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1959 Maserati Tipo 61/60 Courtesy Russo and Steele |
Scottsdale, Arizona, is a mecca in January for classic car
collectors, with several sales going on. One of the biggest, and possibly the
one with the most North American cars, is Russo and Steele’s, scheduled this
year for January 15-19. Several of the featured cars for this auction are race
cars or at least have a racing connection, so I thought I’d take a look at a
few over the next several days.
Obviously a Maserati is NOT a North American car, but since
I was just talking about the Maserati centennial, I thought I’d start with this
“bird cage” Tipo 61 (VIN 2459). At the time, Maserati was building race cars
for sale, as opposed to running their own team. The Tipo 60 and 61 both debuted
in 1959, the 60 with a 2.0 litre, 200 hp, four-cylinder engine, the 61 with a
3.0 litre, 250 hp engine. Doesn’t sound like a lot, but with their light
aluminum tube frame, these cars were competitive.
According to Russo and Steele, only 22 bird cage Maseratis
were built, yet they won nearly (their word, not mine) 170 victories from 1959
to 1967, including the 1960 Nurburgring race. Accidents and modifications
reduced the number of wholly original examples to one. Nope, this isn’t it, but
it’s still a very rare car with an interesting history.
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1959 Maserati Tipo 61/60 Courtesy Russo and Steele |
This particular car was commissioned by American Briggs Cunningham, who not only raced himself, but owned racing teams. The car was
kept in racing condition by Alfred Momo and driven by, among others, Augie
Pabst and Walt Hansgen. Pabst crashed the car during a practice session for the
1962 Daytona 3-hour Continental.
Several years afterwards, a lengthy restoration was carried
out. A new frame was built, as was a new 2.0 litre engine (with many original
parts), turning the 61 into a 60. Some original parts do remain, the rest were
made from original drawings or copied from original parts. Documentation exists
for all of the repairs/restoration. The car may no longer be what you or I
would consider original, but the UK Motor Sports Association granted it an
Historic Technical Passport in 2010, when restoration was complete. The car has
been invited to one of the Maserati centennial events, the 2014 Amelia Island
Concours d’Elegance.
Car show car or vintage racer? Tough call. Guess that all
depends on who buys it.
[SOURCES: Russo and Steele, Wikipedia]
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