1954 Maserati A6 GCS

The Maserati A6 Series was produced between 1947 and 1956 in various configurations including racing sports cars, single seaters, and grand tourers. The 1.5-liter straight-six engine was based on the pre-war Maserati 6CM and first appeared in the A6 Sport or Tipo 6CS/46.

The A6 GCS two-seater used a 2.0-liter straight six engine delivering 120 horsepower. The 'G' represented Ghisa, inexpensive cast iron block and the 'CS' was in reference to Corsa & Sports. The Maserati brothers had sold their company to the Orsi family in 1937, but Ernesto's project survived with the A6 1500 assuming its road-car form, and the A6GCS and A6GCM respectively performing sports and grand prix racing duties. Instead of following the original plan, the engine was made of aluminum.

In 1952, engineer Gioacchino Colombo was hired by Maserati and tasked with fine-tuning the A6GCS. Colombo worked on the engine, gave it twin-plug ignition, larger valves, and dual cam actuation. He replaced the first-series sports chassis with a monoposto chassis, which was widened to accommodate two seats. Nearly all examples wore barchetta coachwork designed by Fantuzzi. Over the following two years, 52 examples of the A6GCS/53 were built. An additional four berlinettas and one spider were designed by Aldo Brovarone at Pinin Farina for Guglielmo Dei who had acquired six chassis. Additionally, Vignale also made one spider and Frua made three Spider bodies.

At the 1953 Targa Florio, the A6GCS/53 finished in 2nd and 3rd place, following by a 2nd at the 12 Hours of Pescara, and winning several races at circuits like Caserta, Avellino, and the Giro dell' Umbria.

The A6GCS/53 was eventually replaced by the four-cylinder engined 200S. During its racing career, the A6GCS/53 was raced by many of the era's most famous drivers, Juan Manuel Fangio, Roy Salvadori, and Marquis de Portago.

by Daniel Vaughan | Dec 2019