Maserati: Alfieri concept car to be put into production in 2016

16 June, 2014

 

Maserati will be putting a concept car into production that is likely to be a bit of a rival of the Porsche 911.

The Alfieri concept will be put into production in 2016 with a plan to produce it in both coupe and convertible forms, on rear- and four-wheel drive platforms that will be shared with new Alfa Romeo models.

Unveiled at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show, the Alfieri concept car is all about the company’s sports heritage and the future of Maserati design.

It’s named after Alfieri Maserati, one of the five Maserati brothers, who loved speed and raced cars as a mechanic and from the driver’s seat. The unveiling of the Alfieri concept marked 100 years since Alfieri and brothers Ettore and Ernesto Maserati opened their workshop.

A second dose of Dash

When the car arrived in Wellington in December 2018 it was duly taken along for entry certification. Vehicle Inspection NZ (VINZ) found some wrongly wired lamps and switches — not too bad — but, much more significantly, some poor welding repairs. As the structural problems were probed more thoroughly, we realized the previous owner’s restoration would not do and we needed an upgrade. Dash had made it into the country but it would take some time and money before he would be free to explore any of New Zealand’s scenic highways.
We took the car to our new home in Johnsonville in the northern suburbs of Wellington and I pored over the car in detail to figure out what was next. There were lots of new parts on the car and a very perky reconditioned drivetrain but the chassis needed serious work.

Lunch with… Jim Palmer

In the 1960s, Hamilton’s Jim Palmer won the prestigious ‘Gold Star’ four times and was the first resident New Zealander home in the New Zealand Grand Prix on five consecutive occasions. He shared the podium with Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham, Bruce McLaren, Graham Hill, Jim Clark, Denny Hulme, Jackie Stewart, and Chris Amon. The extent of his domination of the open-wheeler scene in New Zealand will probably never be matched or exceeded. Yet he’s always been modest about his achievements.