ee80efa: Maserati Quattroporte

##title##

In the early 1960s, Maserati's reputation was at a high. With growing sales, Prince Karim Aga Khan ordered a special Maserati 5000 WP, chassis no. 103,060, designed by Pietro Frua. The following year, Maserati showed the first-generation Quattroporte of 1963, which bore a striking resemblance to the earlier drawing. While the design was by Frua, construction was carried out by Vignale.

The Maserati Quattroporte

Image Credits - Maserati
This, the 1963 'Tipo 107' Quattroporte, joined two other notable grand tourers, the Facel Vega and the Lagonda Rapide, which could comfortably do 200 km/h (124 mph) on the new motorways of Europe. However, the Quattroporte could be said to have been the first car specifically designed for this purpose.

Maserati Quattroporte

It was equipped with a 4.1 L (4,136 cc/252 cuin) V8 engine, producing 256 hp (SAE) (191 kW) at 5,600 rpm, and either a five-speed ZF manual transmission or a three-speed automatic. Maserati claimed a top speed of 230 km/h (143 mph).

Maserati Quattroporte Rental

In 1966, Maserati revised the Tipo 107, adding twin headlights (already on the US model) and, from 1968, a 4.7 L, 295 hp (SAE) (220 kW) engine. Top speed increased to a claimed 255 km/h (160 mph). Around 500 of the second series were made, for a total of 776 Tipo 107 Quattroportes. Production stopped in 1969.

Maserati Quattroporte

2008 Maserati Quattroporte

In 1971, Karim Aga Khan ordered another special on the Maserati Indy platform. Rory Brown was the chief engineer. It received the well known 4.9 litre V8 engine (Tipo 107/49), producing 300 PS (221 kW). Carrozzeria Frua clothed the car, the prototype of which was displayed in Paris 1971 and Geneva 1972. The car was production ready, even receiving its own chassis code (AM 121), but Citroën used their influence to have Maserati to develop the SM-based Quattroporte II instead. In the end only two were finished, chassis #004 was sold by Maserati to the Aga Khan in 1974 and the prototype #002 went to the King of Spain, who bought his directly from Frua.

maserati quattroporte

Maserati \x26middot; Quattroporte \x26middot; 3

Maserati Quattroporte
In 1974, at the Turin Show, Maserati presented its Quattroporte II (AM 123) on an extended Citroën SM chassis, available since Citroën had purchased the Italian company. It had sparse and slick Bertone bodywork, penned by Marcello Gandini and fashionable at the time, and was the only Maserati Quattroporte to feature hydropneumatic suspension and front wheel drive. It also had the swivelling directional headlights à la SM/DS. However, the 1973 oil crisis intervened. This, combined with the collapse of the Citroën/Maserati relationship, made Maserati unable to gain EEC approval for the car. Most of the cars built were thus sold in the Middle East and in Spain, where such type approval wasn't necessary.

Maserati Quattroporte

Maserati Quattroporte

Furthermore, the front-wheel drive layout and the modest V6 3.0L powerplant based on the Citroën SM engine didn't attract many customers. Its 210 PS (154 kW) at 5,500 rpm was barely enough to propel the 1,600 kg (3,500 lb) car to 200 km/h (124 mph). Maserati's traditional customers simply wouldn't consider the car a true Maserati. Maserati made 13 Quattroporte IIs. While the prototype was built in 1974, the succeeding twelve cars were built to order between 1976 and 1978. The nearly stillborn Quattroporte II project was very costly for the small company, which found itself in debt to the tune of four billion lire by the end of 1978.