1957 Maserati 450 S Spyder

Under the guidance of Adolfo Orsi, the recently acquired Maserati marque created many of the fastest and most visually appealing sports-racing machines of the 1950s. First with the A6G/54 coupes, progressing to the 200S and 300S racecars, before plateauing with the hand-built 450S competition sports car. This progression of powerful and aesthetically arresting models vied for the Italian and World Sportscar Championships, all while the company teetered on the brink of insolvency. The blistering pace of progression of the company's sports racing program far outpaced its meager advances in production automobiles, eventually leading to the cancelation of its racing program to focus on more profitable endeavors.

American privateer team owner Tony Parravano commissioned Maserati in 1956 to build him a pair of 4.2-liter V-8 engines that he intended to use at the Indianapolis 500, as well as a third 4.5-liter V-8 to be used for sports car racing. The influx of cash motivated Modena's engineers to revive a nascent V-8 design that had been shelved with the horsepower de-escalation that followed the disastrous accident at Le Mans in 1955. The development was overseen by engineer Guido Taddeucci and the project was completed during May 1956. Using a 350S (chassis number 3501), the frame was lengthened by 40 millimeters to accommodate the longer engine block.

At the Swedish Grand Prix in July 1956, the prototype was tested during the practice session quickly revealing the engine was too powerful for the chassis and the brakes. Valerio Colloti was tasked with creating a purpose-built chassis that could cope with the 4.2-liter V8, and Medardo Fantuzzi was tasked with the spider coachwork. Another more successful test session revealed the marriage to work, with the chassis performing flawlessly and the slippery coachwork complimenting the performance of the engine. Journalist Denis Jenkinson timed Jean Behra reaching a speed of 181 mph.

The first 450S example completed for customer delivery was chassis number 4502, for Parravano, and was completed in late October 1956. Two factory examples followed (4501 and 4503) and intended to compete in the World Sportscar Championship. Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio quickly outpace the competition at the season-opening Buenos Aires 1000 KM in January 1957, until they were eventually side-lined due to a broken clutch linkage caused the gearbox to fail.

American team bosses Jim Kimberly and John Edgar placed orders for cars of their own following a victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring by Jean Behra and Fangio. The success of the 450S, particularly Edgar's car (chassis number 4506) which was driven by Carroll Shelby to numerous wins, prompted further orders, with total production reaching 10 cars by early 1958. Perhaps more would have been built if overwhelming financial difficulties had not caused the company to cancel its numerous racing endeavors and focus solely on the development of a marketable production road car.

Chassis 4509
Chassis number 4509 is the penultimate 450S and was ordered new through Carroll Shelby's Texas-based sports car business by Jesse 'Ebb' Rose, a privateer racing driver and owner of the J.H. Rose Truck Line Company of Houston, Texas. At this point in history, Mr. Rose already owned two Maserati 300S examples.

Chassis number 4905 was completed in late January 1958 and was delivered in mid-April by Shelby himself to the Galveston airport, where it would participate in an SCCA Regional race called the Gran Carrera Lafitte. Shelby drove the car in a warm-up/demonstration lap before handing the reigns to Mr. Rose who finished 1st in both the seven-lap sprint and the 20-lap main event. This victory led to a sponsorship agreement with Micro-Lube, a manufacturer of oil and fuel additives based in Dallas. Subsequently, the rosso coachwork was repainted in the company colors of blue and white, and decorative script was added to each side reading 'Micro-Lube Special.'

With the new livery, the car was driven o victory at the Eagle Mountain SCCA Regional event at Fort Worth, again winning both races. Another victory followed in November at the Hammond, Louisiana, regional races.

For the 1959 season, the 450S competed in the USAC Road Racing Championship for sports cars, with the first two outings (Pomona and Daytona) resulting in early retirements. Lloyd Ruby found success behind the wheel at the Meadowdale circuit north of Chicago, where it finished 2nd in May, 3rd in July, 1st in sprints in September, and 2nd again a day later. At the Los Angeles Times Grand Prix at Riverside, California in October 1959, the Maserati again finished 2nd, propelling Ruby to an impressive 2nd-place finish in the final USAC driver's standings for 1959.

The car's final competitive outing was in April 1960 at Riverside where it failed to finish the race. By this point in history, the car was outclassed by a new breed of sports cars. It was sold in September 1960 to Frank Harrison of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and it joined two other 450S examples in his collection. His mechanic, California resident Jerry Eisart, sold the car four years later to an unidentified buyer. By May 1965 the Maserati factory tracked ownership of the car to Richard Fellowes - a principal at a dealership in Slough, England - and the car was temporarily fitted with the engine from chassis number 4508.

The Maserati 450S was later acquired by John Ailwyn Fellowes, 4th Baron de Ramsey who treated it to a full restoration by Trevor Stokes. During this process, the Maserati's numbers-matching engine was sourced and re-installed. Five years later the car was acquired by Bob Sutherland of Colorado who retained it until 1986 when it was sold to Japanese collector Yoshiyuki Hayashi, by which time it had been repainted in the proper original rosso. It would pass through several U.K.-based dealers in mid-1995 before entering the care of German collector Peter Groh. A year later, he sold the car to Myron Schuster of Bedford, New York, who soon commissioned a comprehensive restoration.

Scott Rosen - also of Bedford - acquired the 450S in 2002. In 2006, it was shown at the Palm Beach Concours d'Elegance and the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance.

The car was owned by the Oscar Davis collection when it was brought to auction in 2022.

By Daniel Vaughan | Jan 2023

The 450S probably was the fastest Maserati sports car ever made. Built to challenge V12-equipped Ferrari sports racing cars, the Maserati 450S bore a front-mounted 4.5-liter V8 engine capable of rocketing the car from a standing start to 100 mph in eleven seconds. The four-overhead cam engine produced 400-420 horsepower and had a top speed of 193 mph.

The lightly modified 300S chassis originally provided was not adequate to harness the phenomenal performance of the engine, so a new tubular chassis was built. The 450S won the Sebring 12 Hours and Swedish Grand Prix but had to retire from other races because of mechanical problems. Both works cars crashed in the final 1957 event, the Venezuelan Grand Prix. When a three-liter limit was imposed on 1958 world sport-car competition, Maserati withdrew from motor racing.