1957 Maserati 250S

In 1937, the Maserati brothers sold their shares of the company to the Orsi family from Modena and the headquarters were moved from Bologna to Modena. Part of the agreement stated that the Maserati brothers stay with the company for another decade performing duties as engineers. After their ten-year agreement expired in 1948, they left the company and formed OSCA.

Maserati was left without a chief engineer but did retain a newly developed straight-six engine, courtesy of the Maserati brothers. It was a good starting point with a 1.5-liter displacement size and 65 horsepower. Introduced in 1947, the Maserati A6 wore coachwork by Pinin Farina and was powered by the 1.5-liter single overhead camshaft engine backed by a four-speed gearbox. It used a steel tubular frame that was suspended by a front wishbone suspension with a live axle setup in the rear. After slow sales, the engine displacement grew to two liters and horsepower rose to 100 bhp. Several new body styles were created but sales remained sluggish.

In 1953, Maserati was joined by Gioacchino Colombo who had formerly worked with Ferrari. Colombo modified the engine with dual-spark ignition, a double overhead cam valve train, and numerous other improvements resulting in nearly 200 horsepower. In this guise, the engine was used to power the third iteration of the A6 known as the A6G/54 and the Maserati 250F, which in the hands of Juan Manuel Fangio won the Argentine Grand Prix on its debut.

Development continued in efforts to keep pace with the titans of the industry, including Alfa Romeo, Mercedes-Benz, and Ferrari. Porsche had taken a different approach, focusing its development on the 1.5-liter sports car class which lacked significant competition from any manufacturers other than the Maserati-brother's OSCA. Taking advantage of this scenario, Maserati began work on the Tipo 53 project utilizing the 4CF2 engine, which displaced just under 1,500 cubic centimeters. Over time, the engine was enlarged to displace two liters for the succeeding 200S and 200SI models. Although showing tremendous potential, the models were never fully developed as Maserati was increasingly preoccupied with the six-cylinder 300S sports racers.

After the Maserati 200S models first arrived on American shores, some owners immediately complained about its lack of power. As the United States market was very important for Maserati and provided much-needed cash flow to the company's costly international racing efforts, the company responded by increasing the engine capacity to 2.5 liters. The first example was the 200S chassis number 2409, fitted with the 2.5-liter engine and brought to the Buenos Aires 1000 km on January 20th of 1957. Fangio drove the 2,489cc car, called the 250S during practice, and set some of the best laps times of the day, beating Ferrari's 3.5-liter V12 cars. Despite its speed, the 250S still required further development before properly entering a race. The 300S continued to dominate Maserati's agenda and eventually led to the cancellation of its race program altogether following the 1957 season.

Only four examples of the 250S were ever built, with three of the four cars featuring an enlarged version of engines that originally displaced two-liters. It is believed that only chassis number 2432 was originally built with a displacement of 2,489 cubic centimeters. The others began life with engines that were 200SI-specification motors. Two of the 250S examples, chassis numbers 2431 and 2432, were sold in early 1958 to Hall-Shelby Distributors, in Dallas, Texas. They were campaigned by Hall and Shelby during the 1958 season's early events.

The twin-cam engine with dry-sump lubrication delivered 235 horsepower and was backed by a five-speed manual gearbox. The steel tube frame chassis had an independent front suspension with coil springs, deDion rear axle with transverse leaf springs, and four-wheel hydraulic drum brakes.

by Daniel Vaughan | Sep 2014