MASERATI (Italy) 1926 to date
The Maserati brothers (Alfieri, Bindo, Carlo, Ettore, Ernesto and
Mario) were associated with motor cars from the very early days;
Alfieri, Ernesto and Bindo built two 2-litre Grand Prix cars for
Diatto in 1925, then took them over and linered them down to 1.5
litres when Diatto withdrew from racing a year later.
The new car, driven by Alfieri, won the 1926 Targa Florio, its first
race. Maserati made their name with racing cars with four, six and
eight (even 16) cylinders of 1088cc to 4995cc, though road-going
cars with detuned racing engines did appear during the 1930s. Even
one of the fearsome "sedici cilindri" (two straight-eights mounted
in parallel, with the crankshafts geared together) was converted
into a road car.
In 1937, Omer Orsi took over control, though the Maserati brothers
stayed on until 1947, when they left to found OSCA. Racing cars
were again the mainstay of the company after the war, most famous
being the 250F, designed by Giaocchino Colombo in 1953, and raced
until 1958 in various forms, by drivers including Moss, Hawthorn
and Fangio.
Then Maserati decided to withdraw from competition, and concentrated
on a range of expensive sports cars, with the six-cylinder 3485cc
300S engine (3500 GT), and V8 5 liters(5000GT),4 liters (Ghibli,
Indy). However, the 1994cc and 2890cc "Birdcage" Maseratis enjoyed
some competition success in the early 1960s in private hands.
In 1969, Citroën took over control of Maserati for approximately
1000 million lire; the Modena factory then built about two-and-a-half
cars. a day as well as some 30 engines for the Citroën Maserati
SM grand touring model.
In 1975, Maserati announced that it was going out of business, but
was rescued at the eleventh hour by the De Tomaso group, and offers
the mid-engined V6 Merak, of 2965cc, and the smaller Merak 2000;
a mid-engined 4719cc V8 Bora; the 4930cc Khamsin V8; and the dohc
4136cc V8 Quattroporte.
Now, Maserati owned by Fiat, is under the control of... Ferrari
1971 Maserati 4.7 Indy America
1977 Maserati Khamsin
1983 Maserati Biturbo
©VEA
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