Schede
The Maserati brothers were born in Voghera (Pavia), but their professional lives took place in Bologna. At the young age of seventeen Carlo (1884 - 1910) was the designer and builder of a motorbike engine that he almost always drove to victory. Before his untimely death he had been a technician contended for by the major car manufacturers. Alfieri (1885 - 1932), also a very young driver, founded Maserati in 1914 in a room in Via de' Pepoli in Bologna, designing the first cars and spark plugs. His younger brother, Ernesto (1898-1975), had followed in his footsteps as a driver and technician, designing all the engines and components from 1932, including the bodywork of Maseratis and OSCA-Fratelli Maserati. Also valuable was the contribution of Bindo (1883 - 1980), formerly at Isotta Fraschini, who was in charge of external relations, and Ettore (1894 - 1990), involved in the construction of spark plugs and then in the care of the OSCA workshops until 1947.
The sports cars that came out of the Officine Alfieri Maserati (in the meantime relocated to Via Oretti) and later from OSCA were refined, original and innovative, both in the design of the bodywork and in the solutions of the mechanical components, and capable of winning, in the racing versions, in the main competitions of the time. In the years 1939 and 1940, the Maserati 8CTF 3000 cc with compressor achieved a prestigious double victory in the Indianapolis 500. It remains to this day the only Italian car to have won that classic race, and the only victorious European car between 1919 and 1965, that is to say for almost half a century. Having sold the company in 1937, with the commitment to run it for ten years, the Maseratis broke away in 1947 and founded OSCA (Officina Specializzata Costruzioni Automobili-Fratelli Maserati, Specialised Workshop for Cars Construction-Maserati Brothers), a company that would live on until 1968 with notable sporting achievements and speed records, both in the automotive and motor-boating fields, designing and building engine prototypes for the Fiat Grand Tourer cars, but also for its own brand.
Antonio Campigotto
Text taken from "La Ruota e l'Incudine la memoria dell'Industria Meccanica Bolognese in Certosa", Minerva, 2016. Translated by Lorenzo Rocco 2022.
