Maserati A6GCS/53 - 1954 Mille Miglia

[Bernard Kron]

Maserati A6GCS/53 Barchetta – Mille Miglia 1954

In the immediate post WWII period, due to a major shortage of consumer products, automobiles became major symbols of mobility, social optimism and power. Owning a luxury or sports car was a top priority if one wished to show off one’s wealth, and small, specialist manufacturers quickly moved to fill the demand. Many of these makes would become legendary names known even today for their prestige and glamour.

The 5 Maserati brothers, Alfieri, Bindo, Carlo, Ettore, and Ernesto, had been producing bespoke racing cars since the early1920’s. The bustling port city of Bologna was their home and the source of the famous Trident symbol emblazoned on Maseratis, the symbol of Neptune, the Roman god of the sea. Alfieri Maserati died in 1932 from complications resulting from a grave 1927 racing accident, but Bindo, Ernesto, and Ettore continued to operate the shop. In 1937 they sold it to the wealthy industrialist Adolfo Orsi with the brothers contracted to stay on a further 10 years. It was Orsi who guided the company from its racing roots to it’s emergence as the international brand it has become today, moving the company to its now-famous home in Modena.

This car, the six cylinder DOHC twin-plug 2 liter A6GCS/53, was the pivotal car in Maserati’s rise. First produced in 1947, the A6 series, the first production Maseratis, was based on a motor developed by the brilliant engineer Gioacchino Colombo, who would gain world renown for his 2 liter Ferrari V12, on a simple parallel tube chassis created by Ernesto Maserati. It was the barchetta roadster body modeled here, that first defined Maserati as a player in the European racing sports car scene after Orsi signed Juan Fangio to the team late in 1952. 50’s Masers were all only produced in small numbers, rarely exceeding 50 examples. While only 4 A6GCS/53 berlinettas (coupes) were produced, 52 of these open cockpit racing sports cars were built, their trend-setting curvaceous bodies designed and constructed by Menardo Fantuzzi. So many that they became the weapon of choice for gentleman racers in the mid-50’s, especially in Italy and France, but even extending to North and South America. Fantuzzi was another beneficiary of Maserati’s success, his Modenese shop creating most of the iconic Maserati and Ferrari racing sports car and open wheel bodies extending well into the early 60’s.

This model is based on a relatively crude lump of solid resin, a curbside, of obscure and unknown origin that I purchased on eBay recently. The wheels and tires were molded as a single unit, there is a simple chassis piece with a flat bottom completely devoid of any detail, the upper half of the chassis containing the floor and transmission hump of the interior. A separate dashboard, steering wheel, seats, headlight and taillight lenses, and windscreen were supplied. However there was no flange for mounting the clear windscreen, even though it is the correct shape for the car. The solid resin plug of a body is also largely correct as a representation of the car.

This was my first effort at building this sort of small production resin car model. I decided I would attempt to use as much of the original “kit” as possible. The wheels and  tires were painted flat black. Then I dry-brushed Aluminum Plate metalizer on the spokes and detailed the rims and knockoff hubcaps with Molotow chrome. I added some further interior detail to the somewhat incorrect kit interior. The real cars were totally devoid of any upholstery other than on the seats and the body sides were completely bare with their tubular framing totally exposed. This model had the quilted padding often seen on streetable Italian Gran Turismo cars of the era. For this reason I added some door paneling as well. The kit body was open behind the seats while the real cars hid their gas tanks behind a bare aluminum panel. So I added a curved panel at the rear of the cockpit.

This represents an actual entrant from the 1954 Mille Miglia, one of no fewer than 14 (!) entered. While Luigi Musso famously finished 3rd that year in the #500 car, this car, #514, driven by Luigi Bosisio with Pier Luigi Ercole in the navigator’s seat, was a DNF. The 514 most closely matched the kit bodywork and grill, and besides I thought 514 looked better on the car than 500… The numbers referred to the time each car left the starter’s ramp, small displacement production cars leaving first the previous evening, each car separated by 1 minute, with the largest engined, fastest pure racing cars leaving shortly after 6 AM the next morning. The 514 car left at 5:14 AM. The paint is Tamiya Italian Red and the decals are from Patto’s Place in Australia.

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

[Dave B]

Hi Bernard, that's a nice build of an unusual subject. Love Maserati's, having built 2xTipo 61, 1x450S, 1x250F, 1x8CTF, 1x3500GT and a Merak, don't suppose you put it into silicon before building it?

Dave B

[Bernard Kron]

13 minutes ago, Dave B said:

Hi Bernard, that's a nice build of an unusual subject. Love Maserati's, having built 2xTipo 61, 1x450S, 1x250F, 1x8CTF, 1x3500GT and a Merak, don't suppose you put it into silicon before building it?

Dave B

Thanks Dave. I'm definitely a fan of the Orsi era Masers. I suppose the 450S is the ultimate in Glorious Monsters. I'm afraid that resin casting remains above my pay grade. But I have a suspicion that the seller is actually the creator of this "kit". You might ask him. He's jmswhidbey on eBay ( https://www.ebay.com/usr/jmswhidbey ).

[1959scudetto]

Very nice model, Bernard - with a lot of effort from your  side - I just wish more of those were available in 1/24 for reasonable amounts of money.

[cobraman]

Great looking model.

[Gramps46]

Very well done indeed.  You captured the look spot on.  Thanks for sharing the history and model.

[Bernard Kron]

Thanks everyone, I appreciate it.

On 7/18/2021 at 12:18 PM, 1959scudetto said:

Very nice model, Bernard - with a lot of effort from your  side - I just wish more of those were available in 1/24 for reasonable amounts of money.

Thanks! These small-production, smaller engined Italian sports cars from the 50's and early 60's are sometimes referred to as "Etceterini", somewhat obscured by the big Ferrari V12s and Maserati V8s of the era. But that very obscurity gives them a lot of romance, particularly when they have curvaceous Italian bodywork like this one. There are plenty of A6GCS die casts out there, even if they tend to be quite pricey, but I'm a confirmed kit builder so when I saw this one on eBay I knew I had to get it. Surprisingly, there were actually 3 bidders for it. I'm glad I won it...

1 hour ago, Gramps46 said:

Very well done indeed.  You captured the look spot on.  Thanks for sharing the history and model.

Thanks Gramps. Your superbly rendered sports racing car builds have always been an inspiration to me, and convinced me to try my hand at this sort of subject matter in contrast to my usual rod & custom fare.

[PappyD340]

Very nice!

[Bernard Kron]

Thank you, Larry!

I thught I'd share some period photos from the 1954 Mille Miglia showing the A6GCS Barchetta in its native habitat.

Luigi Musso during scrutineering for the 1954 Mille Miglia surrounded by only some the 14 A6GCS Maseratis entered.

5 AM, Viale Venezia, Brescia Italy, May 2nd 1954.

Viale Venezia, Brescia Italy, 12 hours and 10 seconds later, and only 9 seconds short of second place...

 

 

 

Edited July 24, 2021 by Bernard Kron

[Gramps46]

Thanks for the photos.  Really adds perspective to you build.

[Bernard Kron]

On 7/24/2021 at 3:18 PM, Gramps46 said:

Thanks for the photos.  Really adds perspective to you build.

Thanks Gary. Researching this stuff is part of the fun of car modeling for me - it helps me get the "vibe" of these cars.

Postwar Europe was just crawling out from the rubble about then. Racing these cars was an incredible status symbol. That's why they drew such large crowds. People were struggling and these open road long distance races, of course, were free to attend, much like professional bicycle road races are today. Looking at the foreground of the arrival photo shows that it really was a different world from today: there's a woman smoking a cigarette as she cranes her neck to get a view and the men in the crowd are all wearing suits and ties (in contrast to the handsome  and glamorous Musso casually attired in racing coveralls and a polo shirt - the prerogative of the privileged few).

Here's as photo I found when researching this build that I found especially interesting:

Edited July 31, 2021 by Bernard Kron

[Earl Marischal]

A fine build of a gorgeous car.

steve

[Bernard Kron]

Thank you, Steve.

[slusher]

Looks great Sir..

[Bernard Kron]

Thank you Carl!

[Bernard Kron]

When I posted the build thread this last year I was surprised at the amount of interest it garnered. At the time, based on what I saw the eBay seller had to offer, I suspected he might be the maker of the master. I think I might be right. He's offering another copy (and his listing is disarmingly frank about what it takes to model from this type of resin casting!). Here's a link to his offering: Resin cast body Maserati A6 GCS 1/24. For more detail about the basic casting see my build thread from last year: