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The Maserati Boomerang
Christies Exceptional Motor Cars at
Retromobile, Paris - Saturday 12th February 2005 |
International and European collectors turned out in force for Christies' fourth sale at the 'Salon Rétromobile'. Italian sporting marques were in great demand; the Maserati Boomerang (lot 119) fetched €781.250, a 1955 OSCA MT4-2AD (lot 111) found a buyer at €396.250 and a 1929 OM (lot 125) exceeded all expectations at €111.625. A collection of Automobilia put up for sale without a reserve, saw some fascinating battles amongst the collectors present, realising three times the estimate with a total of €125.714", declared sale specialists Philip Kantor and Rupert Banner.
LOT 119 - 1972 Maserati Boomerang - Ex-Turin et Genève salons de l'automobile
ESTIMATION/ESTIMATE: €700.000-800.000
PRIX/PRICE: €781.250 - GB £539.063 - US $1.006.641
ACHETEUR/BUYER: - Collectionneur européen/European collector
LOT 111 - 1955 OSCA MT4-2AD - Voiture du Salon de Turin
ESTIMATION/ESTIMATE: €350.000-450.000
PRIX/PRICE: €396.250 - GB £273.413 - US $510.568
ACHETEUR/BUYER: - Collectionneur américain/American collector |
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LOT 119 - The ex-Turin Motorshow and Geneva Salon
MASERATI BOOMERANG
Year 1972
Chassis No. 081
Engine No. 902
ENGINE: mid-mounted eight cylinder in V, two overhead camshafts per bank, 4,719 cc, 310 hp.
GEARBOX: five speed full synchromesh, rear wheel drive.
SUSPENSION Front and Rear: independent, coil springs and telescopic shock absorbers.
BRAKES: four wheel ventilated disc, power-assisted.
Left-hand drive.
COACHWORK: Italdesign, two-tone metallic grey with blue lettering and maroon leather interior.
GIORGETTO GIUGIARO
Son and grandson of well known Italian figurative artists, Giorgetto Giugiaro was naturally destined for an artistic future. During his studies at the Turin Art School, he enjoyed drawing caricatures of cars and they were displayed at an end-of-year school show. Dante Giacosa, the Technical Director of Fiat, happened to see them, immediately spotted his talent and in 1955, had Giorgetto join the company's Styling Office. In 1959, at the age of only 21, he was offered the position of manager of the Bertone Styling Centre and from here he designed spectacular coachwork for Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Jaguar, Maserati and other reputed marques. After six highly intense years, he moved to Ghia but, though he felt the experience was rewarding, he was actually stirred by a need for greater independence and launched his own company, Ital Styling, at the end of 1967. This was changed into Italdesign one year later and is now one of the leading players in the field of automobile design. The importance of Giorgetto Giugiaro's work was acknowledged in 2000, when he was awarded the supreme title of "Car designer of the century" by a panel of 120 journalists from around the world.
MASERATI BOOMERANG
The Maserati Boomerang was first displayed as a non-functional model at the Turin Motor Show in 1971. By the Geneva Salon in March 1972, it had been transformed into a fully operational vehicle. The mechanics were borrowed from Maserati, the engine being the race-bred V8 of 4.7 litre, developing no less than 310 hp and good for an indicated top speed of 300 km/h. One journalist observed it looked as though it was doing a hundred miles an hour standing still! It was then, until 1974, successively shown at the Paris, London and Barcelona motor shows and was unanimously praised for its audacity.
Unlike now, it was not uncommon for manufacturers and coachbuilders to sell their concept cars when they had served their purpose. After the Barcelona show, the Boomerang remained in Spain and was eventually sold to a cabaret owner in Benidorm. The former owner a noted Maserati enthusiast discovered it there during a holiday trip in 1980 and could not resist the temptation of buying it as he had first seen the car eight years earlier and had only able to purchase a model of it. After a careful restoration, it re-appeared for the first time in the 1990 Bagatelle Concours in Paris, where Giorgetto Giugiaro was a judge and proudly hand-signed the rear panel. Since then the Boomerang has been invited to all major events in the world including Pebble Beach and has deservedly won numerous awards. In 2002 it passed into the current ownership.
CONDITION
Upon acquisition by the present owner, the Boomerang was found to have required some refreshing of its older largely cosmetic restoration. It was therefore entrusted to marque specialist Paul Grist's Traction Seabert company, with the remit of returning the car to road usable order. Over a period of 18 months, the car was systematically worked through and perfected in terms of mechanical and importantly electronic function. Early in 2003 this work was completed, at a cost of some £20,000.
Since then the car has been road-registered by the current owner and used. On its return to Europe for sale, it has once again been checked over and readied for future ownership.
Though road use is not its primary vocation, it is comforting to know that the car drives well, its engine, transmission, suspension, brakes and steering all working as they should and the comprehensive recent work that has ensured that all the electronic aspects function, provides an entertaining insight into the how the future was seen, and comparison with its reality today.
It does show some traces of use, but presents well and where possible is still as originally shown in the early 1970s. It is often considered that this the fourth sports car concept introduced by the young Italdesign after its inception also proved to be the most influential. Its unforgettable wedge shaped body was the inspiration for some small series Maseratis, for the Lotus Esprit, which continued in production for nearly thirty years and, significantly, for the hugely popular Golf Mk1 that VW had asked Giugiaro to pen and was marketed in 1974.
It is extremely rare that a one-off masterpiece such as this, a fully engineered work of art with its unique pedigree, comes to the market. Following the Cisitalia in the Museum of modern Art in New York and the Lotus in the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, the Boomerang would deserve a place in a museum; it would certainly enhance any collection in the world.
ESTIMATION:
€700,000 to €800,000 - US $920,000 to $1,000,000 - GB £490,000 to £560,000
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Christies Exceptional Motor Cars present
O.S.C.A. TIPO MT4-2AD |
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LOT 111 - The ex-Turin Motorshow
O.S.C.A. TIPO MT4-2AD
Year 1955
Chassis No. 1153
Engine No. 1510
EU duties paid
ENGINE: four cylinder, twin overhead camshaft, 1,490cc, producing 115bhp at 6,500rpm.
GEARBOX: 4-speed ZF manual.
SUSPENSION: front; independent with A bracket, helicoidal springs, telescopic shock absorbers, roll bar, rear; live axle longitudinal leaf springs, telescopic shock absorbers.
BRAKES: four wheel drum.
Left-hand drive.
COACHWORK: Berlinetta coachwork by Vignale, black with red leather interior.
MODEL HISTORY
The history of Maserati is world renowned, but the early post-war years of the Maserati brothers is less familiar, although equally important. The three remarkable brothers Ernesto, Ettore and Bindo, had sold their successful racing car business to wealthy industrialist Adolfo Orsi in 1938, but had been retained on a ten year contract, at the end of which they started a similar business in Bologna as Officine Specializate per la Costruzione di Automobile - Fratelli Maserati SpA, abbreviated to OSCA.
OSCAs quickly gained a reputation as one of the finest smaller displacement sports racing cars. The first MT4 chassis fitted with the 1,100cc engines were highly successful; OSCAs had won the 1,100cc class in every Mille Miglia from 1950 up to the last race in 1957. There were also numerous other class wins in the 1,100cc category.
MT4s fitted with larger 1,500cc engines were equally successful. Not only did they dominate the 1,500cc class, but these fantastic little cars were extremely competitive against the larger displacement sports cars. At the 12 hours of Sebring in 1954, Stirling Moss had an outright win in a Cunningham Team MT4. In his book, Moss sums up the MT4: I was incredibly impressed by what turned out to be a real little thoroughbred of a car. It was powerful and well-balanced and very nimble... You could drive it as hard as you liked, slinging it sideways was no trouble.
SPECIFIC HISTORY OF THIS CAR
The OSCA Christie's is proud to offer is not only a time warp example but also unique, as it is the only MT4-2AD 1500 Berlinetta produced by Vignale. Its history is complete and to date it has had only three owners in half a century.
Delivered new by the factory to the 1955 Turin Motor show stand, this striking all alloy coupe caught the eye of its first French owner, Monsieur J.C. Abreu. He was obviously smitten by this little jewel and took her straight back to France, the car still fitted today with its period yellow bulbs in the front lights. The car seems to have been little used by its first owner and in the late '60s early '70s it passed into the hands of famous Swiss connoisseur and collector, Walter Grell in Rheinfelden. He spotted the car in Geneva and within a short while it was together with his other treasures in his dark and discreet farmhouse near Basel. The current owner, a personal friend of the late Walter Grell has known the car for many years, making several unsuccessful attempts at purchasing this beauty. At a time he even offered to exchange it for a Ferrari 250 Europa! After thirty years he finally managed to acquire the car in 2000, in the same completely original condition he had always known it to be in.
CONDITION
Chassis 1153 is undoubtedly one of, if not the most original surviving OSCAs in the world today. The car is the way it left the factory and only the patina of age would distinguish it from a new car. It is believed that the car has its original first coat of black and the dark red leather interior and carpeting is original too. It has factory fitted luggage (with the original keys), a plexiglas rear screen, custom made rear lights, an alloy filler cap in the boot, original tool bag and kit (with the chassis no. stamped on it) and the mileage of approximately 10,000kms is believed to be correct. The chassis and engine are as they left the factory with the correct adjustable shock absorbers, strong oil pressure on the engine and the riveted alloy fuel tank. The Vignale berlinetta coachwork is unique on the very successful MT4-2AD chassis. In all OSCA supplied only four original Berlinettas ex-works, three with Vignale (chassis 1120, 1136 and 1153) and one with Frua (chassis 1113) coachwork, all however apart from chassis 1153 with less powerful engines and of smaller cubic capacity. Fine details on this exquisite car include rare OSCA and Vignale badging, king size Jaeger instrumentation, the original horn button in the steering wheel, and Marchal lights. It starts "on the button". With so many OSCAs used in competition in period and subsequently damaged or modified, this car is even more desirable for the collector in search of originality.
The car is featured in several period publications and is easily recognisable being a one-off design as a 1500 MT4, signed by Vignale one of Italy's most prestigious coachbuilders. Among others it is mentioned or/and depicted in the 1956 edition of 'Automobile Year', Sports Car Illustrated on the 1955 Turin Motor Show and on page 301 of the reference work for OSCA by Orsini-Zagari.
In the hands of its current owner the car has been shown at several top level European concours events and successfully completed a recent edition of the Milano-San Remo rally.
Currently EU registered and supplied with a FIVA 'A' category pass, this MT4 is ideal for vintage racing as it is highly competitive in the 1,500cc class, Mille Miglia style road events or mere preservation and occasional outings on the concours field.
This unique and stunning motorcar would make a superb addition to any world class collection and Christie's recommend the close inspection it deserves by potentially interested parties.
ESTIMATION:
€350,000 to €450,000 - US $460,000 to $590,000 - GB £250,000 to £310,000
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