Beschreibung:

1957 MASERATI A6G-2000 GRAN SPORT SPYDER COACHWORK BY FRUA Chassis No. 2197 Red with white noseband and cream leather interior with matching soft top Engine: six cylinder, in-line, dual overhead camshafts, triple Weber carburetors, 1,985cc., 150bhp at 6,000rpm; Gearbox: four-speed manual; Suspension: front upper/lower wishbones with coil springs, rear rigid axle with radius arms and leaf springs; Brakes: hydraulic drums all round. Left hand drive. With timeless elegance and a zesty engine, an A6 Maserati is just the machine to imagine a spirited drive top down along the Amalfi coast. While the A6 1500 lacked power, the two liter version, particularly with spyder coachwork by Carrosseria Frua, was a true blossoming of the Maserati GT tradition, one that will stretch until this Fall's presentation of the new spyder with the Trident's return to the US market. According to factory records supplied by the ever helpful Ermanno Cozza, this desirable car left the factory on February 22, 1957 and was delivered new to Maserati's California dealer M. Rezzaghi. Records show that next the car was owned in 1959 by a M.C. Valdez of San Diego and further evidence shows that it was owned by a William Victor Hahn also of San Diego from June 1972 onwards. Claudio Zampoli of 1990's Cizeta Moroder 16 cylinder fame then owned it for a decade, during which it sat apart in his Los Angeles dealership before he sold it to Oliver Kuttner, a well known aficionado of Italian exotica. In 1987 it was purchased by Jay Jessup of Virginia who described its condition at the time as a rolling basket case with parts in boxes, mostly complete with some detail parts missing. The body was in primer and showed no evidence of any accident damage, not the slightest door ding in fact, and importantly there was no rust in the frame. The body is of course in alloy. The decision was taken to begin restoration and all missing parts were either located or made to be as close to the original as possible which proved to be a very difficult challenge. There was a two year delay and as the car's rarity and appeal became clear the previous goal of simply turning it into a runner was upgraded to a full blown restoration. The process was assigned to Rob Stewart, a very experienced and meticulous Charlottesville, Virginia area restorer who traveled to England to examine another Frua spyder, chassis 2183, to help with this restoration. With some information supplied by the factory the restoration continued, although a number of parts such as the tail lights and master cylinder had to be made. When it was finished the engine needed tuning so Greg Jones in Florida was asked to thoroughly tune it, after which it was much better and the owner then recalled enjoying it on the challenging one lane back roads near his home. Indeed, it was so enjoyable and stable that he was surprised at his 90kmh speed (55mph) and was even more surprised once he got home and realized that he had in fact been driving at 90 miles per hour! All gauges are in English as was ordered by the California dealer decades ago when the car was built. Once the restoration was completed in 1993 the superb effort was awarded no less than that year's First in Class at Pebble Beach, First in Class at Reading in 1994 and again at Meadow Brook the same year. The car then took a break from the Concours stage before reappearing at the 2000 Monterey weekend on the occasion of the Maserati celebrations around the Monterey Peninsula. 2197 was photographed in the Maserati factory's magazine, issue #4 page 17, that covers the Maserati year in Monterey. As the venerable Pebble Beach Concours office has a rule that no car should be re-admitted during a ten year time span, the owner did not expect to partake in 2000. However, two months before the show the Concours staff called explaining that the car's presence was very much desired! As one might expect from a car that had been asked to bend sacred rules, it did very well indeed i