Just A Mix Of Pics - Ray Green Collection

[Remi110984]

M - non-British road

Maserati

Very intersting car. This is the Maserati 450S Costin Coupe, built for Le Mans 1956, and driven by Stirling Moss.
the car was designed by Franck Costin on a 450S chassis, for which he entirely redesigned the body, cockpit, ducting etc... The car was really complex and innovative, but with the short time left to Zagato for building it after Costin's design, the italians totally passed by the purposeful specificities of the design. Moreover, the full plexiglass roof originally planned was abandonned for Le Mans safety rules reasons.
When Costin arrived at Le Mans to discover the finnished car, Colin Chapman, with a big smile, suggested him to go have a look at his sieve, considering all the holes the italians had cut into the originally sleek body.
Moss came to Costin telling him the ductings for the radiator and for fresh air in the cockpit were bodged so hot air was now going into the carburettor intakes... Instead, Zagato put an airscoop which was too small, and far from the site of maximum air pressure.
The result was a car which was not even faster than a standard 450s Maserati.
We could go on and on about the mistakes made from the original design, like the windscreen wiper used which probably came for an average Fiat parked at the factory instead of a specially sourced aircraft one from De Havilland, the lack of underbody enclosure, or the fuel filler sticking up like a flag pole...
Still, the car was very fast, but only pulling 6200rpm instead of the 7000 expected.
Unfortunately, the 2 Maserati 450s entered finally retired because of a rear axle failure.

The car was later stripped of the internals and scrapped at the factory.
In 1958, an American bought the car, and restored it with Fantuzzi, to put it on the road. In spite of a lot of modifications, like an 25cm longer wheelbase, the car was used on the road, which must have been quite a beast with nearly 200mph.
Unfortunately, the original design of Franck Costin never had the chance to compete, which would have had a serious chance of winning at Le Mans.