Maserati A6 1500 GT Berlinetta 1948 - World Of Classic Cars -

Maserati A6 1500 GT Berlinetta 1948

There were seven Maserati Brothers. In 1937 when Officine Alfieri Maserati was sold to the Italian industrialist Commendatore Adolfi Orsi, just three of the fratelli Maserati were still alive.
Orsiand his son Omer became the heads of the company but Ernesto, Bindo, and Ettore Maserati were contractually bound to Maserati for ten years, kept on in the capacity of chief engineers. The company was moved from Bologna to Modena and in 1948, at the end of their agreement with Orsi, the Maserati brothers moved back to their home town and formed OSCA.

Maserati A6 1500 GT Berlinetta 1948

Before they left Maserati, the brothers had designed and produced a straight-six engine, the A6 1500 TR (Testa Riportata). The ‘A’ stood for the founder of Maserati, Alfieri, the ‘6’ for the number of cylinders and the ‘1500’ for the engine’s capacity. It was based on the Maserati 6CM and was designed for competition use. It had a capacity of 1,500 cc and produced 65 hp; it would be developed over the years and became extremely successful.
The engine first appeared in the A6 Sport or Tipo 6CS/46, a barchetta prototype, developed by Ernesto Maserati and Alberto Massimino. Two were produced early in 1947 and finished first and second at Piacenza, with Guido Barbieri winning and Mario Angiolini coming second. In motor racing A6 derivatives were incredibly successful. The A6 GCS was raced by Luigi Villoresi and Alberto Ascari and the 1948 Italian Grand Prix was won by Giovanni Bracco in one of these cars. Juan Manuel Fangio won the Italian Grand Prix in an A6 GCM and the A6 GCS/53 won the Italian Grand Prix in 1953 and 1954 with Sergio Mantovani and Luigi Musso.

Maserati A6 1500 GT Berlinetta 1948

Although Maserati had always been a builder of racing cars, after the departure of the Maserati brothers Adolfo Orsi realized that the company should go into road car production and decided to build a sports road car, aimed at an exclusive clientele. This was Maserati’s first production model.
The road-going A6 was first shown by Pininfarina at the Geneva Salon in 1947. Coachwork was mostly by Pininfarina, who made subtle changes and improvements with each successive body evolving into the fast-back berlinetta. Made in lightweight aluminium, these cars were light and nimble, weighing just 950 kg (2,090 lbs). Carrozzeria Zagato re-bodied at least one example, and Pininfarina made two convertible versions, one of which they showed at the Turin Motor Show in 1948.

Maserati A6 1500 GT Berlinetta 1948

61 of these cars were produced by Maserati, the last of which was completed at the end of 1950. The first A6 1500– the Geneva show car – featured pop-up headlights and a Plexiglas sunroof. The dashboard consisted of Jaeger instruments; later models would have the optional clock. They were all shod with 16in. Borrani wheels with alloy rims.
The Maserati A6 1500 GT presented here, chassis number 056, was completed on 18 October 1948 and sold new to Francesca Ajella, for whom it was registered in Italy with the number MI122024. Almost all of the Maserati A61500s were fitted with a single Weber 36 DCR carburettor. Of the 61 cars built, very few had the optional triple Weber carburettor configuration. Chassis 056 is one of these rarest of rare cars, with the uprated engine specification giving approximately a 20 per cent power increase.

Maserati A6 1500 GT Berlinetta 1948

This car was purchased by the vendor in 1990 from Luigi Mennella from Carmel, California. The car is finished in dark red with a tan interior, which was re-trimmed by the noted Italian upholsterer Lupi in 1993 when the car was restored.
It is unknown how many Maserati A6 1500 GTs survive today, but they rarely come up for sale. This early example of Italian production coachbuilding combines the finesse and detail of one of the top carrozzerie with the exemplary racing based engineering and winning heritage of a motoring thoroughbred.