Page 20 - Maserati 450S book by Walter Baumer and Jean-Francois Blachette

interview in 2001 about the engine: “...I could not believe that the factory had not balanced it. Maybe the Italians didn’t have heavy metal in those days. We had to put three big one-inch slugs of heavy metal in each counterweight to get it balanced, something that was very new at the time....”
#4506 competed very well in practice for its last two races with Chuck Daigh seated behind the wheel: in Santa Barbara on September 6, 1959, and then at Riverside for the Times GP on October 11. But unfortunately, it did not finish either of the races due to the broken transmission which did not support the torque of the big Maserati 5.7-liter engine!
Now John Edgar had had enough and ended the sporting career of his 450S, which had not shone in Europe in its first life as #4505 with Stirling Moss, but, on the other hand, met with success in the USA driven by Carroll Shelby as #4506 with five races won in 1957. Subsequent events showed that the Pontiac engine was unreliable, and the Maserati marine engine had too much torque. The car remained unused in Edgar’s possession for a while until it was sold to an unknown person in California. Later #4506 was purchased by Joel Finn. Ex-restorer, Stephen Griswold, from Berkeley, California told one of the authors early in 2023: “In 1970, a transporter arrived at my door from Joel Finn. Subsequently, two beautiful cars were unloaded, a Maserati 450S #4506 and a Ferrari 410 Sport [...]. I discussed the work required with Joel and he gave his OK to start the job on the Maserati 450S. The car was missing its original engine and Joel had bought a marine unit used for hydroplane racing from Roberto Orsi, son of Maserati past factory owner Omar Orsi. This was an engine with a displacement of 6.4 liters. Externally, it was identical to the original. [...] When we disassembled the car, it was discovered that the frame
OPPOSITE: The car today. Restored to its Cuban period livery, the car with its current owner in the night of the Le Mans Classic in 2018. (Peter Auto)
had been hit and repaired on the left front corner, following Shelby’s crash Shelby at Riverside. We took accurate measurements from the right-hand side and used these to check the damaged area. Fortunately, we did this, because a discrepancy of one inch in length was discovered and a camber angle that also needed correcting. The car had been raced for many years like this! To fix these badly done repairs, we mounted the frame on our chassis table and repaired the damaged tubes. The final checks revealed that the car was now square, and the front-end geometry was equal side to side. The car was very complete. It had been parked after its engine had blown up, so it was in the same condition as it was when it finished its last race.”
Peter Kaus from Frankfurt, Germany, wanted a 450S for his huge sports car collection, “Rosso Bianco”, located in his museum in Aschaffenburg, near his hometown. Around 1973, he contacted Joel Finn and made an offer the American could not resist, and the car was back in Europe. It was tested by Willie Green on the Silverstone track in 1984 for a report published in the August issue of Classic & Sports Car.
Kaus entered it in the 1984 Mille Miglia Storica with Stephen Griswold as co-driver and raced it at two consecutive Oldtimer GP events on the Nürburgring in 1986 and 1987. On April 18, 1991, Peter Kaus sold the 450S to the banker Dr. Thomas Bscher from Cologne, Germany, who was a great Maserati fan and active amateur race driver. He used the car successfully in many historic race events in Europe. Dr. Bscher kept it for more than twenty years. Upon his retirement from racing, he finally sold #4506 in the beginning of 2017 to a new owner in Germany who, together with his brother, hosts the biggest Maserati race car collection worldwide. It was then cosmetically restored, and Shelby’s yellow triangle added on the front.
174
Dr. Thomas Bscher bought the car from Peter Kaus and drove it all over Europe in the 1990s. Here he is at Silverstone in 1993. (Thomas Bscher Collection)
© DALTON WATSON FINE BOO © DALTON WATSON FINE BOOKS © DALTON WATSON FINE BOOKS © DALTON WATSON FINE BOOKS DALTON WATSON FINE B