Official Maserati 100 years gathering

I posted around 200 photos on Shutterfly. I do not use Shutterfly too often and do not know why the slide shows displays the images in reverse chronological order.

https://maseraticentennial.shutterfly.com/

In addition to the Centennial events there are a few photos taken at the Turin Car Museum (very nice) and Museo Casa Enzo Ferrari (superb!).

Ivan

 

Thanks for posting these Ivan. I recognize a few folks ...

I think you guys had fun am I right?

 

Great Pictures! But it didn't seem very crowded at the Square? Were the public not allowed to see the cars?

 

The public was allowed to see the cars up close and personal at Pizza Grande in Modena but not in Torino. Piazza San Carlo in Torino is a very nice location for a car show.

Ivan

 

All in all i think the event was worth attending but had lots of potential to be much better.
The packages were very overpriced but this is no news here. The dinner felt like a promo event for grand turismo clients who got invited by their local dealers. Met some lovely people and we sure had lots of fun but yes, certainly not a club event.

Posted some pics in my little online diary
Http://on-offtrack.tumblr.com

We arrived in venice a few hours ago. The Indy has covered over 2500km in the last week and is running like it was born for it which i assume it was.
Understand that some are scared to drive in Italy though. The roads are quite bad and the attitude of other people on the road aggressive. My impression so far.

The tour from Modena to Turin was nice. Quite a long trip though so everyone was quite exhausted in the evening.

 

Your car looks very nice in that color and clearly was a welcomed addition to the event!

 

More of my photos taken at Piazza San Carlo.
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More photos.
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FMG, Dirk and Ivan for your post. no QP1, 3 or BiTurbo's?

 

As far as i remember there were 2 QP1, one being the Maserati factory car which was driven by Fabio Collina and Ermanno Cozza. 2 QP3 were there as well. One of them already covered 480000km which was quite impressive.
So far i think the only car missing was a Kyalami plus all the rare 50s A6Gs etc.
No Biturbos or QP4. Some Ghibli 2 were around.

Briefly spoke to Matteo Panini about the event and he also sounded critical about the elitist, overpriced approach.

An open to everyone kind of gathering at a racetrack would have been preferred in his opinion.

It seemed Maserati clearly wanted to erase the De Tomaso era from their history

 

+1
FGM

 

There was a 90's Barchetta in one set of photos I saw? Any Shamals? Clearly they weren't forbidden.

It's funny, at the last one of these I attended in 94 the event was used to announce the QPIV to the public. That was in Cortina, in Modena and at Monza too. The track choice was a bit more prestigious back then. They even had Maria Teresa de Filippis at all those locations demonstrating it.

I expect that the pricing of the event culled quite a few of the early and ratty Biturbo cars. Maybe that's what they were worried about? Over here there are very few which are in the sort of condition to attend an event like this. Much of any event really.

 

There were several things I found very strange:

1. The three MC12s seemed to be glorified. They were top and center at all the events. I would agree that the MC12 is a significant car but unless Maserati is secretly working on its follow on, this is a car with no future.

2. The future is the Alfieri and the Levante ... yet neither prototype was displayed. Why?

3. Where were the "special" cars? Other than Matteo's lovely A6GCS, a 5000GT and the Mexico prototype the rest were production cars. Amelia Island, Pebble Beach and Goodwood all had very significant cars ... why not at the Centennial Celebration?


Ivan

 

This event was clearly catered for the international press and not for Maserati owners. Owners that brought their cars provided Maserati with free "entertainment" for the Press; at the owner's expense. Those of us without a car at the event were completely useless as far as Maserati was concerned and therefore treated as a nuisance.

We were a group of 24 people and spent 10 days touring Italy before the Centennial event. We had a GREAT time during our tour with lots of food, great hotels and plenty of wine. Italy is always a great place to visit and you cannot beat the scenery and friendly people.

I was hoping the Centennial celebration would turn out better but I was mentally prepared for the reality that happened. Had I made a special trip just to attend this event I would have been very disappointed. I am just glad that we do not have to go though another of these events for 100 years

It is sad to say but I am now much more inclined to buy a new Jaguar F type coupe that I was just two weeks ago.

Ivan

 

Well if you're talking about the R version then Maserati doesn't really have anything like that and probably won't for quite some time.

I've heard similar opinions about being disappointed and some were far more than disappointed. Perhaps that's why more of the special models failed to show up?

It almost looks like whomever planned and executed this 100th didn't really understand the 100 years of Maserati all that well? They are focused on selling new cars after all ...

Good that your group prepared properly and had a great time.

I've always wanted to see Panini's collection.

 

So bad...

So, a chance that my car was not yet ready !!

Finally.

 

Are all about making money. Not history. That is the very reason for the Fiat shakeup. Any measure of common sense would have allowed history to have a real place at this event. I agree that disappointment would have been a major understatement. Ivan do you have a list of the places the group went and stayed at as well as food stops?

 

Hmmm...do I want to go to a Fiat marketing event around brand number X Maserati or do I want to go to the south of France NOW with a beautiful Russian girl....let me think....Oops Svitlana is calling from the car sorry Fiat got to go

One week without computer what bliss all the best till then everybody!

Marc

 

French Girls are not Beautiful ??!!??

 

We returned yesterday from 2 weeks in Italy. When I first planned the trip, I thought we would participate in everything, but after the details came out and we were told the Modena dinner was sold out I changed our plans.

We did attend the Bologna photo op at the statue of Neptune and the concours in Turin. It was nice to see a group of Maseratis and we most likely would not have seen those cities if it were not for the Maserati events. As an additional thing to do while there it was fun but I would have been pissed if it was the main reason for the trip.

Regarding the originality/restoration issue, I think that Maserati should not have termed the Turin event as a "Concours." As a showing of the cars that made the trip it was perfectly fine, but the expectation was of a factory sponsored concours and as such it was a disappointment.

In the end, these mis-steps are ones of the management and fortunately does not lessen my appreciation for the cars - past and hopefully future!

 

The comments and photos from those attending are insightful and much appreciated. I believe that many of the disappointments directly arise from the company’s willingness to leave much of the management of its heritage in the hands of the ubiquitous bearded man.

Given the handling of the Centennial, to which I had once considered bringing my A6 1500, I’m delighted to have sold the car a few weeks earlier through Bonhams at Monterey. Five years of research and extravagant expenditure had produced what I might with confidence claim to be the only authentically restored example of its type, yet the bearded man could only remark “too big tires” as he dashed through the preview tent.

There is a consistent theme here. Ivan observes “tons of restoration mistakes” among the cars at the Centennial. Regarding A6 1500s, the example depicted in “the Official Book”, Maserati: A Century of History, chassis #061, has a completely inauthentic interior and innumerable other incorrect details; it had also been displayed in the galleria at the Ferrari factory in 2011. The class-winning A6 1500 at this month’s Salon Prive, chassis #108, has an equally inauthentic interior and other details - and sure enough, in a photo of the judges on another thread in this forum, there sits the bearded man.

In 2009 I had the great pleasure of visiting an outstanding private collection of Maseratis in Texas, yet despite being near the start of my own Maserati journey I noticed a variety of inauthentic details on the earlier cars that had been restored in Italy - under the supervision of this bearded man. Of course I did not engage him to consult upon my own restoration. Of course my uniquely historic, authentic and freshly restored A6 1500 was not accepted for Pebble Beach - where the bearded man guided the selection committee for the Maserati class.

No hard feelings, bearded man - I dislike crowds, Bonham’s obtained an excellent price, and you were at least right about the tires. While at the Quail I was also able to examine yet another inauthentically restored A6 1500, chassis #078.

Ferrari and other manufacturers have wisely realized that the value of their historic brands is dependent upon the integrity and authenticity of surviving artifacts. It’s sad that the often-great brand of Maserati has become so dependant for historical interpretation upon the idiosyncrasies, biases and limitations of one individual. This doesn’t yet seem to have had any appreciable impact on sales, but Ivan is certainly not alone in his increased interest in a Jaguar.

Addio, Maserati.

 

CW,

Ayatollahs are everywhere.

And they cannot cancel our Passion, Pleasure, Abnegation.

One day or another, we'll get them.

But, pls, never abdict.

If you'll do, they'll win.

In French, for speaking about that kind of jerks, I use to say :

"ceux ne sont pas ceux qui ont les plus grandes oreilles qui entendent le mieux".

 

PM,

D'accord, but there are alternatives available. Why should I dedicate my passion and expenditures towards an older Maserati, when the company's de facto expert is either unwilling or unable to uphold even basic standards for the preservation of authenticity ? And why should I acquire a new car that is rather slower and less sophisticated than its competition, when the heritage that could make it seem more special is treated with such carelessness ? It is I who would lose. I am not Quixote . . .

Like you I prefer to enjoy my cars in the garden with friends, and on carefully considered drives, but these cars are not independent and perfect objects. For their better enjoyment there should be an infrastructure of support and enthusiasm. In the case of Maserati, it seems that le poisson commence toujours à pourer par la tête.

Best wishes for the conclusion of your restorations.

 

Can somewhat understand the frustration about the general feel of the event.
Nevertheless it was nice to meet some fellow enthusiasts and see some beautiful cars that also get driven and not only hidden in the garage.

Returned to berlin last night after driving the Indy 3500km in 10 days.
Except for the broken door key and the flat tire it all went well and it was pure pleasure to experience what this car was made for. Never got tired of the sound or feel. Very comfortable ride and it luckily it has enough space to carry all the delicacies we picked up in italy.

Driving at an average speed of 160km/h / 3500rpm (only in germany of course) it used about 14 liters of petrol. No abnormal use of oil or water, no overheating.
So far the Indy has covered more miles this year than in the previous 25 years.

Hope all the others who came with their car also had a good trip back home.

Dirk