I Capolavori della Maserati
"An artist's journey through the Maserati roll of masterpieces"

Prints courtesy of Dr George Lipperts.

This is an exclusive gallery of coloured drawings by the renown Dutch motoring illustrator

Rens Biesma

Thanks to Dr. George Lipperts, a genuine Maserati enthusiast and collector, I am able to take you on a magical journey through the Maserati production years with some of the wonderful creations of the Maserati Carrozzieri  through the unique artistic talents of Rens Biesma.


SET D - The Maserati A6G Variants (9 Prints)


An A6G by Pinin Farina - The 1951 Paris Show car
A 1954 A6G 2000 by Allemano


An A6G 2000 by Vignale - The 1951 Paris Show car
A 1954 A6G by Allemano

At the Turin Motor Show of 1951 Maserati unveiled the logical successor to the A6, the A6G - the G stood for Ghisa (cast-iron) even though the block was made of light alloy.

In response to customer demands for more performance, Maserati increased the engine size from 1488cc to 1954cc, this was achieved by alterations to the bore and stroke, and with the addition of triple Weber carburettors power was increased by some 35 bhp giving the car a top speed of 100mph. The A6G chassis was identical to that of the A6. Handling was improved, mainly by the use of quarter-elliptic leaf springs in the rear suspension.


A 1951 A6GCS by Vignale
An A6G 2000 Coupé by Frua


An A6GC 2000 Coupé by Frua
An A6G 2000/A Cabriolet by Frua


The gorgeous 1954 A6GCS Berlinetta by Pinin Farina

The first Carrozziere to mount a body on the A6G chassis, derived from the successful A6GCS competition car, was Pinin Farina with a conservative four-seater coupé. Alongside this coupé was a carbriolet by Pietro Frua, this was the first of three models produced by Frua in 1951.

During its production life, four Carrozzieri produced bodies for the A6G, Pinin Farina, Frua, Vignale and Allemano.


SET B - The Maserati A6G by Zagato (9 Prints)


The A6G 2000 by Zagato - #2105
The A6GC 2000 by Zagato - #2121


A 1954 A6G 2000 by Zagato
A 1954 A6G 2000 by Zagato - #2112

Whilst the performance of the A6C was an improvement on the A6, it still did not satisfy the competition minded Maserati customer. It was with this in mind that Omer Orsi decided to capitalise on the racing successes of the A6GCS by introducing the A6G, a car powered by the same twin cam engine. As these prints show, the success of the A6G was largely down to the beautiful yet purposeful creations of Zagato.

The 'civilisation' of the A6GCS engine to be fitted to the A6G was entrusted to engineer Vittorio Bellentani, Colombo had since left for Bugatti and most of the merging technical staff were occupied with race development. His task was to produce a reliable unit which could easily be modified for competition use, if required. Early engines were fitted with single ignition, later models had the dual ignition system, induction was by three Weber carburettors and the noisy gear drive was replaced with the 'quieter' chain drive. The result was a power output of 150 bhp @ 6000 rpm giving a top speed of over 115 mph.


A 1955 A6G 2000 by Zagato
A 1953 A6G 2000 by Zagato


The A6GC 2000 by Zagato - #2150 or #2155
A 1956 A6GC 2000 by Zagato - #2160


A 1956 A6G 2000 by Zagato

Maserati invited 'Carrozzieri' to submit designs for the A6G and Zagato, Allemano and Frua offered a variety of body styles from which to choose.

The competition theme was best captured by Zagato. He offered some beautiful aluminium bodied coupés for road/race use. At the Geneva Motor Show in 1955, Zagato also produced a one-off spyder.

So popular was the Zagato-bodied A6G/54 Maseratis that several were used in GT racing throughout Italy from 1955 to 1957 and this model eventually won this class in the 1956 Italian championships which had previously been dominated by the powerful V8 Fiats.

The A6G was the classic example of Maserati's strength, the ability to offer the best qualities of its competition car into a production model. The first Zagato bodied A6G was displayed at the Paris Motor Show in 1954. The year is significant as the cars were and still are often referred to as the A6G/54 GT.

There were in all 20 Zagato bodied A6G Coupés produced, six in 1955 and fourteen in 1956.


 
THE JOURNEY CONTINUES
 

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