Extremely well known car, one of the two stars of the Baillon collection, surely you recall this and read the Octane magazine cover article a few years ago (not by me). Here is the 2015 Artcurial auction text with all the info, English text is below the French one. https://www.artcurial.com/en/lot-maserati-a6g-2000-gran-sport-berlinetta-frua-1956-2651-58 It was thereafter restored mechanically but left as is cosmetically.
Well, ptina yes and no as the light blue roof was not made by Maserati/Frua. Further more, this car was originally a II Series A6G-2000 coupe...but its III Series radiator grill design came on it by its first private owner. Originally the car was painted all black. Also the rear end saw some small later modification. Directly upon his purchase in Paris, current owner J.S. from San Diego asked me about my opinion what to do with it. I told him that I would completely restore it to its correct II Series specification. He decided otherwise...
Yes I remember the story about that collection. A few years back when the cars with "great patina and originality" were all the rage Walter commented about there being a very fine line between a car that qualified as being such an example and one that was a mess. IMHO this one is way over that line. This is just silly and worthy of that infamous line "Look the emperor has no clothes". How does one wash it WO losing all kinds of paint. Just nuts. It needs a full restoration.
I call it the Lisbon taxi because when we lived in Portugal 68-75 when I was a kid all Lisbon taxis were black with a light green roof;-) The Agnelli 375MM Berlinetta was also left with such a cracked partial paintjob after its initial mechanical restoration but has since gotten a proper paintjob, same for the Baillon ex Alain Delon cal spyder sold in that 2015 auction. Curious to see what the A6 brings.
...and its worth to mention, that even the ex-Alain Delon Ferrari 250 SWB Cal.-Spider was NOT in its original paint when sold by Artcurial in the famed Baillon-auction.
Now this is Patina! Any updates on its current status and what shop is doing the restoration? Image Unavailable, Please Login
Wow that's one fugly Maserati irrespective of condition. I can well understand why someone would keep that hidden for decades in a barn or even a cave!
Thank you. To clarify, If you are referring to the long lost Ghia 5000gt what can you tell us about its restoration status?
There is a big difference between Patina & Neglect. The way some people bid in auctions it does make you wonder if they know the difference.
Everything can be restored! Even if we consider a 7-figure resto, the car was a steal in the auction. A one-off 5000GT that has this kind of "mystery" being totally off the radar for decades, would clearly be worth to get it restored under these financial aspects...
Yes even though this one is more of a resuscitation but I am sure they are preserving everything reasonably preservable...cant wait to see the end result
Controversial $2M Maserati Barn Find Restoration Has Infuriated Collectors. Here’s Why (thedrive.com)
thanks for posting this. Was wondering about this one. The decay under the body speaks for itself. It was time
When I found A6G #2165 it was in similar condition to this car. I secretly hoped whoever bought it would keep it ‘patina’s, like this car here, but it wasn’t my money :/
#I know the owner of #2140 well. He already went with his car to Pebble in the preservation class. Then: the car was significantly modified on front and rear in the late 1950s by its 2nd owner. The black and green-ish blue on the car is not original. The owner asked me about 3 years ago what to do with the car. I advised him to bring it back to the Paris-Show-1955 condition. Now he started the process. Can`t wait to see it finished.
Very interesting case. Issue is that "Segal said the Maserati’s condition deteriorated: “The paint wasn't even staying on the car anymore, the aluminum was really starting to oxidize and having electrolysis.” It was degrading to the point where it could have become undrivable, he said. " At this point should Segal have preserved/stored the car as an piece of art in his museum, never to be driven again, or restored according to Frua original design (possibly including Frua later modifications) using best skilled craftsmanship? Any intermediate step (up to which point?) trying to make the car driveable again and keeping patina would have been controversial anyway. On this I agree with Walter advice and Segal's approach.
The interesting thing is, that nobody knows WHO made the conversion from Series I specs to Series II in the very late 50s. I personally believe, that this had been done by Frua because the lines of the conversion are perfectly done. However, it was not the original specification and so it would be great to bring it back to the specification it was shown in Paris 1955 when new!
