...a real classic Maserati!

they went wrong somewhere with the restoration.. This is the panoramica when new.. light green metallic I think.. ...So much nicer than today..
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It was the Detroit manufacturers who had figured out how to place the counterweights on a V8 dual plane crankshaft several decades before Maserati tried in the 1950s. Maserati should have bought American junkyard engines to reverse engineer since they could never figure it out. So you think the Ford 427 FE engine in the GT40 that kicked Enzo's azz up and down LeMans was limited to 5500 RPM? Gimme a break. It's the same engine that was available in Cobras, and optional in Galaxies, Cougars, etc. Ford also made a SOHC version of the engine that made 616 HP @ 7k RPM back in the mid sixties. http://www.supermotors.net/articles/lfm-issue01-a2-1.php

It's called a crankshaft torsional damper. It is something that was left off of smaller Italian manufacturers into the 1950s because they didn't know any better. American companies knew about these from the 1920s and American companies like Duesenberg used elaborate mercury filled dampers back in the 1930s.

Side valve, overhead valve, it's all the same isn't it?

No one said this. The truth is Maserati couldn't figure out where to put the counterweights on a dual plane V8 crankshaft.

 

Pretty sure I mentioned the word production in there somewhere .

And obviously English manufacturers.

Very funny, but atleast in the 40's and I thought 50's most American engines were side valve. Were in the books I've read. Pity because they lead just about everywhere else and was the American automobiles finest period.

Then the Italian automotive industry is (were?) just plain bloody stupid. This is proved with Lancia's work when they created the v6 engine ... didn't know how to use a calculator and thus made 3 or 4 different included v angle running prototype engines before settling on the production one. Crazy!!

Pete

 

GMs first modern OHV V8 are the Cadillac and Olds from 1949. Buick in 53', Chevy and Pontiac in 55'. Chrysler in 51' and Ford in 54'.

BTW, Ford 427 FE engines were production engines. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_FE_engine

 

Would be great if a moderator could split this thread into separate topics before it becomes complete chaos. Thx.

 

No need, I'm done .

Pete

 

No criticism intended, all of the discussions are interesting and the engine discussion follows quite logically from the way Walter began the thread. But it's ironic that in a forum that once had a sticky about whether to have separate vintage and contemporary forums, much of the vintage discussion has become intermixed into a single thread. I think there is enough content that it deserves three: A6G 2000 (Walter's original); A6 1500; engine discussion.

 

Thanks Walter. Oddly enough, another photo of the interior of the sole convertible was used as the model for the owner's manual. Unfortunately the configuration is a bit different from the coupes. These were clearly days when one should drive with emotion rather than logic.

Regarding my information, I merely stand upon the shoulders of giants. In the registry I am consulting, #057 is shown as the only cabriolet. The chassis was dispatched to Pinin Farina on 23 February 1948 and returned to Maserati on 15 September 1948. Finished in Amaranto, it went through Guglielmo Dei in Roma to CADAC, which was actually in Barcelona. Before going to Spain, the car was one of two shown in September 1948 in the Maserati display at the Salone Torino.

After that, things get confusing. It is possible that #057 was renumbered as #075 as early as 1949, after receiving engine #075. It is not beyond possibility that #057 might have experienced engine failure or an accident, and been returned to be rebodied as a coupe. Chassis #075 (perhaps formerly #057?) was dispatched to Pinin Farina on 24 February 1949 and returned to Maserati on 10 April 1949. It then went through Rome and a US Army major stationed in Paris in the late 1950s. Perhaps he brought it home, for Bill to eventually buy the fragments off eBay? There is also a notation that engine #075 was fitted in the 1990s to a 1954 Bandini, although it was possibly restamped as #075.

My understanding is that the PF body numbers are consistent within each car, but are different from the chassis numbers. So if one has a fragment with its PF number, there is no way to tell from which chassis it came.
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Walter, I envision you like this.
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I've always wanted to own a Bora, thus I believe they came in 4.7 or 4.9 versions ... thus the 4.7 it will be (when I win Lotto).

Pete

 

Just found this A6G 1500 in Italy... New?
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Not yet,,, but I just found something amazing.... missing as far as I know. OSCA MT4 Berlinetta Vignale chassis 1108.... It seems missing in all the books..
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Walter, congratulations ! You are certainly correct. Here are photos of #059 right after it was restored in Italy. The modern signal lights below the bumper corners are the telltale. (Edit: compare with photos at posts #235 and 236)

This is arguably the most authentic of all restorations, although it still has some problems. The most interesting thing about this car is that it is one of just two 'lungo' coupes. Note the extra length in the distance between the door and rear wheel, and the different proportions of the back. Much less attractive to my eyes.
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New to me also. Any more info ?

PS: The OSCA is exceptionally interesting, more photos and info please!

 

Hofer's list published in Viale Ciro Menotti lists three long wheelbase ("L", lungo) cars - the cabriolet #057 (as noted by Bill in post 260 above), this coupe #059 and another coupe #075.

Not unattractive, but the long versions really lose the tightly-drawn 'berlinetta' look that I find so appealing.