Fiat: 126 years to build an empire, five to dismantle it Every so often Top Gear used to do those hagiographies about brands that “shaped motoring”. They did Ferrari. They did Aston. They did Porsche. They never quite did Fiat properly, and if you think about it for more than thirty seconds, that omission is … Read more
The GT That Sank Citroën and Took Maserati Down Too Citroën SM: how an Italian V6, a steering system that wouldn’t talk back, and a French manufacturer’s ambition turned the most advanced Grand Tourer of its era into the most expensive industrial bill in seventies European motoring Geneva Motor Show, March 1970. Citroën stand. A … Read more
The new Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale: tribute or corporate accounting? When the new 33 Stradale was unveiled at Monza in September 2023, most of the motoring press did what the motoring press is paid to do: it gushed. Top Gear talked about a return to form. Carscoops called it a stunning flagship. The Goodwood crowd … Read more
The Supercar That Dared to Be Comfortable: The Maserati Bora’s Secret French Heart Ask any supercar of 1971 the questions that actually mattered to an owner and you’d usually get a sneer. Can I climb in without wrecking my back? Can I drive it for two hours without going deaf? Can I park it without … Read more
Maserati 250F: The Most Beautiful Car to Ever Win a War Denis Jenkinson, the great Motor Sport correspondent who rode shotgun with Stirling Moss to win the 1955 Mille Miglia, did not hand out praise cheaply. He had watched everything the 1950s had to offer. And of one particular afternoon at the Nürburgring he wrote … Read more
Maserati MC12: The Supercar That Forced the FIA to Invent Balance of Performance Top Gear lapped one. The Stig set a time of 1:18.9 — one tenth faster than the Ferrari Enzo. Clarkson called it twitchy, oversized, and “either a racer, a GT car, or a detuned Enzo in a fat suit.” He couldn’t quite … Read more
GIANPAOLO DALLARA: THE ENGINEER WHO CHOSE A GARAGE IN PARMA OVER A DESK IN MARANELLO The first note Enzo Ferrari left on his desk read “Più ordinato, per favore.” Tidier, please. Handwritten in the purple ink the Commendatore used for everything. It was December 1959. Gianpaolo Dallara had just left university and just walked into … Read more
Maserati cooked its own engine, regulations took the heat out Some engines explain themselves. Others hit you. The Nettuno does the first better than almost anything else alive. The second — no. And that’s exactly what you need to know before someone sells it to you as the future of Maserati. Because the future is … Read more
MASERATI QUATTROPORTE: SIX GENERATIONS WITH THE ENGINE WHERE IT SHOULDN’T BE The sedan that stole a prince’s heart Picture this. Early sixties. Modena. An engineer named Giulio Alfieri has an idea that sounds like madness: take a competition-derived V8, drop it into a four-door car, and tell the world that a sedan can be the … Read more
Maserati: Seven Brothers, One Trident, and the Greatest Race Ever Run The family born for speed To understand Maserati, you need to start with a fact almost nobody knows: there weren’t six brothers. There were seven. Rodolfo Maserati was a locomotive driver for the Italian railways, based in Voghera, Lombardy. He married Carolina Losi, and … Read more
