Beschreibung:

The ex-Prince 'Bira' 1948 MASERATI 4CLT/48 1.5 LITRE SUPERCHARGED GRAND PRIX MONOPOSTO Chassis No. 1598 Engine No. 1577 Italian racing red with black seat and cockpit trim Engine: four cylinders, in-line, twin overhead camshafts, two valves per cylinder, Roots two-stage supercharger, 1,498cc, 260bhp at 7,000rpm; Gearbox: four-speed manual; Suspension: front, independent with coil-springs and hydraulic shock-absorbers, rear, quarter-elliptic leaf springs and hydraulic shock-absorbers; Brakes: four wheel hydraulic drum. Single seat racing car. Following the transfer of the company from Fratelli Maserati to the Orsi Family just after the end of World War II, Officine Maserati continued to build racing cars based very closely on their machines from the 1939-40 season. However, prior to 1950 when the World Championship was inaugurated, Grand Prix races were run to the pre-war Voiturette formula of 1½ litres supercharged and they also permitted cars that were 4½ litres unsupercharged. With the shortages of both funding and raw materials for manufacturers, this era provided a great opportunity for privateers and amateurs to continue or to participate in these events with a wide variety of old and new-styled cars. The factory did not re-constitute an official Works-team until 1950, so it supported these customer/purchasers to a greater or lesser degree with back-up support in International races, and a number of cars were sold: two cars to the Automobil Club of Argentina, two each to the Milan-Team and to Scuderia Ambrosiana, both of which benefited directly from factory involvement, and others in Britain and Europe to well-known participants including Reg Parnell and Prince Birabongse Bhanubadh of Siam, or 'B. Bira' as he preferred to be known, who through close involvement with his cousin Chula, had made a successful impact in European Voiturette Races before the war with various cars including MG, ERA and Maserati. Developments on the cars for 1948 included a new chassis design and replacing the old-style channel-sections with tubular longitudinal rails to give a lighter stiffer frame which, with alterations to both front and rear suspension details, gave both improved cornering stability and a facility for a lower center of gravity, enabling the designer Fantuzzi to produce a most attractive low-line body style. The front suspension improvements included replacing the old torsion bars with the combined Houdaille patent shock absorbers, while to the rear was added a new radius-rod location and Houdaille hydraulic damper units. Mechanically, however, the company had not developed any new powerplant so to improve performance output from the existing design, they added another supercharger in tandem which incorporated a two-stage system with one unit working at a higher engine-driven speed to increase the induction pressure. While the production cars claimed a power output of 260bhp at 7,000rpm, the specially developed engines used by the Maserati-Milan cars ultimately claimed over 300bhp, with specially developed cylinder head designs. But with such highly stressed developments came an element of unreliability. However, when first introduced in the spring of 1948, the type manufactured from that date was afforded the addition of a suffix to become the 4CLT/48, the additional letter 'T' stood for Tubolare describing the new tubular chassis frame which distinguished it from the earlier counterparts. Scuderia Ambrosiana ran two cars for Alberto Ascari and Luigi Villoresi. Villoresi finished second to Wimille's Alfa Romeo 158 on the car's debut in the San Remo Grand Prix, and thereafter 4CLT/48's were nicknamed 'San Remos'. Competition was becoming stronger from both Alfa Romeo and Ferrari, but it is no small tribute to the success of the cars that they were able to attract the drivers of international caliber such as Fangio, Farina, Chiron, Taruffi, Bira, Parnell and de Graffenreid, all of whom claimed significant results with the typ