Heat & light

The Maserati A6G/54 is a thinly disguised racer with just enough civility for the road - beautifully wrapped in ultra-lightweight Zagato bodywork. Peter Tomalin is treated to a rare thrill 

Maserati and Zagato.

Two of the most revered and storied names in our small corner of the universe. Both have suffered the odd misfire, but at the peaks of their powers they had an aura and an ability to inspire desire like few others. And when their talents converged in the mid-’S0s, the results were little short of transcendental. The masterpiece you see here is a Maserati A6G/54 Zagato, and I think I might be in love.

The A6 series was the first fruit of Maserati’s post-war flowering. The earliest cars were pure racers but the series evolved and expanded to include GT cars, of which the A6G/54 signifying the year of its introduction) was the ultimate evolution. A mere 63 were built, and various coachbuilders clothed the rolling chassis produced by Maserati. They included Frua and Allemano, but the Zagato berlinettas are and were especially valued for their streamlined forms and low weight always the two key Zagato traits). Many were raced in-period on such events as the Tour de France and Giro de Sicilia while doubling as road cars.

Under the skin they were closely related to the fabulous A6GCS racer, with a lightweight tubular steel chassis and race-proven braking, steering and suspension components. And at their heart was a 2.0-litre all-alloy straight-six with twin overhead camshafts, distantly related to the Formula 2 race engine designed by Gioacchino Colombo but developed by Vittorio Bellentani to make it more suitable for road use. That meant employing chainrather than gear-driven camshafts, wetrather than dry-sump lubrication, revised cam profiles, distributor ignition in place of a magneto, and various other changes, all to make it more civilised, less raucous and less high-maintenance. Maserati claimed 150bhp; even allowing for the usual period hyperbole, that was quite something from just two litres.