Maserati vintage cars
Maserati Diatto 20s
The start of a legend
The Maserati brothers
There are producers of automobiles whose company histories are clear-cut – and then there are producers whose history is complicated and very difficult to fathom: Maserati, the brand with the trident in the emblem can be counted to the second category.
This might be one of the reasons why this producer of high-class sports cars – at the time being – is being dealt with far beneath its value in the public interest: considering that the „Officine Alfieri Maserati S.p.A.“ existed long before Enzo Ferrari started to build his own vehicles – not to speak of the later producers like Feruccio Lamborghini or Alejandro de Tomaso.
The history of the brand Maserati begins in 1926; that of their founders, however, much earlier: in the years 1881, 1883, 1887, 1890, 1894 and 1898. In these years, Carola Maserati presented her husband, engine driver Rodolfo Maserati, with seven sons (Alfieri, born in 1885, died a few months after his birth). The remaining six brothers by the name of Varlo, Bindo, Alfieri (he was named after his dead third brother), Mario, Ettore and Ernesto grew up near Voghera in the province of Pavia. The railway company had transferred the father there from Piazenza after his wedding with Carolina Losi.
It might have been the technical job of the father or a congenial talent for understanding technical matters: all brothers - except Mario, who turned to painting – began to get enthusiastic about technical matters. Carlo, the eldest, insisted in following his father´s tracks and wanted to work for the railway company. The model railway which he made and which his brothers admired at 14 confirmed the family´s conviction that Carlo´s future would be with the railway company.
But then, in the mid-90s of the past century, the first automobiles turned up on the roads of the province Pavia. Carlo´s decision was soon taken: he would take care of this sort of transport – and he took the consequences of this decision: he accepted a job at a bicycle producer in Affori, a small place just a few kilometres from Voghera. And he realised his ideas very soon: already in 1897 he had developed and built a one-cylinder four-stroke engine, which he installed immediately into a reinforced bicycle frame. The drive functioned by a belt to the rear wheel – the first Maserati was created.
So much technical talent did not remain unnoticed: the Marquese Carcano di Anzano del Parco was so fascinated by the elder Maserati´s motorcycle that he financed a small production series for the 17-year-old. The first motorcycles were offered on the market, however, by the name of „Carcano“. Within 2 years, Carlo achieved remarkable maturity and performance of his engine: his sponsor and he won more and more motorcycle races, Carlo achieved a record over the 10 km distance with an average of 50 km/h – and thanks to these proofs of performance the production increased. One of the most important wins was the 50 km race of Brescia after Orzinovi and in 1900 the „Corsa die Resistenza“ in Padua as well as the motorcycle competition at the race Brescia-Mantua-Brescia.
At this race, the further career of Carlo was decided: in Brescia he met Vincenzo Lancia, who was a racing driver at Fiat’s at that time. Vincenzo told Carlo of Fiat and the projects of the Turin company.
And once again, Carlo took the consequences: he quit his cooperation with Carcano, moved to Turin and hoped to get a job at Fiat.
The motorcycle company founded by his first sponsor survived Carlo´s quitting by just one year – the production was stopped 1901.
Whether Carlo actually got a job at Fiat is not clear: the Fiat archive in Turin does not show a firm contract, whereas other sources even state that Carlo was the chief of the test department. He probably was employed when there was demand, but the competition of a Lancia, Nazzaro or Cagna would have been too strong for him to get a firm job as racing driver.
After this, Carlo got himself employed by Isotta Fraschini as technical consultant and test driver in 1903. 1907 he moved to Milan: he became chief tester and racing driver at Bianchi. Their racing cars were very reliable, but their performance was clearly weaker than the dominating Fiat racing cars. His best places in that year were the ninth place at the Coppa Florio in Sicily (which should later become the famous Targa Florio) and a 16th place at the qualification race for the Emperor´s Prize on the Avus in Berlin.
Before he changed to Bianchi, Carlo had got his brother Alfieri a job at Isotta. The young Alfieri had shown so much skill and instinct for the complex technique of engines in the small workshop, that Carlo wanted to get him employed at a good company as soon as possible.
Maserati race transporter
Shortly after the just 16 year old Alfieri started in Turin, Bindo, too, moved to Turin – also with a contract at Isotta Fraschini.
1908, Carlo had changed employers another time: he now had a contract with the company „Automobil Junior“ in Milan. He had the beautiful title „general manager“ and worked on the development of a racing car and an aircraft engine.
In the same year, Alfieri, now 21 years old, was chosen to drive a 1.2 litre Isotta at the Grand Prix of Dieppe. He didn’t have much chance, though: carefully calculated regulations which favoured the French vehicles allowed him only the 14th place of 32 competitors.
Two years later, the probably most talented of the Maserati-brothers, Carlo, died of an illness.
A short time later Alfieri, as was the Maserati tradtion, took his brother Ettore, meanwhile 16 years old, with him to Isotta Fraschini and found him a job there – and soon left Italy together with him. Alfieri and Ettore moved to South America, to Argentina, precisely, where Isotta had an own plant in Buenos Aires. While they worked for Isotta in Argentina for 2 years, they naturally continued to build racing cars. With one of these vehicles, which were always made of Isotta parts, they participated in races in Argentina quite successfully.
1912, a year in London followed, then Alfieri was employed by Isotta to organise the customer service in Bologna. 1913 he therefore opened a small garage in Pontevecchio near Bologna, together with Ettore and the meanwhile 16 years old Ernesto. Here, the three brothers took care of the customers´ vehicles and – which interested them far more – of Isotta-Fraschini engines, which they prepared for racing.
During World War I, Alfieri, Bindo and Ettore were employed by Isotta for the further development of aircraft engines, while the youngest, Ernesto, took care of the workshop in Pontevecchio. As Bindo and Ettore in Turin busied themselves mainly with the production and test work, Alfieri was fully occupied with the development work; the resulting increase of basic technical know-how should be very useful in the future.
Though he was very busy at Isotta, Alfieri had found the time to establish a plant for spark plugs in Milan, which he moved to Bologna 1919. As the old workshop was not spacious enough to house the new division, they looked for and found a new site on the eastern outskirts of Bologna.
The war was over, the company began to flourish, Alfieri and his brothers could return to their old love, the racing cars. Alfieri was especially successful: together with the chief engineer of Isotta, Cattaneo, in 1920/21 he built a two-seater racing car based on a shortened Isotta-chassis, in which they installed a 6330 cm³ four-cylinder from Isotta. With this Isotta Fraschini „Tipo Speziale“ (bore x stroke: 120 x 140 mm) Alfieri won the mountain races on Mont Cenis and Aosta-Great St. Bernhard, and he took 4th place at the Grand Prix of Mugello. Apart from these giants of cubic capacity, we know of a 2562 cm³ four-cylinder and three-litre car. 1922, the car became even stronger, Alfieri and his brother Ernesto drove an eight-cylinder Hispano-Suiza engine that year, whose technical data are not known any longer. With this car, the brothers won in record time in Mugello and the races Susa-Moncenisio and Aosta-Great St. Bernhard for the second time.
This performance convinced the management of the traditional Societa Anonima Autoconstruzione Diatto – they offered Alfieri a plant car and the job as technical consultant for the development of racing cars. Diatto, a railway-producer established 1902, had also produced a number of touring cars, among others the sports model 35, a 3 litre four-cylinder, from which Alfieri constructed a nice little two-seater, which reached a top speed of around 140 km/h, though the technical basis was not very favourable.
With this car he won the class over 3 litre cubic capacity at the Grand Prix of Monza in 1922 – he took place three in the total ranking.
The next step of development was a racing car based on the Diatto Model 20, a 2 litre four-cylinder. This engine, which already had two upper cam-shafts, had, after having been prepared by Alfieri, a performance of 75 hp at 1400/min and took– called 20 S – several good places and won, with Meregalli, in 1923 and 24, the race in Garda. The win of 1922, also with Meregalli at the wheel, had been achieved with the 3 litre car.
Alfieri Maserati himself participated in the Grand Prix of San Sebastian in 1924 with the 20 S, and though the competition of Bugatti, Delage and Sunbeam was theoretically superior, Alfieri could hold the third place until he had an engine defect.
Though Alfieri took pains to teach the rather conservative Diattos about racing, it became clear very soon that the big-volume four-cylinders would never become winning cars.
As a consequence Diatto allowed Alfieri to assemble a 5 litre V 8-engine from Hispano-Suiza into a Diatto chassis in 1923. This powerful car enabled Alfieri to win the Coppa Principe and to win the mountain race of Susa-Moncenisio for the third time.
As the year 1942 was not a successful year for Diatto, Diatto now took the next step: Alfieri Maserati was instructed to construct and build a Grand Prix car.
At that time, the regulation allowed a 2 litre engine and a minimum weight of 650 kg was obligatory. Fiat and Alfa Romeo had constructed very fast racing cars, which both had an in-line eight-cylinder with compressor. Understandable, that Alfieri also decided to use this promising technique. Bore x stroke amounted to 65.5 x 74 mm and together with the Roots compressor the series eight-cylinder, at 5200 rpm, achieved about 140 to 150 hp. This engine was installed into a new chassis and appeared for the first time in 1925 at the Grand Prix of Italy, driven by Materassi.
The car had been completed only a few days before the race, they had just had enough time for a provisional painting, and therefore it was not surprising that Materassi had to quit the race with this eight-cylinder Diatto, which had been very fast from the beginning, after a few rounds with a defect. Some screws had been too small and therefore the compressor came off the engine block.
Another story about this race is, that Count Brilli-Peri won it with an Alfa Romeo P 2, and that the fastest lap was driven by the American Krais on an eight-cylinder Duesenberg. Krais, however, flew out of the track in the Lesmo bend in the third lap.
Diatto himself was meanwhile in big financial difficulties and decided to cancel the cooperation with Alfieri Maserati in winter 1925/26. There just wasn’t enough money to give the promising eight-cylinder another chance.
Maserati 350s
The brand was set up
First start – first win
After this cancellation, Alfieri Maserati came to a conclusion which no-one expected: He took the engine developed by him, established the „Officine Alfieri Maserati S.p.A.“ together with his brothers with headquarters in Bologna and immediately started to further develop this engine for the season 1926.
Alfieri reduced the cubic capacity from 2 to 1.5 litres, increased the stability and for the first time, together with Guerino Berocchi, participated in a race with a car bearing his own name: at the Targa Florio in Sicily – and celebrated a supreme win for this class at this first appearance.
Thus 1926 was the year when Alfieri and his brothers competed under their own name; Maserati was born. The 9th place in the total ranking, a win in the 1.5 litre class at the famous Targa Florio – nobody would have believed it. The basis for this success was the in-line eight-cylinder, reduced to 1492 cm³, which, with its two upper cam-shafts, achieved up to 120 hp, which brought the two-seater – between 720 and 780 kg weight, depending on the equipment – to a top speed of about 180 km/h.
This engine, in various versions, should become the basic engine of the following years. But first of all it was necessary to make the complicated technique more reliable. While Alfieri had no problems at the Targa Florio, at which 21 vehicles out of the 33 which had started had failed, both of his registered vehicles broke down at the Grand Prix of Italy in Monza. The drivers, Alfieri Maserati and Emilio Materassi, who had to watch the race from outside the track due to a compressor defect soon after the start, could console themselves with the fact that almost all competitors had to quit, too: only two vehicles, the two Bugattis of “Sabipa” and Constantini, finished the race.
Furthermore, Alfieri and Materassi participated in a speed competition, at which the distance of one kilometre had to be covered as fast as possible: Materassi won the 1.5 litre class with 168 km/h. But 1926 did not only bring the first wins and placings; in this year, the Maserati brothers also decided to develop and produce their own complete racing cars. They had the courage to go the way from adapting and adjusting of others´ products to their own vehicle. This was a dangerous road, doubtlessly, because racing cars can only be sold if the private drivers, who are prepared to invest a lot of money, are convinced of the competitiveness. Thus it could only have been the brothers´ idealism and a remarkable self-confidence to make them quit their secure and doubtlessly well-paid jobs in the industry. To quit them for a racing-car plant!
Up to then, racing cars were a luxury of the big companies who saw them as publicity for their series production. Alfieri, however, built only racing cars, under the signet of the trident, which he modelled after the one on the Neptune fountain in Bologna. And what is really unbelievable – the Maserati brothers have succeeded to build and drive racing cars for eleven years without going bankrupt and successfully attacked big companies, which earned more money from their series production than Maserati ever had. While the foundation was laid in 1926, already a year later the big success began: Materassi won the Italian championship with a Tipo 26N. This eight-cylinder with a cubic capacity of 2 litres (exactly 1980 cm³ - bore x stroke: 62 x 82 mm) had 155 hp now, which brought the 26B with the same weight as the Tipo 26 to a top speed of 180 to 210 km/h. The 26B appeared for the first time at the Targa Florio, where Alfieri drove it, behind 2 Bugattis, to the never expected third place on 24 April. The other two registered vehicles, two Tipo 26 with Ernesto Maserati and Count Maggi at the wheel, broke down with a broken front axle and a frame breakage.
Another successful weekend was the Grand Prix of Tripolis, at which Alfieri took third place in the overall class behind the more powerful Bugattis with their bigger cubic capacity and won in the category up to 1.5 cubic capacity.
The sportive successes influenced the sales, too; 1926 another three vehicles of the Tipo 26 were built, and thus there were five cars the year after, among them the first Tipo 26 which had been ordered by a customer.
1928, eight racing cars were assembled: three Tipo 26 for private customers, two Tipo 26 MM, one Tipo 26B and two Tipo 26R.
Maserati 450s
The Maserati brothers had noticed in time that a little more civilian version of the Tipo 26 and 26B would have good chances to be bought by private drivers. Therefore, the M-types were offered. The difference to their predecessors (which, however, were still built) was only the bodywork – the technical features were unchanged. The most important characteristics were the large mudguards, the broad windscreen and the lighting, with which these models could be used in the public traffic and by night.
The racing season of the year 1928 was not so successful as could be hoped considering the past two years: at the Targa Florio, five cars started on the strenuous journey across Sicily. The 2 litre cars were driven by Ernesto Maserati, de Sterlich and Borzacchini, the 1.5 litre versions by Fagioli and Marano. While the Bugattis and Alfa Romeo fought for the win, one Maserati after the other failed due to compressor troubles: Fagioli succeeded to reach the finishing line and took seventh place. The winner was Albert Divo with a 2.3 litre Bugatti type 35B, Campari took second place with a 6C-1500 Alfa Romeo with compressor.
During this year, the Maserati team participated in some small competitions; Ernesto Maserati won the 1.5 litre class of the Coppa Acerbo in Pescara and Borzacchini and Ernesto took the places two and three at the Susa-Monte Cenisio mountain race.
That year´s last competition was the Grand Prix of Europe in Monza: at this race, overshadowed by Emilio Materassi´s tragic accident, Maggi and Alfieri Maserati took the places five and six. Materassi, who had been very successful for the Bolognese brand, drove an eight-cylinder Talbot in Monza and during an overtaking manoeuvre got caught by the left rear wheel of Foresti´s Bugatti; he then crashed into the crowd of spectators. 20 spectators and Materassi himself lost their lives. Louis Chiron won with a Bugatti type 35 in front of Achille Varzi (Alfa Romeo P 2) and Tazio Nuvolari (Bugatti type 35).
The year 1929 showed two new Maserati-models on the race tracks, the Tipo 26C and the V4. While the 26C was a smaller and adapted version of the well-known in-line eight-cylinder series (51 mm bore and 66 mm stroke resulted in a cubic capacity of 1077 cm³ - power about 100 hp), the V4 was an experiment to build a vehicle with a big cubic capacity and strong performance which could join the battle about the win in the overall class.
In order to reach this goal, the Maseratis had joined two 26B engines at an angle of 90 degrees and linked their crankshafts with gearwheels. Thus they had created a V 16 engine with a cubic capacity of 3960 cm³. The performance was said to be 305 hp at 5500/min and they guessed the top speed would be 250 km/h. Naturally it had not been possible to leave everything as it was: while the left 26B engine was an original, they had to exchange the entry- and exit-side of the right one, so that the exhaust could be installed at the outer side. The two Roots compressors were installed on the front side of every line of cylinders and a large ventilator took care of the cooling.
Naturally, the chassis, too, was adapted to this engine; it became longer (by 10 cm to 275 cm) and stronger. But in spite of this adaptation the V4 was a tricky car to drive; just three drivers ever drove the „Sedici Cilindri“ at a race: Alfieri and Ernesto Maserati and Baconin Borzacchini. Doubtless it took a lot of courage to drive a racing car of only 980 kg with a performance of 300 hp and 250 km/h top speed in these years.
The V4 had its first appearance on 1 July 1929 near Milan, on the race track of Cremona. Borzacchini and Alfieri shared the work at the wheel, while Ernesto drove a 2 litre car. Borzacchini set a new world record immediately, when he – during the race! – drove an average of 246 km/h on the 10 km long straight. It is important to note that this was the first speed world record which went to Italy, and that with a car which had not been built for this purpose, and that this speed had been achieved during a race. Later, Alfieri drove the fastest lap of the race, but then the car failed with mechanical problems and Count Brilli-Peri won with an Alfa Romeo P 2. Ernesto saved the honour of the Maseratis with a third place.
While the V4 should start the attack on the overall wins, the Maserati brothers had a whole range of engine variants for their private customers and for smaller races: thus the 8-C 1100 (or also called 26C) should compete with the very successful Amilcar, while the 8-C 17000 (also called 26R) should fight in the class up to 1.7 litres cubic capacity. But only two units of this type with its 140 hp and almost 200 km top speed were built.
Also 1929, Maserati participated in the Targa Florio with several vehicles, but none reached the finishing line – the only consolation was that Borzacchini set a new track record already in the first lap. At the Grand Prix of Monza, the V4 should show its qualities another time. It took second place just 0.2 seconds behind the Mercedes SSK of August Momberger, which had a 7 litre engine.
