| Chuck added this info about the Maserati:
"I checked the Sebring results, and the
car was driven there to 2nd OA by Stirling Moss ? Harry Schell. Fangio
? Jean Behra had won OA in the 450S. That was the last official entry by
Maserati and they beat the factory Ferrari's, Jaguar D-Types, ? Porsches.
I remember that Nemore had told me the
car had been impounded after the Sebring race because of a visa/duty problem.
After that problem had been cleared up, the factory shipped the car to
San Francisco in Nemore's care. So it appears the car had been impounded
longer than I remem- bered.
I do recall the Webers were fouled with
jelled gas when the car arrived in SF. I can confirm it was indeed the
ex-Moss, Sebring car as I had seen a photo of Moss in the car at Sebring
with the same dent in the RF as can be seen in my photo. Also this car
had been fitted by the factory with the huge 450-S drum brakes for the
long endurance race.
Originally the idea was that I would
drive the car a few races races to try to put an end to Ferrari dominance
on the west coast.
A mechanical problem at Stockton curtailed
that plan. On the start of the race, I thought the clutch had gone out
and I drove the race using no clutch at all. I told Nemore after the race
of the problem and he was not overly concerned.
However upon disassembly he found a greater
problem -- the crank flange had broken. He had to order a new crank from
Italy, and it was a special crank that had to be machined which took a
very long time.
By the time he received the new crank
and rebuilt the engine between his regular business customers the factory
had instructed him to abandon the project and sell the car. I believe
it was Ron Dykes (a fine, underated driver) that purchased the car.
I did also drive a A6GCS/2000 a couple
of times in 1958, but I have no pics of that car. It was later destroyed
in a structure fire." |
