Walter, Parmieri is registered as an entrant at the 1954 Mille Miglia, but he never showed up in Brescia. A DNS therfore and not a DNF. Wisely so, as he might have incurred in some real rain. You see, the 1953 edition was raced under heavy rain and therefore several drivers opted for a closed car for the '54 race. Not the wisest choice. Now, believe me from my long past experience in that sort of events (not the real one, of course). There is nothing worst then driving a racing berlinetta under heavy rain. Better an open car. You'll get wet, but at least you more or less know where you are going (and still a lot better then being on a motorcycle). On something like my berlinetta driving with some rain is no problem, but under torrential rain it could be a nightmare. The car will quickly become a sauna with vapour filling the interior of the car, fully tarnishing the inside of the windshield. Chris, welcome on board, It is a pleasure to chat with you, We talked on the phone several years ago, while I was handling the classic car show Autostory in Genova. Glad to hear I am sharing the same opinion of a great car designer about the Maserati berlinetta, but - quite frankly - one must be without eyes, hearth and soul to think something different! I am not particularly good with modern devices (video, etc.) but your suggestion seems intriguing. Let's keep in touch (there must be a way to correspond here with personal messages, I presume). Next spring you are quite welcome to join me for a local event or something, if you wish so. It might be good fun and you could discover that "Der Blaue Bengel" could be fairly enjoyable even on normal roads! Franco
Ciao e benvenuti Franco.. Hi there.. A problem with reklus and other argentinian are the etcetrini replicas they are making.. Especially Fiat based ones like cisitalias and stanguellinis.. i have already seen a few reklus cars in europe being sold as you original cars.. The most blatent one being an osca out now .. 1603 they claim.. Was never made.. Reklus car I beleive.. Reklus dont hide what they make , But others can eventually do .. Nik
Just a word of appreciation for a thread as engaging as its subjects are beautiful (notwithstanding my reservations about replicas carrying a Maserati badge). And even greater appreciation for Mr Lombardi's preservation of #2057, which is so well described by David Walmsley in Viale Ciro Menotti issue 83. Here is a sister car at Pocono this past June, next to my more humble Pininfarina creation. Best, Don Image Unavailable, Please Login
You hit the nail on the head. This is the problem. Some people will do just about anything to make a buck. Miss representation in this hobby can be a real nuisance, witness the Right Honorable Lord Brocket, just one of many such examples. Ciao, FGM PS Tango lessons going well and the Cuban cigars are overrated but good. enjoying the Romeo Y Julieta Short Church Hills
After beeing rerstored to its original glory (front section) the car is one of the very best! New it needs a better mechanical resto - but they are working on this now! Ciao! Walter
I came to F-Chat to read about the Miura and the Countach, and just wandered in here to have a look around and I have to say these A6GCS coupes are absolutely gorgeous! I can't get over that roofline. I'm in lust! I'll be checking this section a lot more!
Greetings from Buenos Aires, Because this A6GCS Pininfarina Berlinetta thread seems to have generated some above average interest lets move onto the 450S recreations. Between Tango Lessons and hanging out at the La Biela Cafe smoking cigars and enjoying the sidewalk scene I managed to visit Reklus a small company that specializes in producing Specials and recreations. I have attached a few photos of their 450S recreation and a couple shots of their Specials based on American cars of the 20's and 30's. So let the comments begin, no matter if you like what you see, hate it, or are indifferent. These are genuine "car guys" building cars the way the Italians did in Modena back in the 50's and 60's. It is refreshing to see. Below are 4 shots. I will post more after Tango lessons. Con Mucho Gusto Hasta La Vista Frank Mandarano Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
The shop photos in my previous post were taken at the Reklus workshop 15 to 20 minutes north of Buenos Aires. The company is owned by Pini and Miguel ( Pini's father ) Mancardo. Thats Pini on the right and Miguel on the left and Janet sitting in the Pontiac flat head inline 8 racing car. The red car on the left has a 1928 Buick OHV 8. As mentioned, Reklus specializes in building recreations and specials from scratch. They are really nice people and treated those of us on the Car Guy Tour in a first class manor including one of the best lunches in an exclusive gated community club house. They are in my opinion, are not as refined as Pur Sang but are a lot less expensive. For example a running finished 450S wil set you back a mere $125,000 where a comparable car at Pur Sang will run 3 to 4 times that much. Reklus uses a Quattroporte 4.2 or 4.9 engine. (photos coming) There are two cars in the photos under construction. One is using a 1982 Quattroporte 4.9 mated to a 5 speed transmission via a bell-housing adaptor. The other engine is very interesting and here we may need the help of some of you readers to help identify this engine. It looks like either a 5000 GT engine or a 5.7 boat engine, or simply a 4.2 liter early V8 with the twin plugs and water tubes added. It appears to have chain glide pads so that leaves the boat engine out. The small water pump is also very interesting? Any thoughts from our team of specialists? Con Mucho Gusto Hasta La Vista FGM Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Frank: Hello hope you are having a good time down there. so it seems! Reklus appear to be the ideal people to make my Nembo spyder 1 replica when I can afford more than a scale model Regarding identifying that engine there is a young lady from India at the Maserati factory who sometimes helps Ermanno look at things on the net so unless someone here can identify it if you fax him a link maybe he can identify it for you. Enjoy the Churrasco! best regards, Marc
Yes, Mark we are having a really terrific time. Did you know you can take a nice clean taxi just about anywhere in BA for under $3.00 US and from the time you step onto the street there will be several to choose from. I have attached a link showing one of the 450S race cars being built at the Reklus company workshop. I get this feeling I'm in Italy in the 50's and early 60's. Just a team of car guys making cars the old fashioned way. Another video to follow when we return to our Apartment. We are off to the Palermo Hippodrome (horse racing track) last week we won 2 pesos! on a 10 peso bet. Great place to people watch, reminds me of a old bogart movie, with all the characters . I'll take some photos today. Disclaimer Please note: Although I think this work is very interesting I have NO financial interest in this company and will not accept any involvement in any transaction or brokerage of any unauthorized Maserati reproduction car. I will be happy to direct anyone to the owners of these companies but that is where I draw the line. These videos and photos are meant to inform the reader, not to induce a sale. Hope you enjoy the Video. Ciao, FGM Argentina CGT_49 Maserati 450S Reklus Recreation Time:2:20 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kku44SgjTic Note: All Videos are approximately 1 to 2 minutes. If you like receiving my videos you can subscribe to them by visiting http://www.youtube.com/ Then enter skyking9409 in the search field. Then click on any video, then click subscribe. You can edit your subscription as you wish. You will then receive a link via email from youtube the instant my next video is posted.
Thanks for all the videos: as you say to feel as though one has come out of a time machine and landed in Modena in the 50s or 60s, loong before all the nonsense one is subjected to nowadays, to see the craftsmanship as the car is made, born and does its first roll out is priceless.... Of course as someone mentioned in an earlier post there is always the risk of al ulterior owner trying to pass it off as the real thing: I was once offered the awful Tipo 151 replica made in the US a few years ago as though it were the real thing and you can see it is completely wrong from a mile away. I have always said as long as these cars have a clear identification as replica stamped into the chassis in an accessible part of the engine bay and that those in the know are aware of what to look for then there is no reason for these cars not to exist. Oh and nice to hear there is still a land where the living is cheap! best regards, Marc
Frank, on the Reklus site they mentioned an Alfa 1900 spider as "coming soon"...did you see it? Any photos?
this car is absolutely gorgeous! I think I am in love! Its hard to call some of these cars replicas when you see all of the work that goes into them
Frank, this is the sort of "replicas" I do not like! A "450S" with a Ghibli-engine is - crap! No matter how good the craftmanship is! Also - the 300S-/450S-bodies are very very difficult to replicate. I only saw one 300S with a new body that had got its correct lines! One little inch too much or less on one side and the lines are going into the dust. Ol`Fantuzzi was a Genius! Have fun with The Tango! Ciao! Walter
Getting back to my previous note about the difficulty in racing a closed sports car under heavy rain, I found some notes confirming the point. Not Maserati matters, but a little bit of history probably does not hurt... In 1937 Baron Fritz Huschke von Hanstein was asked by Adler to join M.me Anne Cecile Rose-Itier for the 1937 24 Heures du Mans on a very stremlined Adler Trumpf Rennlimousine. The little coupé showed some potential (and actually had excellent results in the 1938 edition), but von Hanstein had to retire during his turn after 40 laps because of heavy rain. The moisture inside the car made completely impossible to see the track through the windshild. The aerodinamice shape of the car - with its distant position of the screen - made impossible for him to reach the inside of the windshield to clean it up while driving. From this point of view, life would have been much easier on something like my berlinetta, where you may easily wipe the umidity out.
the Cisitalia, Osca 1600 and Stanguellini replicas are however worrying me a bit... verry very easy to mistake for the real thing.. I think at leat one Cisi Nuvolari spider and one Osca 1600 were being sold as real cars at Essen... Both Reklus cars I believe.. N
Mr Tenconi in Milan owned the spare body for a while in the 70s I think, sold it to Dubbini? who had Giordanengo make a copy... Is this correct...? I spoke to Edoardo yesterday and he still had a few bits for it.. Nik
This is a real problem with inexperienced buyers and even some experienced buyers who really should know better. They become greedy for what they perceive as too good of a "bargain" to pass up. The Romans had a word for it "Caveat Emptor" which 2000 years later still applies. I just looked at a what appeared to be a V8 drysump engine which clearly had the original numbers removed and new numbers stamped in place. Photos to follow in the next post.
The A6GCS/53 #2057 is one of my absolute favourite cars. May I ask if there are interior pictures available of that specific car? I have never seen any. Further more, I would like to know which blue color tones are used for the two tone livery.
A photo of the interor is in the book of Rive Box/Crump "MASERATI ROAD CARS" on p. 67. I do not know the exact color-code of the two blue colors but Giordanengo matched them perfectly when he restored the original body. When the body arrived at his workshop the original color was still on the body. Ciao! Walter Image Unavailable, Please Login
Thank you very much for your quick response, Walter. It must have been a real adventure to discover the car and get it back to its original state. Had Giordanengo any factory information on the car? The car and its story deserve a book on their own... Regards
Nice seeing you here Christian! We have a lot of hopes seeing a determined young man like you carrying on your grandfather work! Yes, you were very young indeed in 1994 when my berlinetta entered Autorestauro doors. You might like to see it the day I bought it: it was 7 October 1977 and I have just left Cupellinis garage in Bergamo heading toward Modena to show the car at the factory and get some tips on its restoration. It took me a while to start it I can also confirm that the car also set for a while in Edoardo Tenconis garage before being handled by Corrado Cupellini. Somebody was also interested in seeing its original interior at the Turin Show in 1954. Here you are A rather bare, businesslike cockpit, with no frills and no particular attention for creature comfort. Luckily a seat and the door interiors were there unmessed and it was therefore not too difficult to do it right. BTW, Walter, you might like to know what Giordanengo found when he was matching the original paint: You would not believe this Franco: Orientblau (darker) and Chromeblau (pale), just a standard VW bus period colour combination! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login