The Maserati A6G/54 were arguably the first true grand touring cars the company produced. Fitted with a 2.0 liter DOHC dual spark plug inline six cylinder engine that had design input from Gioacchino Colombo these cars were things of exciting performance and artistic beauty laced with the cachet that emanated from Maserati’s successes on the race track.
Fast Facts
- The emergence of Maserati road cars – born of the company’s racing cars – can be attributed to Adolfo Orsi: a “rags to riches” industrialist who led Maserati into the creation of beautiful GT cars.
- The Maserati A6G/54 was the ultimate development of the A6 series of cars that had originally been created by the Maserati brothers and which were refined and re-designed after they left Orsi’s company to create their own new company – O.S.C.A.
- A 1956 Maserati A6G/54 with coachwork by Allemano is coming up for sale by RM Sotheby’s on Thursday, 22 May 2025.
The emergence of Maserati as a maker of road cars can, I think, be best attributed to an industrialist named Adolfo Orsi: a man who had forged a “rags to riches” life for himself.
Orsi had started out as a teenage “Rag and bone man”. Modern readers will likely not be familiar with rag and bone men so perhaps some explanation is warranted.
A rag and bone man was someone who would wander the streets with a barrow or cart calling out for people to bring out their old junk or items they did not want anymore. These things the rag and bone man would take away and try to make money from by selling scrap metal, fixing broken items and selling them, and selling second hand clothes.
From that rather humble beginning Adolfo Orsi ascended to become a steel maker and manufacturer of industrial goods such as agricultural machinery. He was a gifted businessman and when it came to his attention that the Maserati brothers were looking for an investor for their racing car constructor business he saw an opportunity to acquire expertise and a halo business to associate with his ventures.
So it was that on January 1st, 1937 Adolfo Orsi signed a ten year contract with the surviving Maserati brothers; Bindo, Ernesto, Ettore, and Mario. Alfieri Maserati, who had been a driving force behind the development of Maserati racing cars, had passed away in 1932 as a result of injuries sustained in a racing car accident.
Orsi was aware that a focus purely on racing cars was not going to prosper the Maserati business on its own – it was important – but it was not the sole driving force that would provide financial success. With this in mind Orsi got the Maserati team to start work on creating road going sports cars to expand their customer base.
The Second World war forced a halt to racing car building between 1939-1945 as Orsi’s businesses were occupied with war production: but by 1947 it became possible to resume the Maserati sports car business.
1947 also brought the Maserati brothers’ contract with Adolfo Orsi to an end and they decided to go it alone again to start a new competition car company called O.S.C.A.
Prior to leaving Orsi, Ernesto Maserati worked with engineer Alberto Massimino to create sports cars – both for racing and, in a first for Maserati, road cars.
This design work resulted in the Maserati A6 sports car which would be developed to become the first Maserati GT.
The A6 Maserati was given the “A” designation in memory of Alfieri Maserati who had been a driving force behind the racing cars and successes the marque had accomplished.
The first of the A6 sports cars was based on the pre-war Maserati 6CM racing car – the “C” in the name standing for “Corsa” meaning racing, and the “M” for “Monoposto” meaning single-seat.
The engine used for this car was designated A6TR (the TR standing for Testa Riportata meaning detachable cylinder head). This six cylinder DOHC engine developed 117 hp in racing form but de-tuned for the road going sports car and with a single overhead camshaft and a single Weber carburetor it produced a modest 65hp.
The work by Ernesto Maserati and Alberto Massimino resulted in both competition and road cars, the A6 Sport series being for racing and the A6 1500 (Maserati Gran Tourismo) being a road car.
The A6G was a much improved car which superseded the A6 1500. The “G” in the name refers to the engine block being made of cast-iron (Italian “Ghisa”). This improved A6 engine was increased in capacity from 1,488 cc to 1,954.3 cc.
This SOHC engine breathed through triple Weber carburetors and was capable of sending around 90-100 hp to the transmission resulting in a top speed between 160 to 180 km/hr (99-112 mph).
This model made its debut in 1950 at the Turin Motor Show and was superseded in 1954 by the A6G/54 which featured a new DOHC six-cylinder engine which had undergone its development with input from Gioacchino Colombo (famous for his work on the Ferrari “Colombo” engine).
Breathing through triple twin-choke Weber DCO carburetors this new engine, that had been developed for Maserati racing cars A6GCM and A6GCS, developed a healthy 150 hp @ 6,000 rpm in road going form. As fitted these cars were capable of top speeds of 195-210 km/hr (121-130 mph).
But Maserati’s engineers were not done with their development of this engine and in 1956 introduced a dual-ignition version with two spark plugs per cylinder. This new engine version increased power to 160 hp.
The construction of these cars was very conventional based on a tubular and sheet steel chassis with fully independent double-wishbone front suspension, and at the rear semi-elliptic leaf springs and live axle.
Brakes were drilled ventilated drums all around sitting behind wire wheels which gave them good cooling air circulation.
Only sixty Maserati A6G/54 were made with coachwork by Frua, Zagato and Allemano depending on customer preferences.
These cars were introduced at a time when Maserati were at the top of Grand Prix racing with their 250F single seater being campaigned by the likes of Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss. With their racing bred engine and heritage the A6G/54 was a very attractive GT with a significant cachet.
The A6G/54 were the GT cars that truly pioneered Maserati’s status as a maker of luxury performance grand touring cars, in the same class as the cars of Ferrari.
A Maserati A6G/54 For Sale
One of these Maserati A6G/54 grand touring cars is listed for sale by RM Sotheby’s, the auction to be held on Thursday, 22 May 2025 at the Milan Sale.
The car on offer is a 1956 model, made in the last year of the A6G/54’s production and its matching numbers engine has the desirable dual spark plug per cylinder engine.
This car is one of twenty-one that were fitted with coachwork by Allemano.
You can find the sale page for this 1956 Maserati A6G/54 if you click here.
Picture Credits: All pictures courtesy Paolo Carlini @ RM Sotheby’s
Jon Branch is the founder and senior editor of Revivaler and has written a significant number of articles for various publications including official Buying Guides for eBay, classic car articles for Hagerty, magazine articles for both the Australian Shooters Journal and the Australian Shooter, and he’s a long time contributor to Silodrome.
Jon has done radio, television, magazine and newspaper interviews on various issues, and has traveled extensively, having lived in Britain, Australia, China and Hong Kong. His travels have taken him to Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan and a number of other countries. He has studied the Japanese sword arts and has a long history of involvement in the shooting sports, which has included authoring submissions to government on various firearms related issues and assisting in the design and establishment of shooting ranges.
