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One of the items on display at the 'Modellismo Maserati' exhibition in Bologna later this year was a set of six colour cutaway prints of drawings of classic Maseratis by the well known Dutch illustrator Rens Biesma. Rens is the illustrator for my favourite magazine, Auto Italia. The originals for these prints were commissioned by Maserati enthusiast and collector, Dr. George Lipperts.
So pleased was George with the reaction to Rens's original drawings that at the Berlin International Maserati Meeting in July 2001, he announced the release of a limited edition set of prints of these drawings. Each set consists of six prints, the Tipo 250F, the Tipo 60/61 'Birdcage', the Tipo A6GCS serie II, the Tipo 101 '3500GT', the Tipo 115 'Ghibli' and lastly the OSCAs MT4 and FS372. Rens Biesma was born in the town of Amersfoort, Holland on March 24th 1944. His father was a car-mechanic at the Dutch Morris Importer 'Molenaar' and he often took the young Rens for a test drive in a client's car. An open MG TD, a Morris Minor, a split-screen tourer or a Morris Oxford and sometimes in a FIAT 1400. These experiences made a lasting impression on Rens, who also collected the very popular pictures of cars on the 'Full Speed' cigarette packets. Even before Biesma senior had finished the packet, junior had removed the pictures from the packets to collect them for his album. These illustrations were by the well known Piet Olyslager and the cars were exotic models of the then virtually unknown Ferrari, the exclusive Alfa Romeo and of course the celebrated racing cars of Maserati. These illustrations inspired Rens to 'have a go' and he became an artist. CLICK ON THE FRONT WHEEL FOR AN ACTUAL SIZE VIEW  The Tipo 250F Grand Prix Car At Primary and Secondary School, Rens made caricatures of his teachers in his school books, which was not always appreciated by his teachers! CLICK ON THE TOP FRONT WHEEL FOR AN ACTUAL SIZE VIEW  The Tipo 60/61 'Birdcage' Rens still liked to draw cars, especially designs of his own and with one of these designs and a wooden scale model, he won a design contest organised by 'Ford Nederland'. This was later followed by a solar powered car, published in Panorama Magazine, for which Rens won a trip to New York and Florida. Rens also won a trip to Rome, the result of a design contest of NRC Newspaper. This contest required designs for a special vehicle to chauffeur the Pope around during his visit to Holland. Rens came up with the solution of a Police van, with a movable balcony, mounted on an hydraulic arm and a Holy Water Gun at the rooftop! CLICK ON THE ENGINE FOR AN ACTUAL SIZE VIEW  The Tipo A6GCS 'Sport 2000' During one of his holidays in Italy, Rens caught the 'Italitis' virus, which turned out to be incurable but not dangerous....
He visited the Ferrari and Maserati factories frequently and it was during one of these visits that he met the famous Maserati engineer, Giulio Alfieri, then employed at Lamborghini. CLICK ON THE COOLING FAN FOR AN ACTUAL SIZE VIEW  The Tipo 101 3500GT Coupé From 1971 till 1987 Rens was employed by the Royal Dutch Touring Club ANWB at the Hague where his famous illustrations were published in many special interest magazines on motoring, caravanning and sailing etc. His 'Scoops', impressions of cars which are still more or less secret, appeared for many years in the 'Autokampioen' magazine. Rens also turned his skills to skeleton drawings of engines, technical illustrations of caravans and motorhomes. He even built one himself and the result was printed in a DIY manual which proved to be quite successful. CLICK ON THE COCKPIT FOR AN ACTUAL SIZE VIEW  The Tipo 115 'Ghibli Coupé' In the meantime Rens' collection of car books, automobilia and car-brochures was growing steadily. From 1987 till 1992 Rens was a full-time freelance designer and illustrator and also editor of 'Gli Amici', of the FCN, (Ferrari Club Nederland) . His illustrations for 'Het Klaverblaadje' of the SCARB (The Dutch Alfa Romeo Club) were published in every issue during that period. Here his source of inspiration was the late Ben Hendriks. The drawings Rens produced for this magazine have even been collected for the Alfa Romeo historical Archives at the factory at Arese. In recognition of his work, Rens was invited to join the 'Associazione Italiana per la Storia dell`Automobile', of which the well known automotive journalist Wim Oude Weernink is also a member. CLICK ON THE MT4 GRILLE FOR AN ACTUAL SIZE VIEW  The OSCA Tipos FS-372 and MT4 In 1992 Rens moved to Malta to accept a position as a designer. Here Rens began to paint with oils on canvas, not only classic and vintage cars but also classic aircraft, such as the Spitfire and the Hurricane. The historically rich Maltese setting was the perfect backdrop for his paintings.
Each set is numbered, supplied with its own individual certificate of origin and is encased in a blue portfolio (shown below).
This is a limited edition of 500 sets worldwide and is priced at 250 euros (GB £210 or US $320). |
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