Maserati Mexico Frua

The Maserati Mexico Frua was made by designer Pietro Frua in three 3 versions, one of which used a modified Mistral body and is thus totally unrelated to the other two with similar bodies but totally different noses. Among these, the other one, ‘112.1.101’, has a rather bizarre nose and headlight treatment and a 4.2-litre engine whereas the car here, ‘112.1.103’, is and always was a 4.7-litre, contrary to recent mistaken news reports. As research indicates it seems to have been sent in haste to Frua to be bodied; in fact, the engine was not yet in running condition according to the factory’s long-time archivist and in-house historian Ermanno Cozza, as they were in a hurry up against the 1968 Geneva Show deadline where it had its world premiere on the Frua stand. This Maserati Mexico design came out more harmoniously than the standard car, retaining the general Mexico lines, but while the latter is more rounded and a bit Gordon Keeblish, the Frua is more sharply defined and in many ways recalls the Quattroporte I and that other creation which spawned its genetic traits, the Aga Khan 5000GT, of which it is the natural successor. Pietro Frua himself left no comments about what stands as one of his better designs: according to biographer Giuliano Silli, Pietro Frua worked alone and was a bit of a lone wolf in his modus operandi, hence there was and certainly is no collaborator left to interview (we do however have in the car’s file his drawing of the first version). Its first paint shade was a delightful very light watery green, the one it has been returned to today, while the interior was in luscious Bordeaux leather which it retains to date.