Giro Di Sicilia amongst others) while Giardini transferred his allegiance to Modena and to a Maserati A6GCS.

Both were to compete a year later in one of wettest Mille Miglias in the history of the race. While Giardini in the Maserati made a good start, the little OSCA with Brandi at the wheel was the only one of them to make the finish. Driving like a demon in the appalling conditions rewarded Brandi with a time of 14 hours 48 minutes. The Moss/Jenks record of the previous year was 10 hours 7 minutes in the 300 SLR. Good weather and three times as many horses make a lot of difference so by comparison, the diminutive OSCAs time is incredible. Predictably, Brandi won first prize in the 1100 cc sports racing category in the process.

The now two-year old car went through somewhat of a barren patch. Brandi continued to campaign it in 1956 though with more retirement than success and moved on at the end of the year to another newer OSCA. By 1958 the car had found its way to Sicily and in 1961, owned now by Mario Raimondo of Palermo, it was entered in that other great road race, the Targa Florio. Retirement from this event signalled the end of a tired and outdated racing car’s International career and although Raimondo entered a number of national events throughout 1962, at the end of that year, the car was put away and like many machines of that era, forgotten.

Fast forward to 1989 and in the depths of a Sicilian underground car park, a stones-throw from the Piccolo Madonie circuit, photographs of an ugly and hopelessly tatty red car are taken. Two and a half decades of unsympathetic storage render it almost unrecognisable but lifting the bonnet and brushing away the corrosion on the magnesium cam cover reveals four letters – OSCA. Scrape away the accumulated layers of paint on the chassis and a number is visible – 1143. Giardinis car, the 1954 works entry at Le Mans, is back in the land of the living.

Taking their leave of the Trident, the three surviving Maserati brothers formed the OSCA concern in the San Lazzaro district of Bologna in 1947 in order to pursue their first love – motor racing. The MT4 series of cars was the first result of this new endeavour and drew heavily on experiences gained through the years at Maserati. The first series MT4s used a tubular chassis and a relatively crude looking cigar shaped body with cycle wings. Powered by a new four cylinder engine of 1,100 cc and with only a single overhead camshaft, they developed 72 bhp at 6,000 rpm. A lowly output maybe, but a weighing only 480 kgs meant that the power to weight ratio made them useful, controllable and popular. Constant evolution of the engine meant that by 1954, the 1,100 cc unit had become a twin cam (called 2AD) with 92 bhp at 6,600 rpm.

Coachwork had also become more sophisticated with pretty barchetta bodies featuring the handiwork of sometimes Frua, but mostly the little known Carrozzeria Fratelli Morelli of Ferrara. As per fifties Italian sports racing cars in general, no two bodies were alike and modifications could be made chassis by chassis depending on the use for which the car was destined. For instance, this car features larger headlights than some, specifically for Le Mans.

In order to comply with the enormous variety of class requirements, the Maserati brothers also produced an equally large number of engine sizes. The twin cam 2AD could be specified in 1,350 form using the same aluminium block and from 1953 an iron block version with twin spark ignition was offered in both 1,450 and 1,500 form, the latter’s output reaching 120 bhp.

The legacy which the brothers left behind at Maserati must have been vast, as the parallels in terms of evolution and engineering solutions between the products of these two companies during the period are astounding. No surprise then, that in the eighties, as the products of Maserati started to become recognised by the Classic car enthusiast, so too did their diminutive relations.

Removed from its Sicilian catacomb, the now valuable 1143 began a new life. Following a return to Bologna for restoration under the guidance of ex-OSCA employees, in 1998 it became part of the Italian car collection of Alexander Fyshe in the UK.

As befits a car that weighs 530 kgs, there is not much to it. Spindly door frames are covered with just a single aluminium skin and the interior is just an open area beneath the body. Aluminium sheet screwed over the chassis protects the driver from the road but on top, even the smallest will be head and shoulders above the windscreen. The driving position is however, comfortable (though not I would suggest, in the 24 hour sense) and with only the most basic of controls available anyway, ergonomics do not enter the equation. Many of these were sourced from production cars so those who are au fait with Fiat Topolinos may feel at home. To start, insert ignition key and push to switch on ignition. Pump the throttle a few times and then grope under the dashboard on the passenger side for the lever to engage the starter motor. With a bad tempered cough and splutter, the engine bursts into life and must be coaxed into idling. For such a small car, it is incredibly loud, with the twin exhaust pipes exiting ahead of the rear wheel – just under the drivers left ear! The engine is however very smooth and there is no torque reaction when blipped. Maybe this is because there is very little torque, something that becomes apparent when pulling away. To get the car off the line requires bags of revs if clutch slip is to be avoided. Once on the move and with the revs rising, the noise builds even further and the driver’s hand falls naturally to the stubby gear lever to try for second. It is a four speed box with sychromesh only on third and top and therefore, in order not to lose all momentum and let the engine bog down, a clean and forceful change into second is necessary. Running at slow speeds requires a lot of concentration and finesse, as the suspension is hard and the throttle ultra sensitive – it is but a short rod journey between foot pedal and carburettor butterflies. Any rough road will bounce your foot around on the pedal with embarrassing results.

Once out on the open road, things become easier. The second act in the gearbox’ repertoire is much more fluid and although the wind begins to buffet and the noise just keeps growing, the engine now starts to respond more readily. Below 2,500 rpm, it is nothing more than irritated. From that point to 3,500 rpm, it feels like an old car that could potter along all day but never set the world on fire, yet persevere upwards and suddenly the lobes climb back onto the camshafts, all those grumpy hydrocarbons fall into line and the little bird sings – loudly.

It feels like a stressed out Lotus Seven. Dainty steering. Hard, yet complaint suspension. Massively powerful brakes – drums all round with the superbly solid pedal necessary for heel and toe gearchanges yet it only really happens at a stratospheric level of decibels and engine revolutions. When it does, it is fast and furious.

It is a heady and fatiguing experience to drive the car only a short distance and the knowledge that it competed in all those long distance races not only fills one with a sense of history but of awe for the drivers. It is no wonder that the car receives such a rapturous welcome in Ferrara on the first night of Mille Miglia retrospectives. Giardinis people still support their hero’s car. And of course, the body was also made there.

On last year’s event, while in the parc ferme during the small hours of the morning, an old man ambled over and pointed to the ‘Fratelli Morelli’ script on the front wing. ‘My name is Morelli’ he said, ‘I made this car’.

Left out in the cold, the Ghibli seems destined to roam the classifieds as a misfit of suitably depressed value. Is it a scary exotic with the build quality of a Lada or is it the performance bargain of the decade?

EVOLUTION

The advent of the modern Ghibli streamlined the range of cars that Maserati offered which up to that point had been at best confusing. No longer were they offering seven different models at the same time (in the UK alone!), merely two – the convertible Spyder and the two door coupe Ghibli.

The steel body was an ‘in house’ restyle of the Biturbo concept and although the underpinnings were derived from that car, the outer body panels were all different. Unlike previous models, the sheet metal did not alter during the life of the car (save for deletion of the dummy fuel filler on the left hand rear wing in 1995).

The Ghibli had been available in Italy for a year when in 1993, the first right hand drive examples arrived at then concessionaires Meridien, in Bournemouth.

Whereas at home the engine for the Ghibli was a two litre unit, for the export markets it was the 2.8 litre version. This was the four valve per cylinder, four camshaft version of the original Biturbo V6. It was an engine with which the Italians were familiar having been available in 2.0 litre form in the ‘Racing’ since 1989. In the UK, a handful of 222s and 430s had previously been available with the 2.8 litre version – known as 222 4V and 430 4V.

However, for Ghibli applications the engine management system was new with direct ignition (i.e. no distributor) and a separate ignition and fuel ECU for each bank of three cylinders. So equipped, the 2.8 litre developed 284 bhp at 6,000 rpm and 42.1 kgm of torque at 3,500 rpm (306 bhp for the two litre version). The two turbochargers were still Japanese IHI units, fed through twin intercoolers.

Transmission was via a new ZF five speed standard pattern manual gearbox (not the dog-leg box of the earlier Biturbo) and a ZF 4 speed automatic was also available.

The final drive was the same Torsen differential from the Biturbo, modified to incorporate an oil cooler which had the knock on effect of robbing the only space under the boot floor where a spare wheel could fit. Therefore a curiosity of all Ghiblis was their complete lack of spare wheel, Maserati instead supplying two aerosols of tyre inflating foam, neatly packaged in a leather pouch in the boot.

The suspension was by Macpherson strut front and rear and differed from the Biturbo in that the shock absorbers (developed by Koni) were electronically adjustable through four settings on a key pad sited next to the gear lever.

The wheels for the this first model were 16 inch diameter (a flat 7 spoke design made by both OZ and Mille Miglia) and allowed fitment of larger ventilated discs front and rear than had been possible with the Biturbo.

Equipment levels were high including as standard air conditioning with full climate control, electric windows and door mirrors, electric seat recliners and of course that trademark clock. Although the style of the interior was similar to the last of the biturbos, where there had once been a mixture of leather and alcantara, now there was all leather (by Connolly) and properly veneered wooden dash and door panel inserts. Overall, and combined with far better build standards, the car exuded a quality, hand built feel.

While changes to specification on the home market took place for the 94 model year, it was 1995 before the addition of Bosch ABS and still larger wheels (17 inch) marked a change in name to Ghibli ABS in the UK.

Towards the end of 1994, Maserati were involved in two new projects, the Ghibli Open Cup race series and the new series IV Quattroporte. Being able share development budgets meant that further changes could be made to Ghibli road car specification which were actioned in Italy in 1995 and for the UK in 1996.

These changes centred mainly around the adoption of the Quattroporte axle (taken from the Ferrari 456) and tubular rear suspension (both already fitted on the race cars) and a Getrag six speed gearbox (although automatic was still an option). There were few external clues to the new specification apart from another change in wheel design – still 17 inch but now with a ribbed spoke design by Mille Miglia. Another clue was that the backing for the one piece headlamps changed from the silver of the 94/ABS cars to black for this new version, known as Ghibli GT.

The GT was the final version of the car, the only other model being the Open Cup race replica which was sold alongside the GT from 1996 to 1998. The Cup car used all the upgrades of the GT but with a two litre engine only – even in right hand drive form. This engine used roller bearing turbos – different to any other model, modified engine management mapping and a freer flowing exhaust system which helped it to develop 330 bhp. Further changes were made to suspension bushing and larger Brembo brakes were also fitted. Externally, the Cup was distinguished by it’s use of five spoke split rim Speedline wheels and single outlet per side exhaust pipes (as opposed to twin tailpipe per side on all other models). It also had a badge on the lower doors proclaiming it ‘Ghibli Open Cup’ and a racing style aluminium fuel filler cap. Internally, the differences were greater, the wood being exchanged for carbon fibre inserts. Drilled pedals, Momo Corse steering wheel and aluminium gearknob completed the racing car ambience.

While the Cup was a limited edition, the GT continued until 1998 when the Maserati factory closed for refurbishment and the installation of the 3200GT production line. On re-opening in early 1999, another 250 Ghiblis were made using remaining bodyshells and parts (some of which were destined for the UK) before the 3200GT finally took over and the Ghibli was deleted.

SALES AND MARKETING

From 1991 to 1998, Meridien in Bournemouth were sole Maserati concessionaires for the UK. They imported approximately 150 Ghiblis in that time including 26 Cup models. Since then, when Maranello Concessionaires took over, there have been a further 17 of the post factory shut down cars imported.

In addition to this, there have been a number of left hand drive cars personally imported to take advantage of the strong pound and the seeming lack of interest in the cars on the home market although these probably only account for 10% of the cars registered in the UK.

The price of a Ghibli in the UK in 1994 was £42,000. This rose to £46,000 for GT in 1996 and £47,500 for a Cup in 1997. The cars imported by Maranello Concessionaires were sold at varying prices (See Market Now section).

SERVICING COSTS

The service interval on all Ghiblis is 6,000 miles or one year. Maserati devised a very specific service schedule for these cars and therefore, every service up to 96,000 miles is different. Broadly speaking the major services come up every 24,000 miles and these involve changing the cam belt. However, the four camshaft engine only uses the cam belt at the front of the engine to drive the exhaust camshafts. The inlet cams are driven by chains, looped over from the exhaust cams at the back of the engine. Every 48,000 miles, the chains must be changed and this can only be achieved correctly by removing the engine. The book time for this service is therefore 30 hours. Depending on whether the servicing is carried out at a Maserati dealer or at a specialist, the service costs will be approximately as follows ;

Interim 6,000 mile services : £400/500
24,000 mile cam belt service : £1000/1200
48,000 mile service : £2000/3000

THE DIRTY BITS

For all it’s complexity, both 2.0 litre and 2.8 litre engines have proved very reliable. Isolated problem cases include one car that snapped a timing chain at 13,000 miles (though not bending any valves and still running afterwards!), a Cup car that seized a turbocharger at 25,000 miles (and the roller bearing turbos are £3,900 each), an imported car that had been seriously chipped which broke a connecting rod and a car fitted with the wrong thermostat that continually overheated until the block cracked. Apart from that, they’ve been fine! The latter two could both have been avoided, the former are signs that while Maseratis build quality had improved, quality control was still patchy.

This is also borne out by the fact that all Ghiblis seem to require a new radiator because of the appalling quality of the leaky originals. Another common problem is with the charging system. The alternator is sited low in the engine bay and collects road debris and salt which shortens its life considerably. However, neither are expensive to repair.

The complicated engine management system which functions as two separate units (to the point where if there is a problem on one bank of cylinders, it will still run on the other) suffers from glitches and corrosion in fuses and relays, but otherwise is reliable. The only sensors that seem to be a common replacement are the lambda sensors in the exhaust, but this is more a consequence of being hit due to the minimal ground clearance.

Ground clearance was a serious problem on the early Ghiblis with 16 inch wheels and means that sleeping policemen need to be treated with respect. The move to seventeen inch wheels was in part to combat this problem but one still has to be careful.

The other reason for enlarging the wheel sizes was to allow fitment of ever larger brakes. Each model change saw the use of different brake discs and heat was obviously a problem throughout as Maserati did not provide brake back plates to protect the discs from road grime in an attempt to aid cooling. This has the effect of causing the discs to corrode more quickly and can be a problem on cars that are driven infrequently.

The standard fitment electronic shock absorbers (although they were a delete option) were unfortunately not particularly reliable, problems with leaks or seized motors being common and very expensive to replace.

Externally, the general panel fit and paint was good but not exceptional and the corrosion protection, while a huge step forward from Biturbo will certainly see Ghiblis going rusty in the future.

When running a Biturbo, you had to have a sense of humour with the electrics. Not so with the Ghibli which suffers very little in this respect, problems being confined to external temperature gauges that are next to useless and occasional stripped window lift mechanisms.

In all other respects, Ghiblis are as reliable as any modern car and can certainly be used as daily transport. The black GT featured in our photography has covered 125,000 and mileages of 80/90,000 are becoming commonplace.

HOW TO BUY

Information is power. The buyer must do their research because there is very little information available on these cars (they don’t appear in Glass guide for instance). You must know the entire model history before you can make an informed purchase and you cannot rely on the seller knowing anything about the car. Advertisements appear for cars that cannot be correct (1993 Ghibli Cup is a common one). Because of this, price is no indicator of specification or condition. How can you competitively price a car if you don’t know what it is? To give an example, a friend purchased a Ghibli Cup in Italy recently from a Renault dealer who had taken the car in part exchange. My friend was astonished at the cars condition for the price being asked and promptly bought it. As he got in to drive it away, the dealer asked him what the ‘Cup’ badge meant.

Once armed with ‘the knowledge’, you must check the car thoroughly and although every buyers guide may say so, service history is very important. Not only it’s frequency, but the quality of the outfit that carried out the work. A sheaf of invoices may initially scare you but ultimately, it gives piece of mind that the car has been looked after.

The mind blowing performance and rear wheel drive handling has caught out a few owners over the years and therefore an HPI check for accident damage is also imperative.

There are few places to buy a Ghibli in the UK. Most of the new range of Maserati dealers will have sold one or two but will be less willing to buy and sell the cars as the 3200GT becomes more commonplace. That leaves specialist dealers and most frequently the classifieds.

At any one time there are only a handful of cars for sale and therefore the buyer must be patient if he is to acquire a car in the specification he wants. All too often a rash purchase will end in tears and big cheques.

If you have any doubts about condition or value for money then talk to one of the specialists (some of whom offer a pre-purchase inspection service). The Maserati world in the UK is a small one and most cars are known to one or other of these specialists.

THE MARKET NOW

The Ghibli was certainly a casualty of Maseratis 1998 renaissance. All official interest in the car effectively ceased at that point and those dealers that had taken cars from Maserati UK to sell discounted them heavily to clear their showrooms in anticipation of the 3200GT. Therefore, a year ago, one could buy a new Ghibli GT for as little as £28,000 from an authorised dealer. The result for the secondhand market was catastrophic. Owners found that the car they had bought only a year earlier had lost thousands of pounds in value almost overnight.

Even the Cup (see best buy) was affected and as for the earlier Ghiblis, they were reduced to Mondeo money in the blink of an eye. The specialist dealers became shy of buying the cars as the uncertainty of what would happen next became a real problem for their bottom line.

A year on, the market has calmed down somewhat but has reached rock bottom. The most expensive cars now will be late, low mileage GTs which still command £30,000 price tags at authorised dealers. The cheapest will be left hand drive 92/94 cars which can be bought for as little as £10,000 privately. Everything else falls somewhere in the middle with condition and mileage being far more important than age and number of owners.

However, as an average, a 93/94 spec car is worth £13,000/£15,000, an ABS model £14,000 to £16,000 and a GT £18,000 to £30,000. These are figures for right hand drive cars. Left hand drive cars are worth 30% less. For Cup see Best buy.

As to the future, the Ghibli will always have a value as it is treated as the ultimate Biturbo. The earliest Biturbos are changing hands for beer money now, the later ones for more and the last ones more still. In the eyes of most buyers, the Ghibli will (rightly!) always be worth more than a Biturbo of any age and therefore, prices cannot fall much more than they have already.

Buy a car now and although it will undoubtedly cost more than average to maintain, it will probably still fetch the same money when you come to sell.

BEST BUY

The classic of the range in years to come will undoubtedly be the Cup. It offers not only a racing pedigree but also a fantastic driving experience for the enthusiast. It is no more expensive to maintain than any other in the range and due to its rarity will always have a market when you are selling. You won’t want to of course, because the tactile pleasure of its dynamics makes every trip an occasion and that addiction will be hard to give up. Currently a Cup car is worth £25,000 to £28,000 depending on whether the sale is private of from a dealer. For left hand drive cars, subtract £8,000.

THE SPECIALISTS

Bill McGrath Maserati – Servicing and parts.
Meridien Modena – Sales, servicing and parts.
Corley Motors – Sales and servicing.
Autoshield Maserati – Sales and servicing.
Moda cars – Sales.
In addition, most of the modern Maserati dealers will have experience of the car and from time to time, will offer cars for sale.

CONCLUSION

Buying a secondhand car is usually a case of comparison. Yet the Ghibli does not fall into this category. You just have to want one. And, if you want it bad enough and are prepared to suffer its eccentricities and undoubtedly high maintenance costs then you are hooked. If none of the above article phases you and you just look at the photos with an evil, childlike grin on your face, then you are a potential Ghibli owner. Buy with emotion however, and the dream could end very quickly. Instead, buy with your head – but on behalf of your heart.

Article first published August 2000

Indeed, the generic term ‘barchetta’ was first applied to these sparse, uncluttered designs, their form carved for purpose and their engineering uncompromising in its desire to win races – ‘A classic, essential concept’ to quote the brochure once more. And yet the most compelling factor that this car can use to claim its lineage is that it was primarily built out of enthusiasm with scant regard for cost or commercial sense.

Alessandro De Tomaso had been a successful driver of such machinery long before he turned his attention to building cars. When he did, racing was never far from his mind, however diluted by business, firstly as a manufacturer in his own right and latterly as custodian of the trident.

The first inkling of a return to form for Maserati came with the ill-judged concept car ‘Chubasco’ in 1990. In reality no more than a mock-up with uncharacteristically heavy styling by Marcello Gandini, and bristling with untested technical features of Chapmanesque proportions, it did possess one feature that has been a continuous thread in De Tomaso history, a backbone chassis. Chubasco was sensibly stillborn. The backbone chassis, however, went on to form the basis of the Barchetta. De Tomaso’s racing swansong was launched as the centrepiece for a one-make race series in 1992.

The concept was to build 25 pure racing cars known as Barchetta Corsa and then further examples with accoutrements such as lights, catalysts, etc, that could be used on the road – Barchetta Stradale. No doubt to capitalise on the exposure gained through racing, but also to broaden Maserati’s appeal to a younger, more Caterham Seven oriented audience. The brochure concludes by drawing a balance between the Barchetta Stradale as a ‘no frills’ driving experience and the Ghibli road car as the well-appointed executive sportscar. Rose-tinted spectacles are maybe required at this point, but at least both cars could claim to have the same engine.

Mounted on a steel subframe with beautiful magnesium cast end plates behind the aforementioned steel tube backbone chassis was a Ghibli 2-litre twin turbo V6 engine developing 315bhp, aft of which was a ZF six-speed transaxle. The transmission used straight cut gears and also a drop gear arrangement which allowed for almost infinite cog swapping. Suspension was by wide angle double wishbones all round, with inboard coil over shocks. The rear wishbones were mounted on the transmission casing and the fronts to another equally gorgeous magnesium subframe which, in turn, bolted to the front of the chassis. Dual circuit non-servo brakes with balance bar and massive four-pot calipers clamping vented discs rounded off the Formula One homage.

The body was equally hi-tech. Designed as three separate pieces, front and rear shrouds were removable and left a central tub which flowed over the chassis and provided seating and protection for two. The body parts were made from a mixture of aluminium honeycomb, carbon fibre and fibreglass layers. Very light, very expensive, a total dry weight of 775 kilos was claimed. At the extremities, 18″ Marchesini alloy wheels were shod (curiously) with Michelin MXX3 road tyres, and tucked away amid the tubes of the backbone chassis was a fuel ‘bag’ tank made by Pirelli.

Attention to detail is the overwhelming impression, together with the use of the best quality technology and materials regardless of cost. The enthusiasm factor. Sadly, potential buyers did not feel the same enthusiasm. The car was marketed through the various European Maserati concessionaires to appeal to ‘gentleman’ drivers rather than professionals. By the time of the first race, only seven cars had made it to the grid and the only privateers were Belgian Julien Appels and German Thomas Bscher. Eventually 16 cars were sold, mainly to the concessionaires who invited professional drivers to race them. Maserati themselves retained two cars to offer to ‘guest’ drivers.

Racing took place mostly in Italy, but also at Zandvoort and in Denmark. The reason for this was that High Clas Racing in Denmark were running three of the cars, one of which was for professional driver Jon Nielsen. Nielsen was a constant favourite at every race. In fact, so dominating were Nielsen’s initial performances that in a fit of desperation, in order to make for more exciting racing, some juggling of the engine ECUs was allegedly attempted in order that other competitors could be in with a chance (to no avail, I might add). The series continued through 1993 with never more than 13 cars on the grid for any one meeting. The lack of interest and the unapproached ideal of 25 cars meant that Maserati had no alternative but to discontinue the formula.

One of the most interesting aspects of the series was that it cemented relations between Nielsen and Bscher. Bscher had cut his teeth in historic racing and the Barchetta series was his first venture into moderns. By the time the series had finished, De Tomaso was already pushing ahead with the Guara which once again featured a similar backbone chassis. Nielsen approached De Tomaso with a view to him and Bscher racing a Guara in GT2. The Guara was supposed to have BMW V8 power and Nielsen reasoned that with De Tomaso’s connections, a racing version could be prepared by the German factory with a German driver also. However, BMW were then committed to the McLaren F1 project and were not interested in De Tomaso’s proposal. The Guara GT2 remained a dream and Nielsen and Bscher bought a McLaren F1 instead.

This Barchetta, chassis ‘LLC’ (always letters, not numbers) was one of the cars that Maserati SpA retained for ‘guest’ drivers, most notably for Cor Euser who raced at Zandvoort in 1993 where he finished third to Jan Lammers’ first and Nielsen’s second. After the 1993 season, it was given to High Clas Racing in Denmark as compensation when their three cars were all damaged in one race due to the overambition of a young Dane. High Clas ran the car in demonstrations for a while but soon sold it to a Dutch Maserati collector, who kept the car until this year but never drove it. It therefore comes to the UK as a little-used but race-ready car. The only one here now, but not the first.

What of the Barchetta Stradale? Further reference to the brochure shows a complete Stradale. Without roll bar and rear wing and with lights and other road niceties. The other Corsa retained by Maserati for ‘guest’ drivers was loaned to the Australian Maserati concessionaire for promotional purposes and was then sent to the UK where Meridien, the then current concessionaires, were asked to homologate the car for road use. Meridien enlisted the help of Church Green Engineering, more famous for their work with the original 50s barchettas, who carried out various modifications including moulding Fiat Coupe headlights into the nosecone, adding a speedometer to the basic instrumentation, fitting a road legal exhaust system and an external fuel filler, necessitating further re-shaping of the nosecone. Due to be submitted for homologation tests which were never carried out, the car returned to Maserati where it languished in the factory collection until the cars were saved from public auction by the Panini family. This car will be familiar to Auto Italia readers as that featured in Giordanelli’s recent Parmesan extravaganza.

At least two other Barchetta Corsas have been subsequently converted to Stradale specification by enthusiastic owners and yet none of these cars resemble the original factory version. The factory states that 16 cars were built in total and according to original racer and Barchetta guru Julien Appels, all are accounted for and were originally Corsa. The Stradale remains a mystery, a modern version of mysteries which experts grapple with over historic Maserati chassis numbers, a true “Return to Maserati tradition”

When I did, I realised that here was the car the Biturbo should have been all along. Fast, well made, stunning but understated, even practical and reliable. Unfortunately, I was in the minority, sales were slow, and so to boost the name further, in 1995 the Selenia Ghibli Open Cup was announced. This was to be a one make race series for the Ghibli Open Cup model which was a modified version of the current road car. The series was devised for amateurs and professional guests alike to promote the new Maseratis on the race tracks of their ancestors. The series was run by Dottore Adolfo Orsi through the auspices of his company Historica Selecta, and attracted backing from Selenia, Fiat Lubrificanti’s synthetic oil brand.

While outwardly similar to the Ghibli road car, the racing versions differed in some important areas. By junking the catalysts, fitting low friction roller bearing turbos and maximising the engine management, Maserati (strangely in conjunction with Alfa Corse) squeezed a preposterous 320bhp at 7,000rpm from the home market 2-litre 24-valve twin turbo V6 engine.

This was allied to a six-speed Getrag gearbox (five in the road car) and the new ZF differential and tubular rear suspension being developed for the Quattroporte. Gone were the road car’s electronically adjustable shock absorbers, replaced by some monster Bilstein racing units, gone also was the majority of the interior, replaced by a racing bucket and some natty Sparco silver foil panels. Of course, the Connolly leather dashboard remained (with carbon-fibre inserts where the wood usually lived) as did the gold clock, for reasons best left to Maserati themselves.

The other main difference was in the brakes, which were made by Brembo and necessitated fitting 17” Speedline wheels (with slicks) at a time when the road car’s were 16”. However, after the first couple of races, the only real problem with the cars was that they didn’t stop, which caused a mid-season rethink to fit larger items!

Potential racers could buy the car from their local Maserati dealer and for a further sum of 23,000,000 lire could register for the series of eight races which broadly followed the DTM series throughout Europe and even included one round at Donington.

The series was a success with 25 cars built for 1995 (plus a further two for collectors at the end of the season). The racing was fast and furious with the emphasis on driver ability as all the cars were equal. The regulations even stipulated that the winner of a race would carry 25kg of ballast at the next event. It had the desired effect. 20 year-old Danny Zardo won the series, which attracted major television coverage, and a repeat for 1996 seemed assured.

During the winter of 1995, modifications were carried out to the design, still larger brakes, now 18” TecnoMagnesio wheels, various aerodynamic add-ons and further tweaks with the engine management (power output now estimated at 350bhp). The cars looked sufficiently different to be labelled ‘evolution’. A number of the ‘95 cars were modified to ‘evo’ spec back at the factory and also a further seven brand new evo cars were built for 1996.

Avid Auto Italia readers will recall that in issue 8 in winter 1995, the intrepid editor track tested an ‘evo’ at Varano in fog (where’s Giordanelli when you need him?). At that time we were all looking forward to another close-fought season.

Sadly, after only two races in 1996, the corporate bean counters at Fiat (who were bankrolling Maserati by now) decided that the spiralling costs outweighed the commercial benefits and the plug was pulled.

This left a number of disgruntled racing car owners who had been stranded mid-season with no eligible series for their cars. Most of the cars went into mothballs, some were sold on to reappear at track days and Maserati Club events. The yellow racer featured here (currently for sale at Bill McGrath) was certainly moth-balled. It is very rare in that it was one of the few not converted to ‘evo’ specification. Significant also in that it formed the basis for the Ghibli Cup road car.

It had always been Maserati’s intention to offer a road-going version of the Open Cup racer for the cognoscenti. By utilising the 2-litre engine in a 330bhp catalysed form and carrying over some of the signatures of the racing car such as big four-pot Brembo brakes, the split rim Speedline wheels, the six-speed close ratio gearbox and low final drive, together with the niceties such as carbon fibre dash inserts, tactile Momo Corse steering wheel and drilled pedals, a distinctly different and more sporting Maserati Ghibli had arrived.

From 1996, this car was offered for sale, initially in left-hand drive form only and a production run of 50 were built. There were no plans for a right-hand drive version until a small band of UK enthusiasts petitioned the then importer Meridien, and by association the factory, to give them what they wanted.

After a false start in which three right-hand drive cars were produced with all the Cup features apart from the engine (they used the standard export 2.8-litre 285bhp unit) finally in 1997, genuine right-hand drive 2-litre Cups became available.

In all, 26 right-hand drive examples of the Ghibli Cup were brought into the UK where they were priced at £47,500 – a little more than the ‘standard’ car. Indeed in normal driving the Cup offered less than its brethren, being slightly less torquey and with lower gearing, but still able to dispense with the mundane – like any modern car. Yet, when shown an open road or race track, it was able to transcend its road car nature and become a full blown racing car.

And there it is, the ultimate evolution of the Biturbo concept, as different from the original as an integrale Evo from an early Lancia Delta, also a car built in the Maserati tradition and possibly the last link with Maserati’s heritage as an independent company.

For these days, Maserati lives under the shadow of the prancing horse. Refurbishment of the factory and the resurgence of the marque with the new 3200GT ensure the name a future and the new coupe is a fine car, but the Ghibli Cup – well, that’s something else.

Or is it? You will, of course, have heard the tales of poor build quality, dodgy handling and frighteningly high repair costs but can it really be that bad? As early examples are now reaching middle age, it is time to re-assess the Biturbo as a modern classic. So, if you want to know whether to risk the family silver for a day out with the cognoscenti, read on.

What is it?

The term ‘Maserati Biturbo’ is a very wide plural, covering more than fifty different permutations of car fitted with the twin turbocharged V6 engine. The original, from 1982, would be a 2.0litre, left hand drive only two-door coupe. The engine would be a three valve per cylinder unit fed by Weber carburettor and developing 180bhp. The last incarnation was the 1992 222 4v. A 2.8 litre, four valve per cylinder engine with electronic fuel injection developing 285bhp and available in right hand drive. Both cars shared the same bodyshell but little else. Along the way, pretty much every combination of those specifications and everything in between was available. And then there were the four door versions, the convertibles, the Karifs and the 228s.

If we limit ourselves to right hand drive 3-valve cars for now, then there are two main categories – carburettor engined and injection engined, and three main body styles – two-door coupe, four-door saloon and two-door convertible. When imports first started in 1986, these 2.5litre-engined cars were known as Biturbo Coupe, 425 and Spyder respectively. In late 1988, these three models were simultaneously updated to 2.8 litres and fuel injection, which along with a whole host of other changes, produced the 222E, 430 and Spyder E. At the same time, two other mechanically similar but derivative body styles were offered. The Karif was a short wheel base coupe based on the Spyder and the 228 was a long wheelbase S-class type car, more sumptuously but less sportily appointed than the others. These cars continued in production until 1991 when they were replaced in Coupe and four-door form by the 4-valve 222 4v and 430 4v. Maserati felt that the Spyder chassis was not able to cope with the extra power of the 4-valve engine and therefore the earlier 3-valve engine was still offered in these cars. In 1994, the entire Biturbo range was replaced by the Ghibli – with the exception of the Spyder, which soldiered on until 1995.

Production

In overall terms, there were no more than 500 cars officially imported to the UK during the whole Biturbo period of 1986 to 1991. At the beginning, a new company named Maserati UK had been set up to import the cars. Based in Leeds, this company was successful in the short term but over reached itself at a time when the country starred recession in the face and in late 1989, the receiver arrived. For a while it continued in knockdown form until finally, south coast based Meridien took on the concession, rebuilding the brand slowly but surely throughout the early nineties. However, by the time Meridien took over, the glory days had gone and their astute purchase only became obvious with the advent of the Ghibli. The vast majority of UK imports took place between 1986 and 1989, although many of the cars were slow to sell and therefore registrations do not accurately age a car in many cases.

Progression

Before we move on to the nuts and bolts of the matter, it is also important to stress the fact that in almost all respects, the injected cars were far superior to the earlier carburettor versions in period. Maserati were small enough to be able to react very quickly to customer feedback and therefore the Biturbo improved immensely throughout its life. It was not only the extra power and lack of temperament afforded by the larger and fuel injected engine, but also the ventilated brakes, the limited slip differential, the lowered and uprated suspension and the larger wheels and tyres, which helped to define the ultimate Biturbo driveline. On the inside, a mixture of leather, alcantara and real briarwood replaced the fakes of the earlier version contributing to the feeling of enhanced build quality. When they were new or just second hand, my advice was always to go for the injected car if the budget would stretch that far. Nowadays, the waters are more muddied, for the one thing above all else that keeps a Maserati Biturbo of any age from the jaws of oblivion is body condition and so a sound carburettor car used as a classic could be a far more sensible proposition than a tatty injected one. To find out why, we need to delve into the dirty bits.

Corrosion free or free corrosion?

They were euphemistically described as ‘understated’ when new but as it turns out, ‘underprotected’ would have been just as accurate. Corrosion is now a major killer as even the youngest Biturbo is 14 years old. It starts innocently enough with a little crispiness on the bottoms of the doors, round the water traps at the front of the front wings and along the boot lid, all of which can be repaired by any proficient body shop. The next wave will take out the leading edge of the bonnet (a tricky double skin to effectively repair) and on four-door cars, the rear wheel arches, followed closely by the outer sill panels and the windscreen surrounds. At this point, the car can still be properly repaired but if allowed to fester further, the bulkhead, front and rear subframe mountings and inner front suspension turrets will finally render it beyond repair. It is not that panels are unavailable or overpriced, quite the opposite, but more a question of having to carry out a back to bare shell body restoration, which is currently economical suicide. That may change in the future, but for now, look very carefully at any purchase, especially under the scuttle panel for bulkhead holes and walk away if there are any. It is far better to pay top money for one of the corrosion free examples that are still around and then be prepared to treat it with precipitous respect.

In fact, precipitation is also a major killer in another way. The wet road hedge backwards brigade seemed to live in the Biturbo for a number of years and the results of their efforts still get represented from time to time by the unscrupulous. Look carefully at the two chassis rails either side of the engine. Any undulations, especially where the rails dip under the bulkhead, are a sure sign of non-standard excursions and again, the only way to deal with that is to walk away.

Two turbos, some pipes and a few other bits

The basis of all Biturbo engines was an all aluminium 90 degree V6, which was beautifully and fastidiously made and if looked after, will easily reach over 100,000 miles. After all, essentially the same bottom end that started out in the 180bhp original Biturbo was still being used in the last of the 330bhp Ghibli Cups. It is immensely strong and therefore rarely fails in these earlier cars. However, as it wears out, it can cause two other problems.

Firstly, high mileage engines struggle to maintain the 5 bar oil pressure that they were designed for. This rarely causes problems for the crankshaft, but can starve camshafts, causing seizure, timing belt breakage and ensuing carnage. Secondly, on injected cars, as the piston rings wheeze their last and compression falls, the engine loses its ability to pull enough vacuum to run the fuel injection. It will begin to idle roughly and then not start. Compression figures under 100psi are worth worrying about.

Turbochargers on all right hand drive cars were water-cooled IHI ball bearing units and rarely cause trouble. When buying, it is worth running a hot engine at idle for a few minutes to see if the turbo seals bleed oil and therefore blue smoke into the exhaust. Turbo life is entirely down to oil change maintenance and careful cooling after use. The worst I have seen was 14,000 miles and the best 160,000. The latter were not smoking but provided about as much boost as a wet fart. Careful cooling of the turbos will also prevent differential expansion and cracked wastegate housings and exhaust manifolds – a tiresomely engine out job to replace.

Upstairs, the 3-valve engines used two inlet valves and one exhaust valve per cylinder, opened by one camshaft above each bank. Setting valve clearance by shim is a specialist job, as not only must the correct clearance be achieved, but also balance between the two inlet valves. The gasket between the cam carrier and the cylinder head is a notorious oil leaker, usually on to the exhaust manifolds, but is not expensive to replace. Cylinder head gaskets are robust as long as antifreeze changes are made regularly, something that also goes for the myriad water hoses and outlets under the inlet manifold and around the turbochargers, but eventually the head gaskets cry enough and again, replacement is easier with the engine removed.

To drive the camshafts, Maserati used a single toothed belt, which also took in the water pump at the front of the engine. Belt failure has been known but commonly has its root cause in either a belt contaminated by oil from a previous leak or a wobbly water pump bearing. On a 2.5 engine, belt failure almost certainly means carnage of the valve/piston variety but on a 2.8 you can be lucky.

Although outwardly only distinguishable by either black cam covers (2.5) or red (2.8), the two engines behaved quite differently. The carburettor car certainly had the best throttle response, made the best noise and felt the smoothest, but was horrendously Mariah Carey in the tuning department. Today, they require a skilled hand to set up as all adjustments must be made prior to re-sealing the plenum chamber but even so, hot starting is an artform. The injected cars demonstrate much less temperament but tend to suffer glitches from failing sensors.

Running gear

Manual gearboxes were all sturdy five-speed ZF units with a distinctive dog-leg first. Chunter from the layshaft bearings is common when idling and eventually will need to be cured by a new set of bearings. Jumping out of gear or particular noise in any one gear means a very hard life and imminent rebuild. Automatic option on the carburettor car was the little taken up Borg Warner three-speed, which quite frankly was dreadful and the total opposite of the four-speed ZF auto fitted to the injected cars. No wonder that hardly any automatic carburettor cars exist but 50% of the injected ones are thus equipped. Finally the four-speed auto misbehaves but is well known to the majority of reconditioners.

Rear axles used to be the Achilles heel of the Biturbo. A crucial design fault allowed the GKN supplied unit to over-pressurise with a resultant loss of oil and many a warranty claim followed. These days cured by a combination of tuppence-worth of modified breather and vigilance for oil leaks. Behind the propshaft sat a torque tube to which the axle unit was bolted. Drive was transmitted through a splined coupling which when new tended to clonk. The official Maserati technical tip was to remove the axle and loctite the splines together. It certainly helped but beware of a major clonk when taking up drive as a new splined coupling is an expensive solution.

The suspension on Biturbos was by MacPherson strut all round with track control arms fore and pressed steel trailing arms aft. Struts were different between carburettor and injection cars, but neither are really available on the aftermarket. Bilstein used to market an uprated shock absorber for the carburettor car but these are now scarce. The track control arms are aluminium with a steel lower ball joint pressed into them. Electrolytic action has cracked more than a few and this should be checked on any potential purchase. The rear trailing arms, which allow for adjustable rear suspension eventually rust and in extreme cases collapse.

Steering on all RHD cars was power-assisted rack and pinion. On carburettor cars, the rack was rubber mounted, which after the attentions of various engine oil leaks had contaminated the rubber, meant that the power assistance could come and go as the rack moved around under you. Does your steering wheel return to the same straight ahead position every time? Injected cars used a far superior direct mounting to the front subframe but with a cantilever arrangement to reach the wheels involving a total of six track rod ends and steering ‘idler’ pivots. The steering feel on a carburettor car is light and gets worse if there are problems but injected cars suffer from heavy steering caused by seized idlers and also from physics – they wear out their track rod ends every 20,000miles. Steering racks are quite robust and can be reconditioned when they inevitably leak but beware the steering column universal joint (notchy steering) and also the steering column support bush – the subject of a recall in period as it had a nasty habit of sawing through the steering column.

Brakes were always disc all round, with a rudimentary handbrake mechanism using shoes inside the bell of the rear disc. On a carburettor car, the discs were solid all round and could be warped in a day. On injected cars, the discs were ventilated and much more resilient. Luckily, replacements for all braking parts are very cheap apart from the servo/master cylinder unit.

Electrics

Your reputation precedes you, Signor. The alternator, mounted low in the engine bay where the weather could do its worst, was the first to go. The earthing for the rear light units was, well, optimistic to say the least and the infamous diode bridge for the sidelights caused premature baldness in many a Maserati mechanic. But the piece de resistance was the fusebox. Having already made a tour of duty in the Fiat Strada, the printed circuit board and Polish plastic amalgam tried in vain to liven up the Biturbo.

If you used the heated rear window, it would melt the fusebox into some kind of Dali-esque concoction that would never work again. I remember giving straight-faced advice to the owner of an almost new Biturbo, asking him to massage the fuse rail behind the glovebox in order to get his car to start. I have never known a car before or since that required a fusebox as frequently as a set of spark plugs. And of course, now that the bulkheads are rotten, the whole sorry mess is wet as well. Other than that, and the poor quality fused relays used copiously around the engine bay for such minor functions as cooling fans and fuel injection, the electrics are fine.

That all sounds great. How do I buy one?

Research, research, research! Few enthusiasts understand the nuances between the different models of Biturbo and therefore it can be difficult to work out what is being advertised. This also means that price is no indicator of correct age, model or indeed condition so if you do your homework, you could come away with a bargain.

There are no specialist Biturbo sales outlets any more. The acknowledged specialists in the marque are more service oriented and although they will usually know of the best cars for sale privately, you could well be using the classifieds, Ebay or the Maserati Club to find the right car. Pre-purchase inspections are available from specialists and are highly recommended – relying on the RAC or AA should be seen as a last resort.

Make sure you check the paperwork on any purchase. The large sheaf of invoices can seem intimidating but at the same time reassuring. Cam belt changes, regular oil changes and a sense of care are very important.

Prices

£0 – £500: Optimists queue here: Coupe and four-door project cars, inevitably rusty and without MOT.

£500 – £2000: Faded glory! A running carburettor car with test but lacking paint and door bottoms. Project Spyders.

£2000-£5000: Good quality low mileage carburettor cars usually fall into this category. Spyders may still require work. Tatty but tested 222E and 430 and project Spyder E.

£5000-£8000: The best carburettor Spyders, the best 222E and 430 and average Spyder E or 228.

£8000-£15000: Good to perfect Spyders and Karif. One owner, late cars.

Left hand drive

There are more LHD Biturbos in the UK today than ever before. A strong pound and a lack of interest in Italy caused a migration a few years ago. If you know what you are looking at, LHD can provide even greater bargains – and usually with the bonus of less corrosion, but the minefield of variations means that getting it serviced and buying parts could be more difficult. The model designations used at home were different to those used in the UK. The majority of cars are 2.0litres because of the Italian tax rules and new technology tended on the whole to arrive earlier on the Italian market, all of which means that more research is necessary!

Parts

Front wing £220.00
Bonnet £368.00
Front brake disc (carb) £ 32.00
Front brake disc (inj) £ 64.00
Clutch kit £490.00
Oil filter £ 9.70
Front shock absorber (inj) £184.00
Headlight – dip beam £ 60.00
Fuse box £304.00

* All prices plus VAT.

Servicing costs

Every 6,000 miles or one year.

6,000 mile service £550.00
12,000 mile service £650.00
24,000 mile (cam belt) service £780.00

*Prices including parts, labour and VAT.

Article first published July 2005

Thirty seconds is a lifetime in Formula One terms nowadays but for the Maserati team at the Nurburgring, it was the optimum target time for a pitstop guaranteed to win their man the race. The times may have changed but the need for strategy for tyres and fuel has always been there. In 1956, Maserati had been contracted to Pirelli to provide tyres for their racing team. At the end of the year, Pirelli retired from their Motorsport commitments but in a deal typical of Maserati, the personal friendship between Engineer Alfieri and Mr Botasso of Pirelli meant that enough tyres were produced to see the team through the 1957 season. Maybe this was the first public chink in Maserati finances. To give Fangio the best possible chance, he agreed with the team that in order for these old tyres to withstand the rigours of 22 laps of the 14-mile Nurburgring track, two sets would be necessary. Fangio would start the race with a light fuel load, build up a lead and then pit at a predetermined time for new tyres and more fuel. The mechanics practised the stop and the scene was set.

With the race under way, everything was going according to plan. Fangio had built up a significant lead of 28 seconds over the Ferraris of Hawthorn and Collins who did not need to stop. When he came into the pits however, an overexcited mechanic hammered a hub spinner off with such force that it span under the car and confusion followed before the 250F left the pits after 52 seconds – which was a lifetime even then.

Years later, Fangio admitted that he did things in that race that he would never do again. In order to catch the two Ferraris which by now had disappeared into the distance, he drove the Eiffel circuit like a man possessed, taking a higher gear through every corner than he would normally have used, four wheel drifting across every available millimetre of the most unforgiving of courses. The Ferrari drivers rested on unconfirmed laurels and were more than surprised to find the yellow flash on the nose of the 250F glinting in their mirrors. In the ten laps that remained, Fangio not only caught but also passed both of them to take the chequered flag from Hawthorn by 3.5 seconds after three and a half hours racing.

It had been a supernatural effort from both man and machine as after the race, Maserati chief test driver Guerrino Bertocchi had cause to move the 250F and found that the front suspension had all but seized, that the steering was loose, that the tyres were shredded and the engine would hardly run. The car was spent and so, unfortunately, was Maseratis depleted finances.
The cost of racing to the constructor in those pre-sponsorship days was enormous. Maserati had launched the 250F at the beginning of the 2.5 litre unsupercharged Formula some four years earlier, and although there had always been paying ‘customer’ racing cars, the factory team and the constant need to develop to stay ahead of the competition fuelled the enthusiasm but not the bank balance.

When Adolfo Orsi bought the Maserati Company in 1937, he envisaged the racing department as showcase and publicity for his varied engineering concerns. However, by the mid-fifties, it was getting out of control. They were spreading themselves too thinly between Formula One and sports cars and compounded by a business deal for machine tools in Argentina which had failed in 1955, Maserati could no longer continue to support the level of racing that its customers and tifosi had come to expect.

Fangio had a reputation for only doing ‘enough’ to win which he demonstrated after Germany by securing his final championship with second places at Pescara and Monza, both again in this chassis 2529. And that was the end. If any further persuasion was necessary that Maserati could not afford to carry on, then it came in the form of the spectacularly bad luck they suffered in the total annihilation of their Sports car team in Venezuela that October. Maserati had no choice but to retire the factory team at the end of 1957.

Placed in controlled receivership, any non-profit making activity ceased, but the customer-racing department was allowed to continue. Fangios manager, Marcello Giambertone hired 2529 for his star to drive in the first Grand Prix of 1958 in Argentina but the car overheated and he finally finished fourth. Fangio was now 47 years old and although undecided on retiring, would in fact only compete in one further Championship Grand Prix, in a later ‘piccolo’ 250F. Midway through 1958, the factory sold his championship-winning car to Giorgio Scarlatti who raced it in minor events before Jo Bonnier took the car to the USA. Way past its sell by date, it raced in 1959 for the embryonic Camoradi team (and now painted white with blue stripe), most memorably finishing second at Lime Rock, driven by Chuck Daigh before slipping into obsolescent obscurity. By the late seventies, it had ended up in the Briggs Cunningham auto museum on the West Coast and from there was plucked back into the limelight by German collector Hartmut Ibing.

When looking to buy a 250F in the early eighties, Ibing asked the advice of those who were historic racing the cars. Cameron Millars advice was to prove the most honest. If you want the best, buy the Fangio car. An embarrassingly large amount of money for that time then changed hands, but would be nothing compared to the value today, this yellow nose adding multi-millions to the cars value when compared even to other 250Fs.

As the pinnacle of both car and drivers careers, 2529 represents pretty much the Holy Grail for Maseratisti and it was therefore with a huge sense of occasion that I climbed aboard at Donington. Due to participate in a parade with 2527 and 2528 later in the afternoon, I knew I would only get a fleeting glimpse but that it would be another tick on the CV of life.
With little preparation, I can soon hear gears clanking rhythmically behind my right ear. To my left, I can hear the Deputy Editors breathing. Underneath me, I can feel every tiny stone in the tyres as we gather speed. Glancing down, I check that yes, the magneto switch is on and yes, the gear lever is in second. Look forward again for a moment between those two massive front wheels and then someone yells ‘now!’ Gingerly I lift my straining left foot off the clutch pedal and almost instantaneously, the engine erupts into life and takes over all of my senses.

I was expecting the noise, but not the vibration. The whole car is shaking and I can feel it equally through the wheel and through the seat. I declutch and bang the lever back into neutral. The engine is totally overwhelming, massive but raw power. Remembering the words of wisdom from Steve Hart, the cars minder – don’t let it idle – I blip the throttle which simultaneously sends shivers down the cars chassis and my backbone. The mechanical rev counter jerks up and down the dinner plate size dial but registers no more than 3,000rpm. Even at that lowly figure, the noise from the drainpipe exhaust next to my left shoulder is outrageous.

A quick check of the other dials reveals enormous oil pressure (normal) and a rising water temperature. Time to move. More words of wisdom filter through – Don’t stay on the clutch for more than five seconds, as it will overheat. Easier said than done as selecting first involves depressing the lever before shifting back for the dogleg, which selects first on the five-speed transaxle behind my seat. Four and a half seconds later, I tentatively lift that straining left foot again and suddenly there is silence. Wow, that is one sharp clutch. For the first time in my life, I find also that my lowly size sevens are too large for the pedals of this car, shrouded as they are in aluminium panels set into the floor. Offending footwear removed, the deputy editor gets a work out and the whole process begins again. This time, however, I am ready for it.

A few more revs, a little more confidence and soon we are changing gear and opening up the throttle. At low speeds, most of the controls are fighting each other. The steering feels dead, the brakes pull alarmingly and that omnipresent vibration conspires to make the car feel distinctly unfriendly. Yet as soon as the pace increases, the parts of the orchestra begin to play the same music. Over 4,000rpm, the engine smooths out noticeably, the gear lever moves easily around its gait and one starts to get an impression of what it could be like flat out. Not today though, for I have neither the time available nor the talent. I am left having had just a hint of what makes this car great and I want more. Even if I never get that opportunity however, it will still be enough to know that I have driven the old masters old Maser.

Originally the property of the King of Morocco, this 3500GT Spyder underwent a total restoration by Bill McGrath Maserati in the mid-nineties.

Of all the cars the King had owned, this was one of ones he had enjoyed the most and when it came up for sale in 1992, he bought it back. However, its condition was not what he remembered and so it was promptly sent to Kimpton where years of neglect were to be stripped away.

Having reduced the car to its component parts, the body was sent to Henshaws of Hereford where many hours of welding and panel fabrication followed. The majority of the lower half of the sheet metal work was replaced before a painstaking repaint in a modern interpretation of the original silver.

The six-cylinder engine was also stripped and had suffered from a previous rebuilder not having re-hardened the crankshaft. The motor had been literally seizing up solid due to wear on the bearing surfaces and a lack of lubrication. Luckily, the crankshaft was saved and of course hardened before being fitted into the rebuilt engine.

While brakes and suspensions were totally rebushed and rebuilt, the wiring provided one of the greater challenges. A new wiring loom, made in house, sorted that one and after two years of hard work, the finished car was exhibited at the Hurlingham Club round of the Louis Vuitton Concours in 1996. Soon after, the car was collected and made its way to Morocco to once again take pride of place in the Royal collection.

The object of my visit was to assess a rare Maserati – a 1955 A6G54 with Frua Coupe coachwork. The company I was visiting, Classic Car Associates, were certainly familiar with these cars as from the five Frua Coupes originally made, the only two known survivors had both been through their hands. These two cars are chassis number 2103 and the car I looked at that day, chassis 2114.

2103 has a wealth of documented history. It featured in Maseratis original brochure for the A6G series and through reproduction in many books. It then travelled through various owners in England, Canada and America before being plucked from the edge of dereliction by a Monaco Maserati enthusiast who had the car restored in the late 1980s. Its life began again and it was sold on to first one and then a second German owner who competed with it in the 2000 Mille Miglia retro before it finally ended up back in Italy last year to undergo a further restoration for a new American owner.

By comparison, 2114 had led a sheltered life. Sold when new to the Setbon brothers in Paris through the Maserati Concessionaire, Thepennier, it remained in the same family until the late seventies when it was ‘discovered’ by arch Maserati finder, Richard Crump. Some time after, it was sold to Anthony McLean in Switzerland who instigated a mechanical rebuild of the car in Italy. During the course of this work, Classic Car Associates tempted Mclean with an A6GCS Maserati and a part exchange took place. The work was never really completed before the car went to Belgium and because of the timing, it would remain there unused for a decade. This was the early nineties and the classic car world was falling apart. 2114 weathered the storm tucked away by CCA and was only offered again for sale when the market had sufficiently recovered. This is where we came in.

One might have thought that all those dormant years would maintain total originality and when I viewed it that day, it showed only 23,000 kms on the odometer, yet the exterior colour had been changed, the interior had been re-trimmed and the radiator grille substituted for something more akin to a Zagato version of the A6G. I spent my day getting underneath the garish red paint, trying to decide how difficult the car would be to restore. There are no parts available new for these cars and so anything that was missing or broken would have to be made. After much soul searching, I recommended the car to my UK client and a few weeks later it arrived at Bill McGrath Maserati for the start of a two-year restoration.

Of the 61 examples built between 1954 and 1957, only 5 A6G54 cars had Frua Coupe bodywork – although one extra car based on an A6GCS chassis was numbered in the series as 2109. The more popular bodies came from Zagato and Allemano with 21 of each produced. The remainder were Spyders, one by Zagato and 12 by Frua.

The Maserati factory records department supplied a copy of the original build sheet for the car confirming the original colours to be black with hazel interior. The black was still in evidence on the internal painted parts such as the dashboard and the multitude of intricate aluminium trims that lined the interior. As the red paint was stripped back, it revealed only one layer of black beneath – the car had only been re-painted once in forty-five years.

Apart from the build sheet there was little information available. We thought for some time that it must be the car in a photograph featured in a Maserati book by the German, Jurgen Lewandowski, as that car was black and had French number plates. However, as more of the paint came off, it became clear that this car had never had chrome strakes down its flanks nor Maserati scripts on its front wings. Not the same car. 2103 could not provide any help either. Although the ‘sister’ car, many details were different, including the complex front grille.

One hundred and fifty six photographs and copious notes later, the car was in pieces. The rolling chassis was sent to Jim Henshaw in Hereford for panel repairs and paint. It was important at this stage not to over restore the body. Fruas line may have been aesthetic perfection but what the eye could not see was roughly finished. So many cars of this type have their chassis restored in glossy blau/grau like their racing siblings, but on a road car like this, it would have been sticky black underseal and brushed on at that. Henshaw also suggested cellulose paint for the exterior, which while committing him to an enormous amount of extra preparation work compared to modern isocyanates, would be the only way to get the deep glass-like finish that we wanted.

The aluminium panels were basically sound but electrolytic corrosion and various small areas of damage meant that new door skins, sills and valances were necessary. As it turned out, these were to be the easy parts of Henshaws work as the one subject that we both avoided for months was what we were going to do about the grille.

Initially, we had considered leaving the modified version but on stripping the car, we had found a box of ‘spares’ that included some of the original grille slats. From this we were able to reconstruct the original shapes before Henshaw, using only a part of the original surround, re-made the entire assembly in brass. This part of the job alone took five solid weeks.

While outwardly similar to the later 3500GT engine, the two litre straight six engine fitted to A6G54s is really from an earlier age. Almost from the outset, we had decided to have a new crankshaft and connecting rods made in order to guarantee high rev reliability. This would also give us the opportunity to convert to easily attainable shell bearings. The process was relatively straightforward compared to the problems encountered with the cylinder head. Not only were the camshafts and their followers badly scored but also one of the valve guide holes in the head casting had been drilled at the wrong angle – possibly a problem that had been lying in wait since the car was new. The corresponding valve seat was therefore also off centre and the valve had clearly not been sealing properly. As new valve guides were custom made, we elected to re-drill the hole and fit an oversize guide. Similar to pre-war Alfas, the valve stems on these engines are large and hollow and the cam follower screws down into the centre of the stem with a serrated plate giving a range of adjustment. All were beyond saving and together with re-profiled camshafts, accounted for a large part of the engine build budget.

The A6G54 models used a twin overhead cam two-litre straight six cylinder engine derived from the A6GCS sports racer. The engine was available in a number of different specifications. Either single or twin plug per cylinder and three single choke Weber 36DO4 carbs or three twin choke Weber 40DCO3 were the main options but alternate camshaft profiles were also offered. In its highest state of tune, the engine produced 160bhp at 6,000rpm.

This particular engine had originally been specified with three single choke Weber 36 DO4 carburettors and their distinctive mushroom air filters. Although functioning of a fashion, there were obvious problems with broken and bodged parts and so we sent them for a total rebuild to Weber Guru Norman Seaney who even went as far as casting new choke levers and machining new jets. Norman typifies the kind of specialist involved in this project. A fantastic job from a man in a shed, but don’t ask him how long they will take!

Even with the majority of the car spread to the four corners of the UK, there was always something to do. Alan Piggott carried out the vast majority of the restoration at McGrath. His pedanticism can always be relied on and one of the most challenging areas was replicating all the missing pieces of trim. A window winder, a quarterlight catch, the bonnet flutes, a jacking point cover. All were made by hand from solid lumps of brass but the piece de resistance was the bootlid script. While researching the Auto Italia piece on Igor Zanisis Frua Spyder, I took a ‘brass rubbing’ from a badge on his car. Back home, this was given to a silversmith who computerised the image and fretted a script from brass.

The quest for originality can get out of proportion. For instance, the wood effect Bakelite dashboard knobs were repaired using araldite mixed with coffee grains to give the correct colouring and there are no Phillips or posi drive screws anywhere on the car. In some areas however, the restorer has to balance that originality with modern practicality. Seat belts where there were none and an electric fan hidden ahead of the radiator instead of the insipid mechanical original are the obvious ones, but when the new wiring loom was made, it was felt prudent to include a bank of subtly hidden relays to protect the antiquated electrics. One practical modernisation that was inevitable due to the lack of spare parts was to convert the distributor to electronic ignition. As the distributor protrudes from the back of the cylinder head through the bulkhead, gapping the points if they had been available would have been tricky anyway and so ‘fit and forget’ electronics became the sensible option. This also allowed a more effective aluminium box to be fitted under the dash to seal the bulkhead, instead of the casual leather bag that Maserati would have provided.

A year after a tatty red body had left, a perfect black one arrived back at McGrath. Deadlines for completion were then set, the target being the Maserati Club Concours at Stanford Hall. The logistics involved in cajoling the various specialists into delivering on time were enormous and could easily have distilled the excitement of the project. However, there were exciting moments – when the finished grille was fitted for the first time, when the engine burst into life first turn of the key and finally, when it sat sublime and in the rain at the head of the Maserati display at Stanford Hall.

That it won the Maserati Club Concours was gratifying but ultimately due to the rightness of the original design rather than the restoration. It was never meant to be a Concours car in the manner of Pebble Beach, only to be as good as when it was built. It is often said that the owners of rare cars are merely custodians and ergo, they have a responsibility to preserve these cars for future generations. Should they need to be restored though, the restorer also has responsibility.

Now that the Frua Coupe is finished and with its owner, I feel that the responsibility has been lifted from me. Now I can just enjoy.

Her father had purchased the car in the sixties with the intention of going racing but instead; it had sat in the garage for 25 years. The article went on to relate that the original Maserati six cylinder single cam two litre engine was long gone (although the waitress claimed to know where it was) and in its place sat an American V8. The article ended by saying that this car was one of five Frua Spyders based on the single cam A6G chassis and that it looked to be identical to the car shown at the 1951 Turin show.

The waitress’ car was chassis number 2017, which means that it was the second of the five convertibles. It is now being restored and reunited with its original engine for a new American owner, but it is unlikely to be the 1951 Turin Show car as that car had a split windscreen and this did not. Maybe the show car is the one that is lying forlorn in a Cuban backyard? Last year, I met an Englishman who is working in Cuba and came to visit me to show me photos of his latest acquisition – you guessed it, an A6G 2000 Frua Spyder. This car is chassis number 2018 and is in a poor state. Again the original engine is missing, as is most of the trim. It would be a viable restoration project if only it could be got out of Cuba, but the new owner was doubtful that the authorities there would let it be moved.

The first time I ever saw one of these cars in the metal was in 1989 when one arrived in England from America having been bought by dealer Rob Clough who subsequently sold it at Christies in Monaco in 1990 to an Italian film producer. That car was 2029, the fourth car built. Sadly the whereabouts of the first car (chassis 2015) is currently unknown which only leaves the car featured here, the last one (chassis 2030), now in the sensitive hands of Italian Maserati collector, Igor Zanisi. Auto Italia was lucky enough to be invited to photograph Igors cars last summer and so we wiled away an interesting afternoon in Brescia taking in the beauty of one of the first Maserati convertibles.

It wasn’t always this beautiful however. Back in the mid-eighties, it was also a candidate for a ‘discovered’ column when rescued from its slumber in a San Francisco garage by the larger than life chief of Seattle based Maserati Mecca, the MIE Corporation. Frank Mandarano first saw the car on Christmas Eve 1987, incredibly also missing its original engine and in its place, this time a Chevrolet V8! In the early nineties, MIEs workshop carried out a restoration on the car and fitted a correct type engine from another A6G. Having completed the job save for some detailing, the car was then sold on in the mid nineties and returned to the safety of Italy and the Zanisi collection where the finishing touches could be added.

For a small production run, these cars have certainly got around in their lives. Why though are the chassis numbers not consecutive and why did the Americans seem to insist on replacing the original engines with homegrown products?

After the war, Maserati introduced two new models. The A6 1500 road car (see Auto Italia November 2001) and the A6GCS sports racer. Both used a similar engine featuring six cylinders and a single overhead camshaft. For the Corsa Sport however, the capacity was two litres. The chassis numbers started at 2001 (two litres, number one) and so when the road car engine was enlarged to two litres, the chassis number sequence included them.

A lack of power had certainly been a criticism of the first A6s with the 1500cc engine and relatively heavy Pinin Farina bodies. However, having made the decision to produce a two-litre road car, Maserati returned to Pinin Farina only for him to produce an even larger and even heavier body. Notwithstanding this, Maserati went ahead with the project and so the first of the A6G road cars was built. Its chassis number (interspersed amongst the racing cars) was 2013 and it dates from 1950. Over the next two years, a further fifteen road cars were made. Nine were bodied by Pinin Farina as Berlinas, one by Frua as a Coupe (chassis 2028) which looked very similar in proportion and detail to his Spyders, one by Vignale as a Coupe (see side bar) and of course the five Frua Spyders.

The official title was A6G2000. The ‘A’ signified Alfieri, a tribute to the Maserati brother who had been the driving force of the company pre-war. The ‘6’ for six cylinders and the ‘G’ for Ghisa – the Italian for cast iron. Much debate as to why engines with aluminium cylinder blocks were thus named has ensued over the years. Currently it is thought that the first of the two litre road cars 2013 did in fact have an iron block and although the material changed on those that followed, the name remained. Also, and on Frua bodied versions only, a badge proclaimed the car as a Maserati 2000cc Gran Sport, which was his own unofficial name for his creations.

These sixteen cars were the only Maserati road cars of the early fifties until the A6G54 arrived in 1954 with its substantially more powerful twin cam engine. Most historians suggest that although the two-litre single cam engine developing 100bhp was an improvement on the 65bhp of the earlier A6 1500, it was a case of too little, too late. The cars did not sell well because they were underpowered and not in keeping with the expectations of the name or indeed the hefty asking price. Contemporary Ferraris for instance used a V12, which while of similar capacity, produced considerably more horsepower. We can therefore forgive the Americans for their premature transplants on power alone, but also I am sure on the grounds of a lack of parts network to ensure that the fragile two-litre could be repaired.

Viewed in another light, it is a credit to the chassis that it could handle V8 power. The tubular frame owed more to the A6GCS than the earlier A6 and featured the racers double wishbone front suspension and quarter elliptic rear springs. Attached to all four corners were large drum brakes behind the de rigueur Borrani wire wheels.

Of course, nowadays the original engines are being found and re-installed, as originality is everything on these early Maseratis. Values have risen enormously in the last few years and collectors seem to be falling over themselves to buy such historical pieces. Anyone fancy a trip to Cuba?

THE VIGNALE COUPE

Another rare A6G 2000 to have crossed Auto Italias path recently is the unique Coupe bodied by Vignale on chassis 2031 – the last of the single cam cars. Originally part of the Maserati display at the 1951 Paris Motor Show, it competed the following year in the Tour de France and was subsequently sold to America. Fast forward to 1972 and a somewhat beleaguered car with would you believe, a Ford V8 engine hiding behind damaged bodywork, was rescued from a breakers yard on Washington Boulevard by Paul Merrigan. During a restoration that was to become a labour of love, Merrigan not only tracked down the original engine (from another breakers yard, this time in North Hollywood) but also the original gearbox. In 1999, the finished car took first place in the post war GT category at the Pebble Beach Concours and then was sold by Brooks at their Quail Lodge auction in 2000. From there it travelled to England, only to be offered for sale again by Coys of Kensington. While in town, it was exhibited at the Louis Vuitton Concours at the Hurlingham Club before again going under the hammer in July 2001. This time, the car was eastward bound and so another well travelled Maserati began a new chapter of its history.

Of the brothers, it had been Alfieri who had been the catalyst and leader. It was he who had formed the ‘Officine Alfieri Maserati’ in the first place and he who had guided his siblings throughout the early years of the company. When Alfieri was taken from them in 1932 while on the operating table following complications from an injury sustained in an earlier racing accident, it must have seemed as though the world was about to end for Ettore, Bindo and Ernesto. Yet they soldiered on for another five years before admitting that their talents were more in tune with engineering than with business.

The brave decision to sell a majority share to the Orsi family was taken in 1937 and the loss of pride in being made conditional employees of their own firm for the next ten years was not lightly taken. When in 1939, Adolfo Orsi uprooted the company and moved it from their hometown of Bologna to new and spacious premises in Modena, some 28 kms away, the brothers must have felt that they had made a grave error. As Luigi Orsini so practically pointed out in his history of Maserati, the brothers were reduced to the role of mere commuters. Then Orsi employed not only his son and his brother in law to senior positions within the company but also another engineer, Alberto Massimino. It seemed then that the degradation was complete.

In 1940 however, fate intervened and Italy entered the war. No longer was the new Modena factory buzzing to the sounds of supercharged racing cars. For the next five years, it would be given over to the production of machine tools, electric vehicles and the batteries to power them. Like Ferrari down the road in Maranello, the Orsis skilfully adapted to the demands of war in order to maintain their companies and their empire. It must have been clear also to the brothers that they would not have been able to adapt in the same way and that had they been too proud to sell in 1937, they would potentially have lost everything.

Safely ensconced in Modena, the brothers set about new projects and even by 1941 had blueprinted the engine design that would eventually become the A6 1500. They chose a small capacity six cylinder unit as much for emotional reasons as pure engineering ethics. An engine that in the 1930s had been the backbone of the company both in terms of success on the track and on sale to amateur racers had been such a unit, the twin camshaft and supercharged 6CM. They dallied with an unsupercharged twin cam which became the unique 6CS but no doubt under the influence of Adolfo Orsi, settled on a single camshaft unit that would be more suitable for road use.

Petrol for such frivolities as passenger cars (never mind racing ones) was non-existent during the war and so the completed design waited until the end of 1945 before actually being installed in a chassis.

It has been said that Ernesto Maserati had long cherished the idea of a making road cars. It was he who adopted the name A6, the ‘A’ representing a tribute to his brother Alfieri and ‘6’ for the number of cylinders. Adolfo Orsi also harboured greater plans for Maserati in the post war years than just a return to the racetrack. The Orsi purchase of the company was not in any way made through sheer benevolence. He valued not only the marketing benefits of racing and the skilled workforce that he had inherited, but also the potential to manufacture, whether it were machine tools, spark plugs, batteries or indeed road cars.

Battista ‘Pinin’ Farina, having split from his own family firm of Stabilimenti Farina as long ago as 1930, was regarded as the designer of the moment and as he was also enduring the war favourably, was commissioned by Maserati to send scale models of a proposed design for the A6 as early as 1941. Soon all that was required in order to actually produce the car was an end to the fighting.

Not surprisingly, and compared to Ferrari, Maserati were very quick off the mark following the cessation of hostilities. The first A6 prototype was running in March 1946, albeit with a cobbled together body certainly not by Pinin Farina. Orsi, however, resisted the temptation to enter production before the design had been fully tested and so it was almost a year before the finished car was debuted by Pinin Farina at the 1947 Turin show.

The first Maserati road car (and the first Maserati ever to be unsupercharged) was an amalgam of Pinin Farinas early post–war ideas. While the Cisitalia 202 takes the plaudits as his archetypal forties design, the A6 has the same signatures but joined in a less cohesive fashion. The first car had a number of unique features such as headlights hidden behind sliding panels in the nose and an abnormally heavy roofline. It was effectively a three box design that was trying to be a two box fastback, but from a designer who initially lacked the confidence to be avant garde. Fussy detailing such as flutes in the front wings that lead back from the wheel arch complete what was actually a somewhat ungainly effort. Like the Maserati brothers engine, it used clearly defined pre-war standards, but inspired by post-war ambition. What it needed was a year of honing like the mechanical parts.

In those first two years of 1946 and 1947, the total production was a mere five cars before Farina and Maserati consolidated their efforts into what you see today.

The ‘production’ version of the A6 was still manufactured in small numbers, 61 in total between 1946 and 1950. Apart from a single convertible, the body became that confident two box shape with a sloping back that was to stand Farina in good stead for the future, while the unnecessary complication of the headlights was resolved with a more orthodox arrangement.

The Maserati chassis comprised a tubular steel framework made by sub-contractor Caiani into which was fitted that single overhead camshaft six cylinder engine. A Maserati designed four speed gearbox with synchromesh only on third and top transmitted power to a rigid rear axle, suspended on coil springs. Front suspension was independent using double wishbones and coil springs in line with the racing practice of the 4CL. Brakes were by drum all round.

The engine was made from aluminium and its most distinguishing feature was the width of its cam cover. In order to maintain a pure crossflow design and hemispherical combustion chambers, the rocker arms were of unequal lengths for inlet and exhaust. Curiously, this arrangement was to get a reprieve in the 1970s on the Triumph Dolomite Sprint engine, and of course, the Maserati brothers used it on their first OSCA engines. With a single Weber carburettor (three were an option) the engine produced 65 horsepower at 4,700 rpm, enough to propel the sleek aluminium body to a maximum speed of 160 kph. By modern standards, this seems an incredibly feeble output but one must remember that not only was there a feeling of economy in post war Italy, but also that the Italians were unused to high performance engines that did not utilise superchargers. Ferraris first post-war effort was also of 1,500cc, albeit a V12 but with similarly conservative power.

By the time the car had reached its final form, the Maserati brothers had completed their term of consultancy and in 1947, left the Maserati company to form OSCA, back in their beloved Bologna. Although there was no animosity in their departure, there was also great enthusiasm.

That they had believed in the concept of the A6 was shown in the adoption of most of the same principles in the first OSCA four cylinder engines. They left behind them the engineer Massimino, who was immediately drawn into the mesmerising world of motor racing. His first task was to create a sports racing car based on the A6. In order to increase the power of the engine, it would need to be bored and stroked to a capacity of two litres. To bore the aluminium block would be to weaken it and so a version was made in cast iron which could afford to be thinner while still retaining its strength. Thus was born the term A6G – ‘G’ standing for Ghisa – the Italian for cast steel. Fitted into a Corsa Sport chassis, this became A6GCS and using exotic fuel mixtures, the single cam engine then produced 120 bhp.

Two such engines found their way into road going chassis, the first bodied by Pinin Farina in the same style as the A61500 cars. This was effectively the first of the A6G 2000 cars but the last of the line as other coachbuilders now began to petition Maserati, and the two litre block was finally re-cast in aluminium – although the ‘G’ was retained anyway.

Today the A6 1500 is appreciated not so much for what it is as what it stands for. The last Maserati designed by the Maserati brothers and the first of a prestigious line of road cars commissioned by the new custodians of the Trident, the Orsi family. A significant automobile.