Tipo 60

Nicknamed the Birdcage due to its unusual multi-tubular spaceframe, the ultralight yet very stiff chassis was welded together from some 200 small-diameter tubes. The aluminium bodies were hand-beaten by Gentilini and Allegretti, former Maserati staff.

The 4-cylinder engine was developed from the 200S unit with a pair of twin-choke Weber carburettors and dry sump lubrication, but with a revised head, larger cylinder bores and a shorter stroke to enable higher revs for more power: 200 bhp at 7,800 rpm. Canted to the right at 45 degrees under the low bonnet, the engine drive was fed to a new 5-speed transaxle gearbox mounted transversely at the rear. The suspension as derived from the 250F GP car and 300S sports-racer, with double wishbones and coil springs up front, a de Dion tube on struts and a transverse leaf spring at the rear. The all-round disc brakes with Girling callipers were a first for Maserati.

Conceived under engineer Giulio Alfieri the Tipo 60 (and 61) was a customer sports car to be raced by amateurs. With superb handling and a power-to-weight ratio to match, the Birdcage beat the English constructors as well as the Porsches at their own game. In the hands of Stirling Moss it won its first race at Rouen in France in July 1959, beating a pair of Lotus 15s with some ease. The 2-litre Tipo 60 was made for the popular Italian national sports-racing class, with an eye on promoting sales of the 3500 GT production car on the home market. Odoardo Govoni of Ferrara won three consecutive hill-climb championships from 1960 to 1962, Mennato Boffa the national speed championship in 1960 and Nino Todaro of Palermo both titles in 1963. The first Tipo 60 made in March 1959 was converted in November into a Tipo 61 with 2.9-litre engine.