On Mottarone, above Lake Maggiore, Maserati chose an unusual stage for an important anniversary. At the third edition of TUTTO BENE Hillclimb, a non-competitive hill climb and “cool” car gathering, the Trident unveiled new liveries inspired by the 1958 Maserati Eldorado, destined for the racing GT2 and, in a limited series, the GT2 Stradale. Next to a unique example of the super sports road car is the original single-seater from the 1950s, restored in its cream white livery.
Read more Marini: “After the improvements we can aim for the top 12, I am optimistic”
It is not a race. The event’s slogan is slow down to go fast: nine kilometers of Strada Borromea, from Gignese towards the summit, without a stopwatch. Maserati, however, used that hairpin between woods and lake to tell another story: the thread that connects the 1926 Tipo 26, Fangio’s 250F, Stirling Moss’s Eldorado, and today’s GT2s.
A cowboy face on the hood
The GT2 Stradale on display is a Fuoriserie creation: Eldorado white, number 10 of Moss, ice cream logo and “cowboy face,” tricolor starting from the hood slot. The hood is black, with the original badge of the Tipo 26. Visible carbon fiber and black single-nut wheels complete the racing look.
Next to it, in total coherence, the 420/M/58 “Eldorado” from the Umberto Panini Collection of Modena. It is the same car that raced at Monza with Moss on June 29, 1958, had a V8 of 4,190 cc and 410 HP, chassis derived from the 250F, Fantuzzi body with rear fin, 758 kg. In the first heat Moss was fourth, in the second fifth. In the third the steering broke and it ended up in the guardrail. He emerged unscathed, the car almost intact, classified seventh. The following year, repainted red, it attempted Indianapolis with Ralph Liguori: it did not qualify. But the precedent remained.
That car is the first European case of a single-seater sponsored by a brand outside the automobile. Gino Zanetti, Eldorado ice cream, wanted international visibility. Maserati abandoned the federal red and painted everything cream white. It was a small revolution: from then on the circus opened the doors to financiers who did not build engines.
Read more Vasseur: “We have left Monza behind. Every weekend represents an opportunity”
Second act of a centenary
The Eldorado liveries are the second chapter of a Fuoriserie project for the hundred years of the logo and Maserati’s first race. In 1926 the Tipo 26, the first car with the Trident on the hood, won its class at the Targa Florio with Alfieri Maserati. In May, at Monza, it was the turn of the livery inspired by the 250F: two world titles with Fangio, victories by Moss, and the memory of Maria Teresa de Filippis, the first woman to qualify for a Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Now the baton passes to the 420/M/58. The track GT2 — the car that brought Maserati back to winning in closed-wheel championships — and the 640 HP Stradale become the contemporary support of that story. Same design, two worlds: a one-off race car, a limited edition for those who drive it on the road.
“We pay tribute to a significant page of our history, reinterpreting it with the language of Fuoriserie,” said Davide Baldini, Head of Maserati Fuoriserie. “The Eldorado single-seater was a milestone. Today its spirit lives on in the GT2 and GT2 Stradale, between heritage and innovation, track and road.”
Completing the lineup, a MC20 Cielo tackles the Borromea. Open roof, V6 Nettuno, no ranking. It’s the most Maserati way to be at a hillclimb that doesn’t measure tenths: the sound matters more than the time. VB
