Meeting with Maserati Quattroporte enthusiast
Everyone around me thinks I’m a car nerd, usually because I am more interested than them when it comes to four-wheeled, gas-smelling beauties from 30-40-50-60 years back in time.
I have always seen myself as a car interested, never as a hard core car nerd or passionate car enthusiast.
It became very obvious what the difference it is between a interested and a passionate when I asked to photograph Fredric Gustafsson’s amazingly beautiful Maserati Quattroporte from 1965.
We got in touch via social media when Fredric saw one of my pictures of his Maserati Quattroporte. This was taken on the regular Monday car meet at Årsta Viken in Stockholm.
After a few weeks we nailed a date. When standing in his garage, south of Stockholm, an early Saturday morning. I notice with a smile inside, this is a true car enthusiast I have in front of me.
Beside in the garage stands the small cousin
Within just a few minutes of conversation, the door to the Italian car world was kicked open. I can’t stop looking at the fine shapes of the Maserati Quattroporte. Or Tipo 107 as it was called in the factory. Beside it stands the smaller cousin, a Moretti 850 SS.
Fredric tells in quiet and factual tone about Morettin and that the Italian car world. That in the 60s might not have been so good at math. For how can a brand believe that it can make any profit by making 200 cars of each model and having 10 models in the stable?
After the introducing chat we put ourselves in the Quattroporten. When Fredric is turning the key the eight cylinders respond directly and we literally slip out from his garage. He continues to talk about the small details of the Italian car design, such as the engraved ashtrays or the seven beautiful rocker switches for fans and lamps etc. in the center console.
The Quattroporte makes us lay down on the ground
This Italian artwork, which is almost 50 years old, devours pits and bumps gallantly with its separate suspension forward and De Dion’s rear axle. This shaft will later make both of us lie on our stomach, out in the wild, while Fredric explains that the brake caliper is placed beside the differential gear and that the shaft has universal joints on both sides of the drive shafts.
All this while a family with children walks past and wonders why two adult men are lying on the ground and talking.
The Dion shaft was only on the first generation of the Quattroport. For generation two they swopped it to a solid Salisbury shaft.
Maserati recycle their cylinder head
The time goes by and the images are pilling up in the digital memory card. Fredric continues to tell me how every Quattroporte was handmade from scratch, that they used the same cylinder head as the racing machines, which can be seen on the extra spark plug holes that are not used and that this was the fastest serial-produced car of its time.
The sunlight is perfect for a photographer this day. The clouds lie like a transparent blanket in the sky but do not let the sun pass through with it´s rays.
The gray Grigio Milano paint shines nicely and it feels like the oppressive summer heat has really given up now, once and for all.
We are slowly starting to pack up while I find out that this Maserati Quattroport was imported to Sweden in the 80s and was fully renovated in the 90s.
I take a deep breath and ask, “Can I drive it back?”
Fredric answers as if he knew the question would come: “Yes yes, sure”.
The Maserati Quattroporte want to run off
The wooden steering wheel sinks into my hands and the grip is 100%, the clutch is exactly where it should be and the brakes are rock hard.
Do not dare to push it on the curvy roads, but it feels like the 260 Italian horses could rush off easy.
Again, this robust car swallows the bumps and pits all the way up to the house, past boat clubs and golf courses. It feels a bit like taking the driver license exam, when Fredric is sitting next to me. Even if I have that feeling I smile all the way.
We park outside his house. The “drive a classic Maserati” rush was just coming down before I got to help push one of Fredric’s project cars into the garage. The Quattroporte was later that day driven to the winter storage.
Now I will probably swear in the church for an enthusiastic Italy car lover, I have always been interested and liked German cars. This is the story of my life until I was standing with a clean car enthusiast like Fredric, who explained all those little details and things I had never found out.
Thank you Fredric for opening the door to a car interested who has now got a taste for the Italian car artworks, a little bit more, and got an even better picture of the difference between a car interested and a car enthusiast.
Interested in the Swedish Maserati Club?
The Swedish Maserati Club is a small but very active club.
Would you like to know more about the club, the schedule and/or something els? Just get into their webbpage – Maserati Club.se
or follow them on Facebook: Maserati Club Sweden
Wanna read more about Maserati Quattroporte – Tipo 107
Fredric gave me this link, to read up on the Quattroporte – Tipo 107 before we meet.
On this page you have 554 listed Quattroportes of the 760 ever made.
Fredrics Quattroporte have the number 250.
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