The History of Maserati car maker & VIN decoder

Maserati S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of premium business cars and sports cars. The headquarters is located in Modena, Italy. It belongs to the FIAT industrial group.

The brand was founded by Maserati family in the early 20th century. The farmer Rudolfo had six sons, five of whom dedicated their lives to cars, inheriting their father's passion for speed. The eldest son Carlo Maserati at the age of 17 develops his first single-cylinder engine and gets a job at Fiat as a test-pilot. In his spare time he works on a new single-cylinder engine, which he installs on a simple chassis. In a way, this primitive car with a wooden body was the first Maserati model.

Carlo then successfully competes in automobile competitions, and in 1909 he founds his own company. His goal is to develop a superior airplane, but he dies of tuberculosis in 1910.

The Alfieri brothers, Ernesto and Bindo work in the Isotta-Fraschini car company, but in 1914 Alfieri decides to follow in the footsteps of his older brother and open their own firm. After a while, Bindo and Ernesto joined him. Together they developed their first sports car with a two-liter engine. The main income of the company Officine Alfieri Maserati, in addition to the manufacture of cars, was the production of engines and spark plugs. Mostly the cars were assembled for racing. The company lived by occasional orders.

During the First World War, the company produced candles for military equipment. After peace came, Alfieri, Ernesto and Ettore focused all their efforts on creating a new car. Mario, the only one of the six brothers who was not connected with power machinery and became an artist, draws the logo of the brand, using the trident from the statue of Neptune in Piazza Maggiore, a symbol of strength and vigor.

In 1926, the company Diatto, with which the Maserati brothers collaborated, stopped producing racing cars. This led to the creation of the first Maserati and the introduction of a new brand on the market. One of the first cars of the brand, driven by Alfieri, won the Targa Florio endurance race in 1926. The company began producing racing cars with 4, 6, 8 and 16 cylinders.

Maserati's first sports car was named Tipo 26 and was an evolution of the Diatto GP 8C. According to Alfieri, it embodied 'the best characteristics of all the cars produced so far'.

In the same year 1926 the Tipo 26 won the speed race, reaching over 167 km/h. The Maserati brothers increase production, unable to keep up with demand. In the arrogant world of sporting competition, there is genuine interest in the new brand. On September 28, 1929 in Cremona, Maserati sets its first world record, racing 10 km at an average speed of 246.069 km/hour. This record could not be broken until the end of 1937. Another impressive achievement of the brothers was the creation of a 16-cylinder V5 engine with an incomprehensible 360 horsepower.

In the early 90's, two new coupes Shamal and Ghibli II are released. The appearance of the first one was created by Marcello Gandini.

In 1993, the brand comes into possession of the FIAT Group, receives a large financial injections, which many associate with the revival of Maserati. In 1999, a new 3200 GT coupe with an elegant exterior and a 3.2-liter turbocharged V8 engine was presented, which produced 370 hp. The model could reach up to 285 km/h and the acceleration time from 0 to 100 km/h was 5 seconds.

Since 1999 Maserati is fully controlled by Ferrari, which uses the name to produce luxury cars. The brand invests in the construction of new production facilities and is constantly on the lookout for technological innovations that can surprise sophisticated connoisseurs of premium cars. Do not forget to use Maserati VIN decoder in order to avoid potential problems when buying a used car.

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