Description
By: Martin Buckley .
Description
In the world of Italian glamour, the name Maserati goes back much further than either of its rivals from the land of the supercar, Ferrari and Lamborghini, yet it is a marque that has inspired relatively few in-depth histories and much of the detail of Maserati's road car history has an air of mystery surrounding it.
The first Maserati racing cars were seen in 1922 but it was only after the Orsi takeover in the 1930s that the company started to take an interest in building road cars. Maserati Gran Turismo cars began to appear in tiny numbers in the early 1950s but they had little to do with the firm's founders, who had by then moved on to form a rival car maker, OSCA.
A preoccupation with Formula 1 and sports car racing through the 1950s enhanced the Maserati reputation but almost sank it financially. Rebirth came in the form of a new six-cylinder road car: the 3500GT formed the basis of a whole family of exotica and the golden era of the Alfieri-designed Maserati road cars was well underway. A whole variety of classic V8s would follow, including the famed Ghibli.
Maserati broke new ground with the Quattroporte — the world's first four-door supercar — and after the Citroen takeover in the late 1960s the company went in a more high-tech direction with the midengined 170mph Bora. In the de Tomaso period production of Maserati cars rocketed but quality plummeted, and the marque's reputation was at low ebb by the time Fiat took a controlling interest in the late 1990s. But now Maserati is riding high again.
A lifelong Maserati devotee, Martin Buckley describes in fascinating detail the full rollercoaster history of this wonderful marque, from its pre-war activities right through to the present day. Besides the history, this book includes buying hints, driving impressions and technical information, as well as profiles on some of the key characters involved.
