Maserati – A6 1500 GT

Vehicle Overview

During the War the Maserati brothers continued the development work, which concentrated around a new six cylinder engine. In remembrance of their late brother Alfieri, the new engine was known internally as the A6. Simplicity of the design was key, as the engine was intended for a production car; the initial fixed cylinder head was quickly discarded because the performance advantage did not make up for the increased complexity. A novel feature was the valvetrain, which used rockers to actuate the valves and allowed for easy valve adjustments. In 1946 two conventional oval-tube frames were constructed for the new 1500 cc engine. The chassis were suspended by wishbones at the front and a live axle at the rear. Pinin Farina was commissioned to body the first chassis while Zagato was responsible for the second chassis. Dubbed the ‘1500 Gran Turismo’, the new car debuted at the 1947 Geneva Motorshow with the Pinin Farina Berlinetta body. Similar in design to the legendary Cisitalia coupes, the new Maserati was an obvious highlight of the show. A year later at the Turin show, a slightly more civilized, but equally appealing Pinin Farina design was debuted, which would form the basis of the production cars.