Maserati 300 S sports racer

[John Z. Goriup]

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Between the years 1955 - '59 Maserati built 26 300 S sports racing cars to compete with Ferrari, Aston-Martin, Jaguar and the newly agressive and increasingly effective GM Corvettes. Largely based on Maserati's 1st post-war sports-racing effort, the 2.0 liter A6 GCS series, it employed a newly developed small-diameter steeltubing trellis-style space frame, powered by a 3 liter in-line six-cylinder DOHC motor making between 245 - 265 HP and a four-speed traverse gearbox  as part of the transaxle. Independent twin A-arm front suspension with DeDion rear and drum brakes all around made for what many prominent racers of the day ( Fangio, Moss, Behra, Shell, Musso, Gregory.....et al ) described as the finest handling sports racer of its time.

M240 -P / 35mm Summilux FLE 

JZG

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[John Z. Goriup]

Aluminum-alloy body by Fantuzzi ( who also bodied many a Testa Rossa for Ferrari ), hence there are a few similaritiues between the two groups of cars.

This is a particularly nice specimen and is one of gthe first examples of the newly formed Maserati Classiche program, an effort by the factory to not so much physically restore classic / historic Maseratis, but to offer any and all technical & historical assistance to ensure adherence to how the cars looked and performed when they were fielded by the factory back in the day.

JZG

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[John Z. Goriup]

As I feel is the case with most cars like this from the 'golden age of motorsports, the motor is the heart & soul of the thing, the raison d'etre, as it were. 3.0 liter capacity, largely based on the engine from the 250 F Formula 1 racer, but with the bore enlarged & compression ratio reduced from 12.5:1 to 9.5 to allow use of available road fuels. Hemisperical chamber head, chain-driven twin overhead cams, triple valve springs, triple Weber 45 DCO3 carbs,  dry-sump oiling system & Multi-plate clutch.

The sound alone going down a long straight is sufficient reason to cross the country just to hear this jewel.

JZG

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[John Z. Goriup]

Beautifully proportioned, fast & effective.............too bad Maserati was financially struggling at the time and simply couldn't get on top of the dismal reliability issue that plagued all their cars during that time.

JZG

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[John Z. Goriup]

The rear compartment, containing the hand-made fuel & oil tanks & the DeDion rear axle with the integral gearbox. Magnificently done, but alas, unable to finish so many races due to something breaking or failing.

JZG

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[John Z. Goriup]

The final image of this set, a rear view of the beautifully rounded, tidy & clean tail............ not a trace of Kamm theory aerodynamics to aid in managing the airflow, such as was in place in the Tipo 61 ( Birdcage ) design, which became Maserati's mainstay sports racer just a couple of years later.

Thanks for looking, 

JZG

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[John Z. Goriup]

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A final footnote. Later that same vintage racing weekend a couple of years ago, another 300S with racing provenance was being paraded about at various venues, so that potential buyers could inspect the car prior to it being offered for sale at aucion by one of the premier houses. In this case however the seller had the car stripped of paint to be able to look anyone squarley in the face in view of the reserve being set at what at the time was the highest price for a 300S ( U.S. $2.6 Million if I recall correctly ).

I admit to being somewhat shocked to see that a fabled firm such as Maserati built their team cars to such an appaling standard, but then, when you consider how close to the edge of the grave they were dancing at the time, it makes perfect sense that they would use whatever available scrap pieces of aluminum from other cars were laying about to weld together sheets large enough for their needs, instead of buying virgin new sheets of aluminum.........God knows what #6 looks like under that very difficult to photograph red paint.

JZG

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[pippy]

Beautiful snaps of a beautiful machine.

Thanks for posting them and for our subsequent enjoyment!

Philip.

[stuny]

Fabulous as usual.

[zeitz]

I have never seen a Fantuzzi-bodied Ferrari without paint.  Where the Ferrari bodies any better?

I love those Italian quick release caps for fuel/oil.  Oddly, I don't think there is any current production of those caps.  I am having an Alfa Romeo GT converted to the thru-the-trunk-lid fuel filling.  Fortunately Roman Tucker (Roman Auto Prep) is able to make those caps.

[250swb]

On 7/16/2020 at 5:01 PM, zeitz said:

I have never seen a Fantuzzi-bodied Ferrari without paint.  Where the Ferrari bodies any better?

I love those Italian quick release caps for fuel/oil.  Oddly, I don't think there is any current production of those caps.  I am having an Alfa Romeo GT converted to the thru-the-trunk-lid fuel filling.  Fortunately Roman Tucker (Roman Auto Prep) is able to make those caps.

No Ferrari bodies were no better, the outer surface was filed down smooth and the inner surface was covered in thick paint or bitumin to disguise the hammer blows. This is because the 'English Wheel' wasn't generally used in Italian coach building. So for the era a Jaguar D Type could be painted with little smoothing and the underside left raw aluminium and the Ferrari's and Maserati's relied on gloopy blackness to disguise flaws.

[250swb]

The other thing to consider in body construction is that even if it was a customer car, a race car wasn't expected to be useful after no more than two years, then it would be sold off down the chain. Generally it is the privateers who saved these cars, and there are photos of the Ferrari junk yard that would make anybody cry because they just didn't have the same 'sell it quick' attitude of Maserati. It was a throw away culture. So in the 1950s the English Wheel for forming aluminium was the easy option for craftsmen who had used it during WWII, far better and quicker than a hammer and dolly. And the Americans took it on as well and made some of the most amazing and immaculate handmade bodywork ever seen for their race cars in the 50's. While fantastic race cars Ferrari's and Maserati's in the day were never expected to be long term 'investments'.

Edited July 18, 2020 by 250swb

[John Z. Goriup]

On 7/18/2020 at 12:58 PM, 250swb said:

The other thing to consider in body construction is that even if it was a customer car, a race car wasn't expected to be useful after no more than two years, then it would be sold off down the chain. Generally it is the privateers who saved these cars, and there are photos of the Ferrari junk yard that would make anybody cry because they just didn't have the same 'sell it quick' attitude of Maserati. It was a throw away culture. So in the 1950s the English Wheel for forming aluminium was the easy option for craftsmen who had used it during WWII, far better and quicker than a hammer and dolly. And the Americans took it on as well and made some of the most amazing and immaculate handmade bodywork ever seen for their race cars in the 50's. While fantastic race cars Ferrari's and Maserati's in the day were never expected to be long term 'investments'.

He's right, you know..........race cars were considered the very reason for the existence of firms such as Ferrari and Maserati, but always being considered mere tools, they were kept functional but presentable. and most importantly, affordable. The road cars on the other hand capitalizedon & reflected the glories of racing successes and brought in the money to support the racing efforts, therefore had to be premium products in every respect to justify the eye-watering prices being asked. Ferrari was especially conscious of that fact and up until '68, when the road car portion of Ferrari S.p.a.was 'rescued by FIAT's Gianni Agnelli insisted that his road cars used the finest materials and design available.

Here's an image of a rare alloy-bodied 275 GTB/4 long-nose  barn-find that a lucky gentleman came across, bought and before starting to enjoy it on the track, had the original faded paint stripped from it in preparation to a total restoration, but when he saw the quality of Carrozzeria Scaglietti's construction decided to campaign it 'au naturel' for a while.

JZG

  

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[250swb]

6 minutes ago, John Z. Goriup said:

The road cars on the other hand capitalizedon & reflected the glories of racing successes and brought in the money to support the racing efforts, therefore had to be premium products in every respect to justify the eye-watering prices being asked.

  

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But for the anecdote of Enzo Ferrari confronting a customer complaining about rust on his near new car, Ferrari said in no uncertain terms 'I don't sell cars, I sell engines! The cars are free because something has to hold the engine in!'