Maserati's Melted Down

Has anyone verified this story which has appeared in a few threads here?? I have searched the web and have not found any additional info:

MASERATIS MELTED DOWN: A SHATTERING EXAMPLE OF ITALIAN JUSTICE

By order of an Italian Court, two reconstructed Maserati sports-racing cars from the 1950s - an A6GCS and a 350S – have been delivered by the Police to a local scrapyard to be crushed into cubes for recycling.

No, this is not a joke.

It happened on March 22nd 2006 in obedience to a Court order made in Ferrara, Italy. Furthermore, in full execution of that order, the two cubes were then melted in a foundry furnace; just to be on the safe side and because, as we all know, fire is the safest way to deal with sin.

This story began six years ago with a police operation which was carried out simultaneously in 17 different locations, including restorers, body shops, and private garages and houses. The whole operation was launched after months of intelligence investigation, ’phone tapping, etc. (more or less the sort of effort which might have been better justified if cracking down on the Medellin Cartel).

Let me just add that – at least in this case – there was no fraud or malicious representation involved and that this Operation was not provoked by any automobile manufacturer.

In fact, it seems that Maserati – one of the 17 locations raided that morning – was particularly excited by the Police’s unexpected visit to inspect the activities of the Registro Maserati, located in Via Ciro Menotti 322, Modena.

It would be interesting to discuss this judicial initiative of six years ago and its possible consequences, but right now we can only add that no significant penal consequence has been produced (or probably will ever result) from these investigations. On the other hand, nobody will even know what the final cost will be for the Italian taxpayer, or whether any other criminal-policy priorities might have been better tackled with that kind of effort.

What is abundantly relevant is that the Italian Judges tend now to interpret the existing legal provisions for Brand Protection in the sense that a copy of a classic automobile could potentially be an infringement of that Code.

Therefore, while the replica business is booming world-wide, this activity – and I mean bona fide activity – can be persecuted in Italy even to the extent of confiscation – and destruction! - of the reproduced car.

This kind of reasoning leads to regarding such replicas in exactly the same manner as the law regards the thousand of Louis Vuitton fake purses sold daily by hordes of immigrants on all the squares and the beaches of the western world.

Returning to the events of March 22nd, I must add that a lack of formal communication of the order of the Court left it impossible for the cars’ owner to present any legal defence which might have prevent their destruction.

This is an unfortunate circumstance (leaving the door open for further litigation for damages against the Judicial Administration), but here I will concentrate upon the general issue.

Personally, I know no detail concerning the A6GCS involved in this case, but I do know of the 350S which had been reconstructed by Maurizio Grazzi of Ferrara.

I have no evidence to support his claim of originality for his chassis – apparently found in Modena – but I know that the aluminium body of that car had been correctly made by a well-known body specialist, Elis Garuti, of Rubiera. Of greater concern, Mr. Grazzi had patiently collected ORIGINAL major and minor components for this car with fastidious perseverance.

The ORIGINAL engine came from the Orsi firm (former owners of the Maserati company), the transaxle from the Parravano/Sorrell parts collection via David Cottingham in the UK. Suspensions, brakes, wheels, tanks, steering and several other components employed in the car’s re-assembly were all original.

We may still accept that an ensemble of original factory-made, in-period components does not create an original car.

Of course this I accept, but in any case the seizure would have been probably sufficient to enact the law.

While awaiting further investigation and verification, confiscation of the car would have been more than sufficient, perhaps making an order to entrust the car to a Museum, a University or to any other Public Institution as a “didactic copy”.

In fact, only three original Maserati 350S dry-sump sports-racing car engines were made by the Factory in period.

If I recall correctly, one was broken on the test bench while being run by Ermanno Cozza – now in charge of the Maserati archives (and he still shows the pain of this memory whenever he recalls that episode).

One of the other two original 350S engines is in the USA, installed in chassis number 3502 … and the third was in Grazzi’s now destroyed car.

Nice shot! One of the only two surviving genuine Maserati-made engines of this historic type has been obliterated by the machinations of the Italian legal system - the only one which had survived at all this side of the Ocean.

Using laws more apt to deal with tons of fake Chinese watches, the Judges have ensured there might be no further possibility of seeing a rare set of mechanical parts of high technical and historical significance.

Well done!

Let me add that the man in charge of the crushing machine not only refused to operate it but in fact left his workplace, leaving one of his young assistants to do the job. I guess he might be still asking if some common sense is left anywhere in ‘modern Italy’.

While this happens in Italy, at International level a car with supposed identity 3503 is offered for sale as the real thing, having presumably a Maserati 3500GT shortened chassis, in left-hand-drive form, and only vaguely resembling the original car.

I do not intend to add any further comment.

I can only be troubled by the opinion of Italian justice that enthusiasts, historians and car collectors world-wide might now form. I am afraid not a good one. And let me add that it is with a strong sense of bitterness that I am broadcasting this sad and foolish story.

Franco Lombardi

 

Can you give me a link to the 'Altas Forum'?? Has anyone read an actual news article on the story and not just something that was posted to a web forum.

 

I am curious if anyone has every found anymore to this story. Has anyone ever read anthong about this event in print??

I have read Doug Nye's thread on Autosport.com. In that thread there is not other information other that Mr. Lombarti's letter to Doug Nye. While I put utter faith in what Doug Nye thinks I find it odd that there is no other information either in print or on the web about this incident.