The original Maserati Quattroporte was unrivaled when it arrived in 1963; the only genuine Italian high-performance GT with four doors. It was a rather brilliant move, at a time when Maserati was struggling. Undoubtedly they felt pretty secure in their guess that Ferrari would not jump into the four-door market. That turned out to be true, although others did, like the Iso Rivolta S4.
R&T tested a 4.2 L V8 version—there was also a 4.7 version available in Europe, but not in the US, curiously enough— backed by a ZF 5-speed manual transmission. There was a lot to like, and a few things to quibble about.
The 290 hp four cam V8 had an “‘American’ exhaust burble”, and was a direct evolution of Maserati’s 4.5 L racing V8 from 1956. In 5 L form, it powered Maserati’s 5000 GT from 1960. R&T was surprised to see that the version in the Quattroporte was limited 5500 rpm by the manufacturer, given ts racing pedigree.
It was deemed to be “a pleasant, strong and refined engine to use”. The Q was heavy, at 3872 lbs. (curb weight), and performance was good but certainly not stellar: 0-60 in 8.3, and 1/4 mile in 16.4 @94 mph. Plenty of American muscle cars could walk away from that; even a sedan with the right engine. But then that’s a somewhat irrelevant comparison. The kind of folks who bought Maserati Quattroportes were not comparison shopping against an Impala with a 396 or 427. Same goes for today’s Quattroporte buyers…
The linkage on the ZF box was a bit balky, but once its ways were familiarized, it shifted well. More importantly, the interior lived up to the standards of a low-volume essentially hand-built Italian GT: lots nice leather, wood and nice detailing. The ergonomics were already somewhat out of date, but then things were happening quickly in the sixties.
The same could be said of the styling, which was looking a bit out of date too. Within a year—in 1969—it would be put to rest, and then there would be a long break until 1974, when the radically different Q II arrived, with FWD and based on the Citroen SM chassis, sharing its V6 too. In 1979, the big new V8 Q III arrived, one which most of us can form a mental picture of, and stayed around until 1990.
The tested version also had manual steering to go along with the manual transmission resulting in “a man’s car”. ZF power steering was optional, as was an automatic transmission, for those not feeling quite that “manly”.
The ride was on the stiff side, and curiously, the rear suspension reverted back to a live axle after having been a deDion type initially. Hmmm.
The wire wheels were a pricey option, and Maserati pointed out that they were not strong enough for “vigorous driving”. Hmmm.
A bit out of date, in more ways than one, but if you just had to have a Maserati four door…
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Leaf springs on the rear axle, a front end cap that is uglier then sin, and only a 6 month warranty.
Someone was a gluten for punishment to buy this beast of burden.
Other than the warranty, you’ve described the AU Falcon wagon.
Right it’s the early ’60s, even Ferrari took their time to switch from live axles. You have to appreciate that the beast was hand made. The last of a breed.
The front end reminds me of a Checker taxi.
Yup. I think Pontiac cribbed that front end for ‘71-‘72 GTO, too 🤔
I love the concept of this car. although some aspects of the exterior styling could have been done better. Very similar to the Lagonda in many respects. The interior turned out better than the exterior.
I’ve always wondered why the rear suspension reverted back to a live axle after having the deDion set up.
That’s a lot of speedometer error. It’d have made the car feel a lot faster, too. 0-53.6 was probably less than 7 seconds, so anyone who drove it would have thought it was lightning quick if that’s what they went by.
All that R&T praise is doubly impressive for such a tortured conglomeration of shapes and styling themes. Curbside classic alright–perhaps the worst looking exotic car ever.
Excellent in parts, plain bad in others. Luxurious, exotic, dated and ugly. Something special but is it really worth four times the price of the Detroit midsizes tested in the same issue (plus four grand buffering for options and the possibility the Ford’s lowball base price is a typo)?
Jesus, what a mess of a car. I’m sure somewhere in there is a long hood short deck shape with the RWD axle to windshield ratio but this looks more like something from a Iron Curtain nation instead of a car from the land of Pininfarina/Italdesign.
I can remember seeing one listed in Exchange & Mart in the UK in c1971. It was going for £70/$200. I suspect it needed work. But at that time there was little interest in early Sixties exotica probably as getting spares was impossible. However the 15 year old me dreamed of saving up enough from my paper round.
Well I thought it was great then – and has held up well, aesthetically, given when it was designed. And I think in 50 years it will look better than the new 4 (5?) door Ferrari SUV will.
https://www.caranddriver.com/ferrari/purosangue
Ah, those wonderful frumpy Fruas! Gotta love it. It’s Iso, not Isa, by the way; I’m sure you realize..(pedantic fellow Iowan: sorry) Thanks as always, Paul!
My dad bought a rusty example for next to nothing in the late Seventies. It didn’t have that many miles on it but it had been driven in Philadelphia winters and the salt had taken its toll. Presenting as very tatty and with an expensive drivetrain, it looked like a huge money pit, thus the low price.
Surprisingly, the drivetrain and even the electrics were troublefree, except for the electric window lifts, and it cleaned up very nicely.
I can’t give any amazing revelations about what it was like to drive because the road test nails it perfectly. From a 1980 standpoint, the unassisted steering in a car of such weight was the biggest drawback, although it was precise and not that heavy at speed. The power steering option would have been nice to have. The steering wheel telescoped, so no problems with the driving position, unlike some Italian cars.
The suspension was hard and crashy over potholes, but acceptable on smooth surfaces, and handling felt secure, albeit with a feeling of a lot of unsprung weight. (In addition to the live axle, wire wheels aren’t very light.) Brakes were superb in ordinary driving; as I recall they were solid discs, so that might explain the ultimate fade R&T noted, but it was never an issue. You could jam them on and stop in a straight line, which couldn’t be said about most American cars at the time.
The engine was great and almost made the car worth buying for the view under the hood! You might think that 4 dual-throat Webers would make it seriously overcarbureted at low speeds, but it was quite tractable. You couldn’t exactly drive it like a Rambler, but it would pull pretty well in fourth gear in city driving. Naturally it was a lot more fun to use the gears. We had the car at about the nadir of the malaise era and teenage me was sure there would never be another car with an engine so powerful and so pretty. 😉
The interior made anyone who sat in it a fan. First, there was the smell of the leather, and then the feel of the leather. Then the beautiful wood-rimmed steering wheel and dash with the businesslike Smiths gauges (mysteriously, one was Lucas, maybe the ammeter). I’m not saying it made the car worth the amazingly high original list price, but it was a lovely place to be, certainly a cut above our 1972 Mercedes 280SE 4.5. The Mercedes was a contemporary of the Maserati and a better car in almost every respect, but the interior couldn’t compare.
There should be some pictures of the restoration somewhere, but this picture, with my sister, is the only one I could find. My dad did the bodywork and paint himself, in the garage in the background.
Even then the somewhat baroque styling divided opinion and the lines certainly worked better on the Mexico coupé. One real claim to fame may be that in its day (and certainly in 1968) the 4.7 Quattoporte was the world’s fastest four-door car. Some of the handful of Dodge Hemis built in 1966 may have had a higher top speed but by 1968, only the Mercedes-Benz 300SEL 6.3 came close and it couldn’t top 140 mph.
https://nihilistnotes.blogspot.com/search?q=Quattroporte
At my glance there`s a lot of Iso Rivolta`s geometry and style hacked in this senior sedan the Maserati Quattroporte