...a real classic Maserati!

this car was offered for sale some years ago in Bella Italia!

A very interesting car as it shows inside the still original paint (mid-blue) and original leather/fabric of the seats. The car got a new color in thelate 70ies and remained in that condition for almost 25 years.

I was told that the car was then sold within Italy. No info after that. I assume the car underwent a restoration then.

Ciao!
Walter
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Hi Walter,

The interior shots of that car are fantastic! That is one of the nicest and most original looking interiors I have ever seen. There where three versions as far as I can tell for the knob / switch colors. Black, Amber and Gray. I used to think white was a possibility but have been told by too many too often that PF never provided / purchased used switch gear in white do to dirt and early discoloration.

Cheers,

Bill

 

Bill,
yep, it was a veeeeery original car. Unfortunately I lost all other photos of it due to a nervous breakdown of my computer years ago!

Ciao!
Walter

 

Here they are Walter.
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huhuhhh......Boudewijn,
fan - tas - tic!!! Many thanks.

Yep, that is the car! Does anybody know the whereabout of this timewarp??

Ciao!
Walter

 

I have a few more here.. They were taken by a friend of mine .. Lookin at the pictures of 052 today ( They are from Ruoteclassiche) The pics look photoshopped and not really real.. The instruments look flat like they are imitation instruments ... Has anyone seen the Panoramica at all??..
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I had my thesis that this car (s/n052) was completed first as the convertible and later rebodied into this Zagato-one-off. But a friend of mine in Italy things different. He believes the open car was a later s/n and was converted to coupe-specs. However, the open car is lost today!

Ciao!
Walter
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This A6G-1500 and a chassis of an A6G-2000 Pininfarina coupe was found in Argentina.

Ciao!
Walter
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....and still there in this condition!

Ciao!
Walter
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There is a fair chance the 1500/2000cc LWB cabriolet ended up with a service man in Florida in the late 1950s early 1960s.

About four years ago, I bought an insane cache of spare parts of a seller on ebay and spoke several times with the guy who was feeding him the early Masserati bits and he told me he was friends with the man who brought over a Coupe and an open car. Over time both rotted into the ground between two buildings. Eventually what remained of the bodies and chassis was hauled away but much of the suspension, brakes and even the doors to the cab remained. When my old car found a new recent home, what I purchased travelled with the car to the new owner's home. There are some trim pieces with the two / three digit PF body number and even one of the door windows is there. I believe nothing else remains of the 1 off cabriolet.

Cheers,

Bill

 

Bill,
would be fantastc to get more news about the long-lost 1500-Converible. Let us know please! Thanks.

Ciao!
Walter

 

This is a photo of 052 in 2008.
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Its not a very beautiful car - but what an impressive ugly duck it is!

Ciao!
Walter

 

thanks.. never seen a pic of it.. headlight rims missing though.. a bit of a shame...

 

The Orsini book says that 052 was also the prototype later rebodied by zagato.. I also read, somewhere, that the spider prototype below was 052... If one looks at the steering wheel they could be the same actually...
Here is the interior of 052 1977 for comparison..




Nik
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Nik,
that might be a very good indication that in fact the open-barchetta was later rebodied by Zagato. Another indication is the steering wheel which is the same on both cars. Maserati at that time had normally 3 spoke-steering wheel. Good catch!

Ciao!
Walter

 

Nik,
can you ask your friend WHERE the car was located when he took those photos?

Thanks.

Ciao!
Walter

 

All this talk about Maserati not being able to properly make a v8 engine or other engine is bollocks. There was not ONE single Maserati designer, but many and they are the same people that designed Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Lancia engines or cars.

Columbo, for example, designed the 250F and that motor is a beaut and the 450S is from the same period.

More than likely a backyard mechanic has been involved with these cars since and that is where the problems started or incorrect decisions were made (I hear so much rubbish about Alfa Romeo engines and reliability ... undoubtably started by this sort of pub bar talk, and cheap and nasty maintenance by idiots) ... but yes no manufacturer is perfect and we have learnt a lot since the 50's about making motors. In some ways it is a pity that we are now modifying original solutions out of these old motors ... soon they will all be too close to Toyota engines .
Pete

 

Pete,
the facts tell the story! Also the V8 from the 450S made problems. Not so the "basic" 250F/300S-engines! But the A6G-2000 6`s also suffered many failures - and thats also a fact! Do you rreally like to overhaul an engine in the "Old fashioned" way and starting again, and again every 2 or 3 years, spending a reasonable amound of cash?

If you solve this problem -and Alfieri confirmed many times in discussions etc. this "molto problemi"- then you realise how good this Maserati engines are!

Ciao!
Walter

 

Never heard of a Bora or other moderner v8 Maserati's having issues, but then I'm no expert. Maybe Maserati learnt something before making those. I just can't believe the "cannot balance a v8" comment. Many engines have designed in issues, like the Merak timing chain solution but the comment that they cannot design a v8 engine seems a bit harsh. Like saying Ferrari cannot design a v12 just because their first road engines had inside plugs and caused a few fires .

The lack of failures with the 250F/300S engines proved what I'm trying to say, that over the years and many different designers eventually these Italian companies learnt all the tricks ... thus the earlier A6G-2000 engines had issues that were eventually resolved with the newer engines. Same surely would have happened with the v8s?

No of course not, but it's still a wee bit of a shame. I particularly find the increase in power, not just in these engines but just about any classic raced car some what point less and hiding the true story.

Anyway, these little 6 cylinder Masers are simply stunning.
Pete

 

Pete,
the V( was a complete new Universe for Maserati in the 50ies!
You complaining the increase of hp`s after those engine got an overhaul. But this you can`t avoid. When doing an overhaul with todays standarts you have much less tollerances in the measurements etc.! This alone, better sealings, better material (pistons!) gives finally more power!

If you cannot understand the problematic with balancing the V8-GT-engine - look at one of those old cranks! ...you`ll understand immediatly why Maserati started their rev-restriction at 5,500 rpm here! They knew why.....!

Ciao!
Walter

 

Yes but what I am saying is surely by the time they got to the say Bora they had it sorted.

Remember the Bora was never designed to be a supercar but like all Maseratis of the period a refined GT. Also back in the 50's and even the 70's 5500 rpm was a high rev limit. It's only since the 90's that v8 production engines have gone higher ... but even then I'm not sure of any that actually do, other than the little Ferrari and Lamborghini v8's.

Yes understand, but it is still distorting history. Take the Jag straight 6, now producing way more power than it ever did due to the fitment of a harmonic balancer, thus the racing E-Types are now too competitive. This searching for power is wrong in classic racing. Searching for reliability ... fair enough.

My father used to own a Jensen Intercepter with the Chrysler v8 in it ... pretty sure it's rev limit was around the same, thus are we saying the Chrysler also cannot make a v8 engine. Cross plane production v8 engines don't rev, but heck I'm sure Maserati back in the 50's made mistakes. They were one of the few making production v8 overhead cam engines ... the Americans were still making side-valve v8's (I think).

Take the Alfa Romeo Nord engine, we all now know that the included valve angle is too wide and that is why they cannot make much more than 200 hp. The too longer stroke does not help also and thus if you rev these engines hard it requires super expensive components to make them hold together at 8000 rpm ... but that shouldn't mean we all go around saying that Alfa Romeo cannot or could not make 4 cylinder engines. Times change and we learn things as the technology develops. What we should commit Alfa Romeo to the sin bin for is sticking to that design for too long, where was the short stroke 4 valve engine for the late 70's period?.

My point is I find the blanket comment that "Maserati cannot make v8 engines" a bit abusive and distorting the truth.
Pete

 

The '50s design of the 450s V8 which was ultimately used in the 5000gt as well was a great engine design for the time, with the exception being the crankshaft. The crank was an unbalanced nightmare so I have been told. The Maserati V8s employed larger main oil galleys and the heads had good flow, but the limiting factor in the day was the crank and the fact that it was not a flat-plane style V8 which naturally revs higher. Had the crank been of correct design in the day, I am sure Maserati would have employed greater duration camshafts and taken advantage of their more balanced engines in general to create more power in higher rev range.

They got something right with the V8 in the tipo 151/3 at Lemans in '64 though. That car went from dead last to third before it retired and was again a subject of the Maserati Lemans curse. Bella Machina for sure though.

 

Getting back to the A6 1500, isn't the only cabriolet s/n #057 rather than #052 ?

Is there any rule for correlating PF body numbers with chassis numbers ?

Thanks for the great photos, Niklas, Walter and Boudewijn. I'm hoping to see more.
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Yes that steering wheel looks Exactly the same and as you say..

i THINK THEY WERE TAKEN IN mODENA BUT i WILL CALL sTAFFAN WHO TOOK THE PIC TOMORROW.. Argghh........... caps lock sorry