Story By Michael T. Lynch
When the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance decides to have a Special Class, they leave no stone unturned, and the result is always spectacular. This year featured a marque dear to VeloceToday readers’ hearts, OSCA, the Maserati Brothers jewel-like masterpieces that dominated smaller displacement classes on both sides of the Atlantic in the immediate post-WWII period. Pebble’s foraging led to entries from Canada, Germany, Israel and Japan, as well as examples resident in the U.S.
The official OSCA festivities began when 15 of the Italian speedsters took part in the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance on Thursday, with a 100% finishing rate. That was followed with a Pebble Beach Classic Car Forum on Friday.

Panel members, left to right: Bob Devlin, Michael Lynch, Tim Considine, Alfieri Maserati, Adolfo Orsi, Jr. Photo by Willie Considine.
Tim Considine moderated a panel consisting of Alfieri Maserati, Adolfo Orsi, Jr., Bob Devlin, and your faithful scribe. Both Considine and I are former OSCA owners. Orsi and Maserati told of their families’ involvement with both Maserati and OSCA; I concentrated on OSCA’s U.S. debut and victories in the East and Midwest, and Devlin, whose book, Pebble Beach, A Matter of Style, is the definitive book on the concours and the road races held from 1950-56, concentrated on OSCAs in California, and especially at Pebble Beach.
Here are the OSCAs that appeared at Pebble Beach this year, with some interesting histories. Links are provided for previous VeloceToday articles that addressed the particular car or subject.

S/N 1101
Leave it to Pebble Beach to dig out the first OSCA made. This is Lawrence Auriana’s MT4 1100. It made its debut on 15 August 1948 at Pescara with Franco Cornacchia driving. The first victory came soon after with Luigi Villoresi crossing the line first a month later at Naples. The legend of OSCA racers was underway. The Italian press nicknamed the car a Siluro (Torpedo) and the fenders were removable, so the car could run as a sports car or an open-wheel race car. It would continue to race through 1961. Courtesy Michael T. Lynch

S/N 1103
Ah, Pebble Beach. As long as you have the first OSCA built, why not have the second. This MT4 Siluro fits that description. Originally sold to one of Maserati’s financiers, Paolo Cordero di Montezemolo, it was repurchased and used as a team car. It was with a Swiss collector for fifty years before going to Japan. Present owners, Elad and Ronit Shagra have restored it to the condition in which it left the factory and the judges awarded it first in Class N-1 OSCA pre-1955. Courtesy Michael T. Lynch

S/N 1133 A Frua MT4, this was the first car fitted with a 1450 engine and went to Chicagoan, Jim Simpson, who was a Board Member and large shareholder in retailer Marshall Field. He was quite successful with the car, winning often in SCCA competition, including the season closer at March Field in California in 1954. The car would be sold on to Jim Kimberly, who would continue to be competitive. Simpson also had a special streamliner built by OSCA in which he set 18 records at the Bonneville Salt Flats, ranging from ten kilometers to twelve hours. Ann and Stephen Cortinovis were the entrants. Courtesy Michael T. Lynch
https://velocetoday.com/the-osca-berlinettas/

S/N 1114
This lovely dual tone OSCA MT4 is perhaps the winningest OSCA in history; beginning in 1951, it won 22 races with factory driver Giulio Cabianca behind the wheel. It is another example of an 1100 cc car that got a larger 1350 cc engine. The car then came to America where Pennsylvanians Al Garthwaite and Otto Linton continued to win almost until its final competitive appearance in 1956. The bodywork is striking with the brightwork spear spanning both the front and rear wheels. The driving lamps, which were installed for an intended Le Mans entry, are nicely integrated into the grill, although the car did not run there. Vienna-born engineer Otto Linton lived to be 100 and remembered his OSCA fondly until the end. T. G. Mittler is the owner. Courtesy Michael T. Lynch
https://velocetoday.com/the-winningest-osca/

S/N 1121
This MT4 was a prototype of a full-bodied OSCA designed by Ernesto Maserati with headlamps in the fenders. The bodywork is by Frua. The rear treatment differs from later cars, but the front profile established the OSCA look. Italian expatriate shop owner Alfred Momo ordered it for Bill Spear who won his class at Watkins Glen and Elkhart Lake. It was sold first to Bill David and then went on to Chick Leson who won his class at Pebble Beach in 1954, OSCA’s biggest victory there. It was campaigned heavily, posting seven wins and six second places. Canadian Dario Calandra had the car restored to its period appearance and performance and was rewarded with a third place in the N-1 class. Courtesy Michael T. Lynch

S/N 2004
In 1953, OSCA built two open wheel Formula 2 cars which used a new 6-cylinder, two-liter engine. They also put the 6C engine in five sports cars. This Frua-bodied car is the second example. Luigi Piotti bought it and raced in Italy including the Tour of Sicily and the Mille Miglia. It carries his number from the Tour. It then passed through the hands of well-known American entrants including John Mecom, Roy Cherryhomes, and Jim Hall. In the 1970s, collector John Robson acquired a period experimental 2.5 liter 6C engine which remains with the car today. German Michael Trösser was the entrant and went home with a second in Class N-1. The green ribbon is the residual of having participated in the Tour d’Elegance.Courtesy Michael T. Lynch

S/N 1135
This car was ordered by Bill David from Edgar Fronteras, who placed several OSCAs with American drivers. David was a theatrical impresario who brought New York stage shows to San Francisco. It was the second car to be fitted with the 1450 cc engine and David made the most of it. In 1953 and 54, he won at venues like Reno, Santa Clara, Golden Gate Park, and Seattle. He would go on to race another OSCA. Note the nicely faired taillights and the trim around the cockpit surround. Hidetomo Kimura came from Japan to exhibit the car. Courtesy Michael T. Lynch

S/N 1152
Manfred Lippmann was a leading coffee grower in Guatemala and was car crazy from his early teens. He indulged his passion mostly through Porsches, but entered this OSCA in the 1954 Carrera Panamericana, where he failed to finish. At a time when advertising was not often seen in sports car racing, the Mexicans took a different view. Lippmann later had a Mercedes agency but sold it to concentrate on his coffee business. He traded the OSCA for a Ferrari from Luigi Chinetti and Chinetti in turn had his protégés, the Rodriguez brothers, in the car for a short time. Lippmann later bought it back and owned it for fifty years before selling it to Katharina and Michael Leventhal, who use the car on rallies and tours. Courtesy Michael T. Lynch

S/N 1183
Jerry Rosenstock’s 1500 S Morelli Spyder takes in the scenery at Pebble Beach. This car originally went to Argentine Alejandro de Tomaso, who would later own Maserati. He and his American wife, Isabell Haskell, campaigned it in Sports Car World Championship events in Europe and South America from 1957. It is one of three with this streamliner body style. It came to America where it was raced until 1960. Rosenstock bought the car in 1987 and has vintage raced it and taken part in two Mille Miglia Retrospettiva. Courtesy Michael T. Lynch

S/N 1132
This MT4 was ordered by Rees Makins through Edgar Fronteras in Chicago. It appeared at Le Mans in 1953 with a 1350 cc engine where it was driven by Phil Hill and SCCA President, Fred Wacker. It would be Hill’s first Le Mans drive and he would go on to win the French classic three times. Before going to the States, it had an 1100 cc motor put in. Driving with Frank Bott, Makins began the 1954 season with a 1100cc Class victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring. The OSCA gang was riding high and the Jim Simpson/George Colby and Otto Linton/Harry Beck MT4s were 1-2 in the 1500 cc Class in the same race. Makins’ success continued throughout the year and he won the 1954 SCCA National Championship in the G Modified Class. Hideaki Suzuki has owned the car since 2003 and he recently had the car restored to the livery of Le Mans in 1953. Hugues Vanhoolandt photo.
https://velocetoday.com/frank-bott-osca-driver/

S/N 1137
The most famous OSCA of them all is this MT4 1500 with the distinctive cutaway fenders, seen here being driven on the show field. It was entered by Briggs Cunningham at Sebring in 1954. The drivers were Stirling Moss and Cunningham’s wife’s cousin, Bill Lloyd. It was up against larger-engine competitors including Jaguars, Aston Martins, Ferraris, and the factory Lancia team, but they all fell by the wayside as the 12 Hours ground on. Fewer than half the field finished, but the OSCA not only finished but won. It remains the smallest displacement car to win Sebring, 65 years later. It resides at the Collier Collection at the Revs Institute and is a two-owner car. Courtesy Michael T. Lynch

S/N 1178
Mitch Eitel’s MT4 TN Morelli Spyder was sold to ex-SCCA President and National Championship driver, Jim Kimberly. The improved TN was again able to occasionally challenge the Porsches and Kimberly and Carroll Shelby co-drove the car to win a four-hour SCCA National race at Elkhart Lake in 1956. The car was still competitive in 1958 and Hal Stetson, Harry Beck, and Otto Linton won the 1500 cc Class at Sebring that year. It was a good day for OSCA, with Alejandro De Tomaso and his wife, Isabelle Haskell winning the 750 cc Class in their S750. Eitel continues to use the car on road and track and won third place in Class N-2. Photo credit Mitchell Eitel
https://velocetoday.com/carroll-shelby-and-the-osca/

S/N 1153
Roger Hoffman’s Vignale Coupe is the only MT4 done by that coachbuilder. It was entered in the Postwar Preservation Class L-2 where it took third place. It first appeared at the 1953 Turin Auto Show. The car is an amazing time trip with its original interior and Nardi steering wheel. The fitted luggage that came with the car is still there, as are the original tool kit and jack. Hoffman bought the car, then sold it and bought it back from OSCA collector Elad Shraga. The car is seen at the edge of the Pacific on the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance. Hugues Vanhoolandt photo.
https://velocetoday.com/the-best-gt-osca-ever-made/

S/N 767
After the Porsche 550s became dominant in the under 1500cc Class, OSCA continued to win in the SCCA H Modified Class which restricted engine size to 750cc. This Tipo S was another Briggs Cunningham OSCA. It was originally intended to have an 1100 cc motor but was delivered as a 750. The Cunningham team raced it in 1959-60 and it was then sold to a party in the Midwest, where an 850cc engine was installed. Owner Tom Shaughnessy returned it to its Cunningham colors during the restoration. Courtesy Michael T. Lynch https://velocetoday.com/when-osca-met-porsche/

S/N 769
John Gordon purchased this 750S new and got off to a good start by winning his class at Sebring in 1960 with John Bentley. The car continued to place well in SCCA racing in the East and Midwest. Gordon never won a National Championship but Jim Eichenlaub and Ollie Schmidt did, also driving OSCA 750Ss in 1959 and 60. Then Schmidt took his OSCA motor and put it in a Lola chassis and repeated as Champion in 1961. Later owners of the Gordon car were OSCA collector Peter Wessel and Oliver Collins. The latter entered the car often in vintage races. Collector Bill Pope purchased the car in 2014 and was this year’s Pebble Beach entrant, where he won second place in Class N-2. Courtesy Michael T. Lynch
https://velocetoday.com/jack-john-and-the-750-osca-at-sebring-1960/

S/N 1122
This was the first OSCA to race in California. It was imported by screenwriter Randy MacDougall, whose credits included Mildred Pierce with Joan Crawford, and Cleopatra with Elizabeth Taylor. It made its debut at Stockton in August 1952, where it retired. MacDougall enjoyed success in the 1100cc Class, including winning at Pebble Beach in 1953, before selling to another writer, Al Coppel, who was a prolific novelist who worked in various segments of the industry, including pulp, thrillers, and science fiction. Coppel continued the car’s success in the 1100 cc class, and then put in a 1350 cc engine for the 1955 season, moving him up a class, which he also won. A bit of trivia is that this was one of three OSCAs with the headlamps placed behind the grille. Israelis Elad and Ronit Shraga took home the first place trophy in the pre-1955 OSCA class N-1. Courtesy Michael T. Lynch

S/N 1168 This Morelli-bodied MT4 is a more streamlined version of the previous MT4 designs. It was especially built for an American customer in late 1955. This is the car that was raced by Moderator Tim Considine. At this year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, owners Kingsley and Jack Croul were awarded first place in Class N-2 for OSCAs 1955-1960. Courtesy Michael T. Lynch

We close with a remembrance of the humor and fellowship at the time when OSCAs raced. This logo on the Croul MT4 is a parody of the badge of the most successful big-bore sports car of the day, Lance Reventlow’s Scarab. On the door of his car was a similar insignia and the words Scarab Mk1. The OSCA was labeled the ‘Sparerib Mk1.’ The decal to the left advertises Ernie McAfee’s shop on Cahuenga Pass in Hollywood. Ernie bought, sold, and maintained many of the Italian exotics in the Los Angeles basin. He was killed in a racing accident at Pebble Beach in 1956. The incident brought the street races at Pebble to an end and engendered the building of Laguna Seca Raceway. We commend the Crouls for contributing this detail to the memories of the era. Courtesy Michael T. Lynch
https://velocetoday.com/ferraris-at-the-pebble-beach-road-races-with-michael-t-lynch/
Thanks go to Lynch, a master of concise, fact-packed auto provenances.
A good and as usual, comprehensive piece on the remarkable featuring of OSCA at Pebble Beach, a gem of a marque that was supreme in the lower-displacement classes for decades. A couple of notes: The photograph of the Forum participants was taken with my camera by my wife, Willie Considine. Credit where credit is due!
And re S/N 1168, ‘our’ car. It was bought new off the showroom floor at McAfee Engineering in 1957 by your humble servant, but as I was 16 at the time, I never raced it and could drive only in open practice sessions with no paying spectators in attendance. An insurance problem. Friends, Gene Curtis and at his recommendation, Harry Hanford drove it. We made the podium a few times, but it took 61 years – and importantly, the absence of those damn Porsche Spyders – before it won anything – 1st in the 1955+ class at Pebble Beach. I joked with Alfieri Maserati that I’ll bet I’m the only person looking down at the grass who bought a ’50s era OSCA new. Many thanks to Elad Shraga and John Grosseta for their persistence in having this special marque honored this year. TC
… delightful talk about a truly glorious era.
Thank You!
Thanks for the comment, and our apologies on the photo credit. We have made the correction.
Pete
This year was again spectacular and I don’t know if I’ll ever see such an OSCA display. The weather particularly lent itself to dramatic shots of #1.
So when is The comprehensive book coming out?
Excellent article. I couldn’t help but think of another Italian sports car company started more or less at the same time as OSCA. Ferrari of course. Not much doubt as to who was the better businessman. Separately, surprised there was no reference to John Iglehart’s OSCA 750 (very similar to Cunningham’s) that dominated East Coast H-modified racing in the late fifties and early sixties. Does anybody know what happened to that car?
Michael’s fabulous photography is exceeded only by his masterful, comprehensive writing as only he can do!
Gary Krings
Great articles and wonderful photos. Congratulation to Michael and Willie/Tim! I wish I were there. #1122 (which I owned briefly and rescued from dereliction in 1984) has a great racing history. There is , however, some confusion regarding the racing history and ownership of #1121 and most of the references given in the caption relate in fact to #1127, according to period records, but guys like Bill Davis and Chick Leson were swapping and changing cars all the time, and they raced several OSCAs between 1952 and 1956, so who drove what and when is very difficult to establish.
Great job!
Another detail: the original engine of Cunningham’s car #1137 was number 1403 (a 1453cc engine with single ignition). That engine is now in my car 1127 (which had originally a 1350cc engine). Presently, #1137 has a double ignition head and probably engine #1512, which was a “spare” engine. I do not know what engine was in the car at Sebring, but as the race was held on March 8, 1953, and engines in the series 15– started in March 1954 (with Cabianca’s car #1142), it is possible the car raced with motor 1403. Speculation.
Correction: the Sebring OSCA win was in March 1954 (hence the uncertainty concerning the engine number of car).
Thanks for catching the error and we have changed the caption to reflect 1954 vs 1953.
One further note about ‘our’ winning 1168 OSCA at Pebble. Back in the day, my friend Gene Curtis, a motorcycle racer, suggested that von Dutch do some painting on the car. It might have been numbers, I can’t remember. von Dutch painted the Scarabs and wanted to paint ours, with striping, etc. When I said I didn’t want that, he suggested just the send-up of his famous ‘Scarab MK I’ signature as ‘Sparerib MK I’ for the OSCA. Absolutely, said I, but the truth is, if it weren’t for the only photo of our car so-liveried, taken by another motorcycle racer pal, Jim Wray, it could never have passed muster at Pebble as original.
Bernard says
very interesting article,very well documented
to answer toBob Critchell the ex Iglehart/Echenlaub Osca 750 #764 is now in France
The car is still in perfect condition with all his originals parts and particulaly his matching engine
she participate to French Tour Auto in April and arrive proudly in Nice after 2500km and will be present at Circuit Des Remparts at Angouleme very soon
We should mention the s/n 767 was driven in the 1960 Sebring by Denise McCluggage and she also drove an OSCA in 1959 at Sebring with deTomaso to a second in class.
Thank you for the very nice presentation of the OSCA’s at Pebble Beach!
Just a small history correction where I was involved myself:
OSCA #1152 was in my ownership between 1975 and 1992. I was told when I bought the car that Joel Finn had found it in Mexico along with some other old racing cars.
When Manfred Lippmann contacted me wanting to buy his old OSCA back again, we made an exchange with the ex Eichenlaub/Igleheart OSCA #764 mentioned above. I then owned this very nice S750 until 2009, enjoying it in many rallies in Sweden and Italy.
Dan Hedborg, Sweden
Michael, your article and photos of every OSCA are the perfect epilog to a historic and exciting week. The back story to the OSCA Special Class at Pebble started in late 2016 with a dream. 2018 was to be OSCA’s 70th Anniversary, surely it was OSCAs turn to be recognized at Pebble Beach, at least Elad Shrage, my partner in this effort and I thought so. We were told by organizers the process, make a Proposal to the Selection Committee who was to meet February 2017. We were to present our case to accept OSCAs and give them assurances that we could assemble 8-10 of the best cars, ‘not all red Morelli Bodied MT4’s’ as we were warned. From February through November we were getting positive feedback but not a definite confirmation. In that period we made plans for an OSCA owners lunch and a Forum which would feature Alfieri Maserati and a plan to have all the cars participate in the Pebble Beach Tour. When Pebble Beach formally announced that OSCA would be a Special Class, entries poured in and the plan to have 8-10 cars turned into 17 of the best OSCAs including the very 1st and 2nd cars and with excellent examples over the next decade. The much anticipated class was perfectly placed off the 18th green and was a huge crowd favorite winning 8 trophies of the 15 cars judged. The collection of 17 OSCAs at one place is a first but looking ahead there is a vision of an all OSCA Rally in Italy in 2020 where we may see as many as 20 OSCAs participating. VIVA OSCA!
dear Michael,
Is it possible to get Dan Hedborg mail to exchange infos about Osca 750#764 we own now here in France
Kindest Regards
B.MARY