Maserati Quattroporte fire truck from Formula 1 will be put up for auction (5 photos)

In early February, a very rare Maserati Quattroporte will be put up for sale at the Artcurial auction. This is a first generation sedan that was converted into a fire truck and used during the Italian Formula 1 Grand Prix. In the late 1960s, only five sedans were subjected to such an exotic conversion, and one of them, carefully restored, was put up for auction. The estimated cost is 150-250 thousand euros.





The Maserati Quattroporte, which appeared in 1963, did not make a splash on the market, but enjoyed sustained popularity. It was the debut four-door for a brand previously known only for sports cars and grand tourers, and one of the first large, comfortable sports sedans in Europe. Therefore, the Quattroporte was in demand among those who needed a spacious interior combined with confident dynamics.

The dimensions and impressive V8 for those times determined the choice of Quattroporte as a platform for an emergency fire truck. The sports sedan could get to the scene of an accident on the race track much faster than the clumsy diesel trucks of the day.

The project was initiated by fire safety equipment manufacturer CEA and implemented by body shop Grazie. The front of the cabin was separated by a partition, and the rear was converted into a pickup-style cargo area. A water cannon, a water tank, a pump, a set of necessary hoses and fire extinguishers were placed on it. Notably, the front half of the Quattroporte remains the same, including black leather on the seats and air conditioning.

Judging by the auction description and photo, a Quattroporte II Series was converted into a fire truck, which implies not only slight modifications in appearance compared to the original sedans, but also a more powerful engine. With restyling in the second half of the 1960s, the Italian company began to equip the four-door with a 4.7-liter engine instead of the previous 4.1-liter, which increased power from 260 to 286 hp. With. The factory Quattroporte was capable of accelerating to 255 km/h and thanks to this it was then considered the fastest production sedan in the world.

The fire engine worked faithfully on Italian race tracks until the late 1970s. Afterwards they wanted to send it to scrap, but one of the famous French collectors saved the car. In the early 2010s, the exotic pickup truck was completely restored—the process took, according to auctioneers, about six years.