Part 2 : Maserati International Rally
As we arrived in Montreux, the cars were supposed to meet in the Place du Marché, the main rendez-vous point of the city, but there wasn’t actually much cars, upon a few modern GranTurismo, and nineties Ghibli. Thus, we waited a bit, and the first very interesting car to arrive is a regular of the rallies and hill-climbs in Switzerland, with its Maserati Type 26 M. Second very interesting car to join was an even more impressive racing barchetta of the brand, a Maserati 200S, chassis 2419. We decided, waiting for the other MIR participants to arrive, to go and have some lunch.
When we got back, almost actually all the cars were there this time, and we were very impressed by the number of Maseratis actually. One of the only four ever built Maserati Quattroporte Bellagio by Touring was there, overlooking the lake. With all its Italian sisters, in such a beautiful place, it was a real pleasure to admire their shapes, with the sun rising, the refreshing breeze of the lake, and the view over the France and the alps.
Looking more precisely at all the different cars, I was very surprised that actually almost all the different eras from the Bolognese brand were represented with at least one car. From the pre-wars and very first Type 26, to the 1950s 200S barchetta, the sixties Dolce Vita, the seventies supercar, the eighties and nineties Shamal and second generation Ghiblis, to the modern era with the 3200s and Gransports.
With no less than 5 Shamals and second generation Ghiblis, the nineties era, just before Fiat bought Maserati, were nicely represented, proving that their reputation of being difficult and not reliable cars to drive as wrong. The event being accessible to general public, a lot of people had started to gather to admire the Italian supercars, and owners seemed very happy of such general enthusiasm upon their cars, talking freely with people, showing their car’s V8s or six cylinders.
The seventies era was probably one of the most significant for automotive as it introduced the supercars, thanks to the Lamborghini Miura. But the Bolognese brand, now based in Modena, was actually the big winner of this competition between the 365 GTB/4 Daytona Ferrari, the Miura, as the Maserati Ghibli outsold both of its Italian sisters. Thanks to a very simple design, a very big and torquey V8, the Ghibli was the perfect GT of the lot. Three of them were at the MIR, including an SS Coupé, equipped with the more desirable 4.9 litre V8 engine, and a very rare, one of only 125 units, Spyder versions. Taking a closer look at this convertible, I actually noticed that I had already seen this car just a few weeks ago at the 2013 Passione Engadina ! Not only the big V8 GTs were representing the Maserati seventies era, with a few Boras, built during the Citroen ownership of the brand.
As a strange and loud noise seemed to come from the nearby road, we barely had the time to rush there that a Ferrari 599 GTO passed by. Based on the standard GTB, the GTO was a limited series, lighter and derived from the XX racing version of the 599, offering more performance and a more thrilling driving experience. Still, as we weren’t there to admire whatever car coming out, we got back to the Maserati International Rally gathering, looking at the different binnacle, sometimes very spartan, but most of the time perfectly designed for their use: racing…
Hearing yet another big engine sound from the road, it was this time a Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale passing by, yet another hardcore, lighter version of the standard 360 Modena. Was the Maranello firm jealous of all the attraction generated by its stepsister ? Obviously no, as it must have been simple passionates owners who had come as well to admire the gathering of all these Modenese cars.
The sixties, or the Dolce Vita era, was probably one of the finest for Maserati or even the automotive industry in general, as the seventies ended up by the Citroen ownership, and consequent not very reliable cars. The fifties and sixties were the period were it was still possible to buy a simple chassis and then have a unique bodywork built by the coach-worker of your choice. Frua, Vignale, Zagato or Pininfarina ended up building cars based on the A6 Maserati for instance, and although I regretted that not a single one of these was at the event, there was still a splendid 3500 GT Spyder by Vignale, with its timeless shape.
Of course, the Quattroporte, being one of the most significant models of the brand, was well represented, with even a few first generations of this now legendary luxury sedan. The Bolognese brand had as well brought their latest generation, equipped with a twin turbocharged V8, for the first time in its history.
The modern eras Maserati were probably the most common at this gathering with an impressive number of GranSports, 3200s, GranTurismos, and fifth generation Quattroporte. One GranSport owner had even brought his Maserati Parking Only sign, which was very fun. The brand had brought as well officially two other cars apart from the latest Quattroporte, which were two MC Stradale versions of the GranTurismo, a coupé and a convertible. The MC Stradale was the racing inspired version of the standard GranTurismo, was lighter, more powerful and more exhaustive to drive.
One of our favorite modern Maserati of the lot was a very original purple exterior colour configuration GranTurismo, which really looked stunning. Although my choice would have been a more powerful S version, which sounds even better, the standard GranTurismo is already a great car to drive, in the pure tradition of the V8 GTs of the brand. Finally, it was time for us to go, but as each time we go to Montreux, we went to pay a tribute to Freddie Mercury, which must have been jealous that today all the attention were on the cars, and not on him…
