Maserati 5000 GT Michelotti — chassis AM103.016

The Maserati 5000 GT Michelotti: Following additional tuning of the 450 S engine to make its unruly specifications more suitable for regular use on the street, the so-called 5000 GT would eventually reach a production run of 34 bespoke automobiles, each one of the ultimate Italian road cars of its era. The small list of clients included the world’s elite motorists, including Gianni Agnelli, the Aga Khan, and the American racing driver Briggs Cunningham, a man whose wealth was equaled only by his thirst for speed. A more ideal 5000 GT driver could not have been created by Maserati themselves. Cunningham requested that his 5000 GT resemble, as much as possible, the 450 S upon which its engineering had been based. As so often happens, in translation this became something different but equally wonderful. Michelotti’s design has a trace of 450 S in the rounded curves of its fenders, but was otherwise a fully and remarkably modern creation. With a glassy linear greenhouse, ventilation scoops with decorative chrome “strakes” tucked behind the front wheel arches, and a semi-tapered rear deck, it was reminiscent of a Ferrari 330 GTC. Hidden headlamps, flanking a relatively small oval grille opening, helped to preserve the car’s aerodynamics. The muscular, menacing side exhaust is subtly visible, peeking out behind the wheels. It may not resemble a road-going Le Mans car, but if performance was what Cunningham was after, and it usually was, then Maserati and Michelotti delivered. Reportedly this Maserati 5000 GT Michelotti was the most aerodynamic 5000 GT built, thanks to its lines having been developed in the wind tunnel at Università degli Studi di Torino, and arguably it was the fastest, as well. Cunningham insisted on test-driving it prior to delivery . . . at Monza, presumably ensuring that its speed was up to his standards. He then used it to commute between various European race tracks at which his team was competing. Records of Maserati historian Adolfo Orsi indicate that the car had by 1968 made it to Cunningham’s home base in California, then to Oliver Kuttner of Virginia, who in 1988 offered it for sale. It was subsequently restored in the early 1990s in Europe, making its way to Poland, where in 1998 it was acquired by Alfredo Brener. Mr. Brener is well known for having owned more 5000 GTs than any other individual, including several well-known one-off designs. At the time of his sale of this car to its present owners in 2003, he noted, “This Maserati 5000 GT Michelotti is the fastest one [5000 GT] that we have,” testament indeed to its aerodynamics and highly tuned engine. Inarguably one of the fastest, most unique, and most potent 5000 GTs, the Briggs Cunningham car is true to the audacious personality of its original owner, America’s most famous and respected gentleman racer of the era.