1956 Maserati A6G Zagato Berlinetta

1956 Maserati A6G Zagato (from the collection of the author)

I saw this car recently at a local event and had to get a picture. The Maserati brothers sold their namesake business to the Orsi family in 1937. As part of the deal the brothers would stay on for the next 10 years leading the engineering efforts. In 1947, when their contract was up, the remaining three brothers left to concentrate on racing and founded OSCA. The Maserati company, on the other hand, realized the need to sell cars and introduced the A6 at the Geneva Motor Show the same year. They would update the car (enlarging the engine to 2 liters) in 1951, and in 1954, would put the finishing touches on this platform - the A6G featured a re-engineered twin-cam engine with triple carbs developing 165 hp. The other important change was Maserati's move away from the earlier Pinin Farina bodies to Zagato (and Frua). 

Ugo Zagato established his open coach building shop in Turin in 1919. After WWII, the company was rebuilt (the factory had been bombed), and with the help of his son Ello, they would make a name for themselves boding the Cristalia. Some say, and I might have to agree, that Zagoto's finest work of the period was boding the Maserati A6G. The proportions on this lightweight aluminum body (with Perspex windows) are magnificent. 

Over a two year period, Zagato would body 17 A6G Berlinettas (and a couple spiders). These cars are similar but each was bespoke and have slight differences. The car shown here is one of the last 5 (with the dual hood scopes, spaced apart): chassis' 2148, 2160, 2179, 2186 and 2189 (actually chassis 2118 re-stamped by the factory after an accident). These are true GT cars and the sound they make is fantastic.