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MaseratiA Brief History of Maserati
On December 14, 1914 a new company was born in Bologna, Società Anonima Officine Alfieri Maserati. The Maserati brothers: Carlo (1881), Bindo (1883), Alfieri (1887), Mario (1890), Ettore (1894) and Ernesto (1898) with exception of Mario, who turned his creative vocation towards painting, they all became involved in engineering. Alfieri decided to start a company and rented a garage on the Via de Pepoli in Bologna. Not long after that, his brothers Ettore and Ernesto came working in the workshop.
In 1926 they developed and built their first car, a two-seater racecar. The engine was an 8 cylinder in line with a 1.5 litre supercharged displacement the engine developed a 120 bhp at 5300 rpm. Above the radiator a badge presented a trident that evoked bologna's famous statue of Neptune. This badge was designed by Mario. On its debut in the Targa Florio on April 25, 1926 it became first in its class.
In 1929 Baconin Borzacchini set a new 3.5 litre world speed record in a Maserati V4, a very extreme car with a V16 engine. This engine was actually two tipo 26 engines coupled together.
On march the 3rd 1932, Alfieri died on the age of 44 year. From that time Bindo got into business with his two brothers.
In 1933 Maserati was the first European manufactory to introduce hydraulic brakes on his race cars. That year Maserati achieved three grand prix victories, the grand prix of France, Belgium and Nice.
Maserati was taken over by the Orsi family in 1937. The brothers got a contract to work for another 10 years.
Wilbur Shaw won the Indianapolis 500 with a Maserati 8CTF in 1939. Maserati is the only Italian constructor to win this legendary race until today. By the end of the year Maserati moved to its present home on Viale Ciro Menotti in Modena.
For the second time Wilbur Shaw won the Indianapolis 500 in 1940. During world war II Maserati produced batteries, sparkplugs and trucks.
The first sports car was launched during the Geneva motor show in march 1947. It was the A6 which was designed by Pininfarina.
1957 Maserati wins the world tittle with the 250F and Juan Manual Fangio behind the steering wheel. At the end of the race season Maserati officially retires from racing. From that moment on they were concentrating on road cars.
The 3500 GT was the first mass-produced gran tourismo. Carrozzeria Touring from Milan was responsible for the bodywork.
In 1959 they build a car for the Shah of Persia, that was the 5000 GT Touring version. This car was followed by several other models, as the Sebring ( 63-72 ), Quatroporte and Mistral ( 63-70 ), the Mexico ( 66-72 ), Ghibli ( 66-70 ) and the Indy ( 69-76 ).
The Orsi family sold Maserati to Citroën in 1968. They were primarily interested in acquiring its engine know how For their SM coupé. In this period the Bora ( 71-79 ), Merak ( 72-83 ) and the Quatroporte II were born. There were only five Quatroportes II build.
The Bertone styled Khamsin saw the light in 1973. This was a very sharply cut, streamlined coupé. Sales were going bad by the oil crisis.
Citroën pulled out on 23rd of May 1975, and Alejandro De Tomaso and GEPI came on 8th of August to rescue.
In the spring of '76 Maserati already had a "new" coupé, derived from the De Tomaso Longschamps. At the Turin motor show the Quatroporte III was presented.
From 1981 until 1993 they produced several Biturbo models, 6 and 8 cylinder, coupes, spyders and saloons. On the 19th of May 1993 Fiat auto purchased the complete share package. In July 1998 Ferrari acquires the control of Maserati, and the management closed the factory to modernize the production.
At the salon de L'automobile in Paris they introduced the very successful 3200 GT, the first car produced under the Ferrari management.
By the end of 2000 the factory introduced the Officine Alfieri Maserati program, to individualize your 3200 GT and ItalDesign presented a new prototype, the Buran.
There are no plans to produce this car.
Today
In 2005, as a consequence of the termination of the agreement between Fiat and General Motors under which GM may have been obliged to buy Fiat's car division, Maserati was separated from Ferrari and brought back under Fiat's full control. Fiat plans to create a sports and luxury division from Maserati and another of its marques, Alfa Romeo. GM had to pay Fiat around $2,000,000,000. Maserati sold 2,006 cars in the United States for all of 2005.
Current Models
Present production includes:
Coupé a two-plus-two coupé.
Spyder two-seater roadster version of the Coupé.
Quattroporte (Italian for four-door), a sporting-luxury four-door sedan.
GranTurismo is the new four seat coupé.
Since early 2002 Maseratis are once again being sold in the United States market, which has quickly become for Maserati the largest market worldwide. The company has also re-entered the racing arena with their Trofeo and, in December 2003, the Maserati MC12 (formerly known as the MCC), which took part in select GT races in 2004. The MC12 is based on the Enzo Ferrari supercar; 50 street-legal homologation models have been sold for about US$750,000 each.
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