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maserati books

Maserati A6GCS Book Review

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Portago with his black Maserati, chassis 2076 at Le Mans in 1954. The book is filled with great shots like this.

Review by Pete Vack
Photos from the book with permission

The Maserati A6GCS is the fifth book in the Dalton Watson series on Maserati authored or co-authored by Walter Bäumer.

Two of the Dalton Watson books were a first and second edition of the Maserati 300S. The other three books deal with an important and yet often imprecise A6 series of cars, originally taken over from the Maserati brothers after they left to form OSCA in 1947. The Maserati A6G 2000 Zagato, covering 22 Zagato-bodied chassis, was published in 2013; a similar volume, the Maserati A6G 2000 addressing the 54 Frua, Pinin Farina, Vignale and Allemano-bodied cars was completed in 2021, and this year the Maserati A6GCS covering 53 of the Series II sports racing cars was published. [Read more…] about Maserati A6GCS Book Review

One Family, Five Fantuzzis

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Uncle Gerry got the ball rolling by photographing 2079 in Paris, 1954.

Story by Pete Vack

We’ll call them Fantuzzis, for more than anyone else Medardo Fantuzzi inspired the coachwork of the A6GCS. Perhaps Ermanno Cozza, who was actually an employee at Maserati at the time, gives us the most accurate summation of who was responsible for the design. In his autobiography, Maserati at Heart, (Nada 2018) Cozza describes the phases of construction which involved drivers, mechanics, and designers. He wrote, “The most striking example was without doubt was the launch of the A6GCS/53, which debuted in that year’s Mille Miglia, winning its class with Emilio Giletti. The engine was a version of the A6GCM unit revised by Gioachino Columbo, while the bodywork built by Fantuzzi, was also fruit of an idea by Colombo.” (p43). (Not all of the A6GCS cars were constructed by Fantuzzi’s shop: Thirty three of the bodies were constructed at nearby Fiandri and Malagoli.)

The new Maserati was beautiful, purposeful, as curvy as Gina Lollabrigida and influenced several of our family members. We came up with five Fantuzzi A6GCS Maseratis connected to the Editor’s family. Rest assured that no one actually owned any examples of the real thing. But here’s our story anyway. [Read more…] about One Family, Five Fantuzzis

Maseratis in the World Sports Car & Manufacturers Championships

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Review by Graham Gauld

There is something tantalizing about coffee table books; they arrive big and shiny but with some, alas, it is high on print and photo quality but limited in editorial content. Michel Bollée and Jean Francois Blachette’s new book is, however, something completely different. Michel Bollée is well known not only in his native France but around Europe as one of France’s great motor sport historians, and for this book he joined forces with Jean-Francois Blachette, the Vice-President of Club Maserati France who is probably better known by enthusiasts for the superb 1/43 scale car models his company, JFB Models, produces. [Read more…] about Maseratis in the World Sports Car & Manufacturers Championships

Maserati 8CM 3015: Review and Special Offer!

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And in the office was the missing Maserati 8CM, s/n 3015. Hasler photo.

The Maserati 3015 – The Complete History by Bernhard Brägger, Forward by Simon Moore

Schmidgasse Buchhandler Publishing, 2012; 180 pages, 170 photos, 12 by 9.25 inches
135 Euros ($176) plus shipping
20% OFF PRICE OF 135 EUROS (110 Euros, $140) FOR VELOCETODAY READERS! ORDER FROM THE WEBSITE BELOW AND STATE THAT YOU HAVE READ OUR REVIEW IN VELOCETODAY TO QUALIFY FOR DISCOUNT.
Available from: maserati3015.com

Review by Pete Vack

The story of Maserati 3015 is not the first Single Chassis Book (SCB) we’ve read, but it competes well with Mark Sonnery’s Ferrari Breadvan for being the best, at least within the narrow realm of our focus and experience. Two others have recently come to our attention; the Kelly Vignale Corvette, which we reviewed earlier, and Lancia Dagrada, which we have yet to review. Denis Jenkinson probably got the whole ball rolling in 1987 when he wrote Maserati 3011, the story of the Whitney Straight 8CM. Therefore, Maserati 3015 is the second book published (to our knowledge) about a specific Maserati 8CM chassis. [Read more…] about Maserati 8CM 3015: Review and Special Offer!

Maserati Birdcage Tipo 60 and 61

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Maserati Tipo 60 and 61 The Magnificent Front-engined Birdcages
By Willem Oosthoek and Michel Bollee
Hard cover with slipcase, 335 pages of color and black and white photos. Published by Dalton Watson, Deerfield IL

“From Birdcage To Supercage” covers the rear engined Tipo 63-64-65 Maseratis while “Magnificent Front-Engine Birdcages” covers the front engined Tipo 60 and 61s. The two volumes are available in a special slipcase and if ordered together cost only $225– a savings of $65. And that’s now on sale for $169 for a total savings of over $120! To order at these sale prices, simply send an email to vack@cox.net with your request.This offer ends December 31st 2011 so act now.

Review by Pete Vack
All images courtesy the Author and Publisher

Thanks to Willem Oosthoek, Michel Bollee and several others, we are gathering an impressive library of well-researched books on Maserati which in due course may approach the level of research done on other marques, such as Ferrari. Previously, writers such as Joel Finn, Rob Box, Anthony Pritchard and Orsini/Zagari have laid the groundwork with overall histories and technical specs for many of the pre and post-war Maseratis. Since then, a more detailed series of books have been published, all with serial number information. To that list, this year we can add “The Magnificent Front-engined Birdcages” again by Oosthoek and Bollee, which delightfully covers the twenty two Maserati Tipos 60 and 61.
[Read more…] about Maserati Birdcage Tipo 60 and 61

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