Coys of London are proud to announce True Greats - An Important Auction of British and Continental Sports & Touring Cars, Toys, Models and Automobilia to be held at their London on Saturday 4th December 2004.

The full sale catalogue may be viewed at www.coys.co.uk

Lot 8 Maserati - The 250F.

Estimate: £60-100

A handbuilt boxed 1:43rd scale white metal and alloy bodied model of the Fangio type Maserati 250F Grand Prix car. In the red livery, this example sits on a display base with wrap around windscreen, acid etched spoked wheels with real rubber tyres, chrome work to the bonnet catches and fuel and oil caps and a well finished cockpit interior.

Lot 44 Maserati - The Tipo 151.

Estimate: £60-100

A handbuilt boxed 1:43rd scale white metal and alloy bodied model of the Tipo 151 in bthe white livery with a twin blue stripe and set to a base. Note the acid etched spoked wheels, solid rubber tyres, perspex covered headlights and twin alloy work exhausts.

Lot 45 Maserati - The Birdcage.

Estimate: £60-100

A boxed handbuilt 1:43rd scale white metal and alloy bodied model of the Birdcage, complete with acid etched spoked wheels, pierce work air extakes and a cockpit complete with interior cage. Note the alloy work headrest, rear lights, bonnet catches and filler cap.

Lot 237a 1962 Maserati 3500 GT

Registration no:
Chassis no:
Estimate: £0-0

The 3500GT can lay claim to being the first true production Maserati and indeed it marked a turning point in the company's history. Previous models had been little more than revamped racers and appeared only in limited numbers. The 3500GT came about with Maserati's realisation that it needed a model to compete with those from Aston Martin and Ferrari and at the 1957 Geneva Show the company displayed the car in prototype form. Beneath the two door aluminium coupé coachwork by Allemano, the Maserati featured a tubular frame chassis. Suspension comprised independent coil springs and wishbones at the front and a leaf sprung rear axle while brakes were alloy-finned drums all round. Production models however, were styled by Touring of Milan using its Superleggera method of construction whereby panels were attached to a steel frame. Power came from a 3,485cc twin overhead camshaft, straight six engine developed from the 350S race car that Stirling Moss drove in the 1956 Mille Miglia. Triple Weber carburettors and twin spark plugs produced 230bhp at 5,500 rpm which, allied to an all-synchromesh five speed ZF gearbox, allowed a 144 mph top speed and 0-60 mph in around eight seconds. Engine flexibility and smoothness were enhanced late in 1959 with the adoption of crankshaft counterweights while early in 1960 front servo-assisted disc brakes became standard, rear discs being added for 1962.
This rare right hand drive car has had 3 owner car from new, is finished in Burgundy with Beige leather interior, and is in fantastic original condition. The running gear and engine were subjected to a full rebuild 18 months ago by Maserati specialists with new crank, pistons, rings, bearings and a cam re-profile. All ancillaries were overhauled including triple Webers along with a new clutch, master cylinders, brakes, linings and a new exhaust system. All bills are available with original log book and service history from the 1970's. The car has just completed an MOT in November and is ready to provide its new owner with reliable, stylish motoring for years to come.

Lot 238 1961 Maserati Tipo 63

Chassis no: 63010
Estimate: Refer to Department

Maserati was one of the greatest names in motor racing during the 1950s, producing such classic competition machines as the 250F Grand Prix car and the 300S and 450S sports racers. But perhaps the firm's greatest racing cars were the "Birdcage" series of sports racers designed by Giulio Alfieri utilising a very light but rigid spaceframe comprising a multitude of small diameter tubes. It was this complex frame which gave the cars their "Birdcage" nickname. Originally fitted with a 2 litre, four cylinder engine with elektron crankcase and cylinder head, sporting twin overhead cams and with suspension borrowed directly from the 250F, the Tipo 60 was a huge success, winning on its first outing in the hands of Stirling Moss. To make the car better still an engine capacity increase to 2.8 litres was effected, resulting in the Tipo 61, reckoned by many to be the finest front engined sports racing car ever, and easily capable of defeating the opposition from the best of the world's manufacturers. This car also won first time out, comfortably led every round of the world championship in 1960 and totally dominated sports car racing in the United States, to where almost all were sold. By 1961 the writing was on the wall for front-engined racing cars and Maserati adapted the Birdcage to accommodate the engine in the rear, this version being labelled the Tipo 63. The final outing in a world championship event for the Tipo 63 was the Pescara 4 Hour race in 1961, where Nino Vaccarella drove a four cylinder version, after which it continued to race with some success in the United States. Development ceased because the FIA favoured a world championship for Gran Turismo cars, rather than sports prototypes and the emphasis clearly changed from one to the other. Chassis number 63 010 was completed in June 1961 and was destined to become one of the Briggs Cunningham team cars. 63010 was built as a long wheelbase version equipped with the V12 longer stroke engine. Tipo 63's initially were also developed with a shorter wheelbase and a shorter stroke engine as with the other Briggs Cunningham Le Mans cars, but in both testing and the race itself, 63010s longer chassis and engine package proved to be a far more balanced set up for straight line speed and resultantly the long wheelbase configuration became the standard. After Le Mans in June 1961, Briggs Cunningham took his team of Tipo 63's to America for their first race on US soil at the Beachside track on Long Island , Bridgehampton. It was raced by Walt Hansgen and in a Maserati 1 - 2 - 3, Hansgen driving 63010 finished first overall.

63010s winning streak was set to continue when a month later on 10th September 1961, Hangsten, this time partnered by Augie Pabst again finished first at the Road America 500. Hangsten and Pabst continued to get podium finishes in 63010 with Hangsten finishing second in September at the Watkins Glenn National and Pabst finishing second in October at Riverside in California. The racing history of 63010 in period finished on that same day in October in the second race of the day when Pabst failed to finish the Riverside Times Grand Prix. In November 1961, as with numerous Maserati racing cars before and after them it returned to the factory.

The Maserati factory placed these cars in a form of storage which was more akin to a forgotten elephant's graveyard than any kind of effort to preserve what would later become immensely important historic sports racing cars.

Indeed it must be realised and clearly understood that these cars did not at that time have any historical value as their role in history was only just complete and they certainly had no monetary value as last years racing cars have the same value as yesterdays newspapers. Store them however, as Maserati did, and store them for 10, 15 and in some cases 20 or 30 years slowly accumulating dust in the corner of the factory. To quote William Oosthoek from his authoritative book Birdcage to Supercage ''Factory, mid 1980s. Under Alexander DeTomaso's regime old treasures were piled up like junk'.

In the late 1970's, and with the increase in interest and the wave of nostalgia surrounding the Birdcage Maseratis and the ever increasing ability to use them in anger again in historic motorsport, the factory consented to the sale of a number of the racing cars that they owned and indeed many if not a majority of the sports racing and competition Maseratis that are in regular circulation today in collections, museums and race tracks would not be with us today were it not for the Maserati factory selling these cars. Often as components or parts to the ferocious appetite of the historic racing fraternity in some cases up to thirty years after they were first laid up.

This original Tipo 63 LWB chassis was sold to the vendor from parts and items that had been released from factory ownership in the early 1980's and the immediate re-building of the car took place.

As this is a long wheelbase chassis it was subsequently designed to be used with a 12 cylinder engine, as was used at Le Mans but the Tipo 63s were fitted, when new, with a number of varying engine specifications and since the initial re-built some twenty years ago the car has run with an original 2 litre Birdcage engine- number AM6*008. An engine that can easily be uprated to a more powerful and subsequently competitive 3 litre spec. This engine has been the same engine throughout the cars lengthy and well documented historic racing career. The engine was comprehensively re-built by Rick Hall, then of Hall and Fowler in 2000. The gearbox is a correct Maserati Tipo 63 unit and was re-built in 2003. Since the re-build of this car was completed, it has been a well known and regular feature in most of the highest profile European sprint and endurance historic racing that is available. The car has run several occasions at Le Mans including Le Mans Classic, Monthlery, Nurburgring, Spa, Silverstone, Goodwood and the Ferrari Maserati Challenge to name but a few.

Accompanying the car are various documents relating to its re-build and components which have been compiled and supplied by the vendor along with the important six page invoice from Hall and Fowler for the engine re-build, a copious amount of photographs and the all important FIA papers.