The Sebring-Winning Special.(News)(Maserati)

Byline: Steve Potter

Maserati today is a part of Ferrari, but five decades ago the two marques were bitter opponents, in the showroom and on the racetrack. The 450S, chassis 4503, represents the zenith of Maserati's motorsports heritage. This particular car's win over Ferrari, Jaguar and Aston Martin at the 1957 Sebring 12 Hour, with legendary drivers Juan Manuel Fangio and Jean Behra sharing the wheel, stands at the apogee of Maserati's competition history.

But this classic 1950s sports racer-its ovoid mouth bearing the Trident, symbol of the city of Bologna, and for more than 75 years now the insignia of Maserati-also symbolizes the precipitous fall of Maserati as a factory racing team. At the close of the 1957 racing season, Maserati and Fangio had won the F1 world championship, but a quixotic attempt to also capture the sports car title left the company on its knees and so weakened that it never again fielded a factory racing effort.

And yet, from the ashes of Maserati's racing Phoenix, the rough-hewn 450S racer's engine provided the heart of a new line of road cars-the fabulous and extravagant 5000 GT-that established the company as a premier maker of luxury grand touring automobiles, and ensured its survival.

With a 3.0-liter limit for international sports car racing set for 1958, the 450S had just one season. But what a car, and what a season. The double-overhead-cam 4.5-liter V8's 420 horses overpowered the competition, its 185-mph top speed leaving them in the dust. Optimum weight distribution and good handling were ensured by a five-speed transaxle, double A-arm front suspension and de Dion axle with transverse leaf spring at the rear.

The 1957 sports car championship consisted of just seven races, and minor failures at early races other than Sebring kept the 450S from dominating. A second win for chassis 4503, at the penultimate round in Sweden, meant that Maserati arrived at the season finale in Venezuela, a race through the streets of Caracas, with a good shot at the title.

But it was not to be. While leading ...