Lot 215: One of 24 built,c.1961 OSCA 1600GT Coupé Chassis no. 00103 Engine no. 00103 - Featured on Invaluable.

com 3/31/09 9:00 PM

Search Here
Advanced Search

This is one of over 50 million past auction results. Subscribe to view price(s), auction
house, location and date.

Auction Location: United Kingdom - 2008

Lot 215 : One of 24 built,c.1961 OSCA 1600GT Coupé Chassis no. 00103 Engine no.
00103
Price Realised: £_________
Pre-Auction Price Estimate: £_________

Title:
One of 24 built,c.1961 OSCA 1600GT Coupé Chassis no. 00103 Engine no. 00103

Description:
In 1937 the three surviving Maserati brothers sold out to the Orsi Group and after WW2 founded Officine Specializzate per la
Costruzione Automobili Fratelli Maserati - OSCA for short - to build limited edition competition cars. One of the reasons for the
Maserati brothersʼ departure was that they did not want to be involved in making road cars - they were racers pure and simple.

OSCAs performed magnificently in international sports car racing throughout the 1950s. In the 1954 Sebring 12-Hours, a round
of the World Sports Car Championship, privately entered 1.5-litre OSCAs finished 1st, 4th and 5th against works teams in a
category with no limit on engine capacity, an achievement as outstanding as it was unexpected. OSCAs took class wins in the
Mille Miglia on ten occasions and also won the Index of Performance at Le Mans.

OSCA was a tiny company, never making more than 30 cars in a single year, all of which were intended for competition. Its first
offering, introduced in 1948, was the MT4 (Maserati Tipo 4), a small siluro powered by a 1,092cc overhead-camshaft engine,
which was immediately successful in the hands of Luigi Villoresi. Enlarged in stages up to 1,491cc and given a twin-cam
cylinder head, the OSCA engine was later taken up by FIAT, for whom it was ʻproductionisedʼ by ex-Ferrari designer, Aurelio
Lampredi.

At the same time as its twin-cam engine was powering FIATʼs range-topping sports cars, OSCA began producing its own GT
cars, reversing the policy that had prompted the brothers to leave Maserati. OSCAʼs 1600GT was built around a tubular-steel
spaceframe chassis equipped with the same engine in a higher state of tune. (It would appear that concurrently with its own
1600GT, the firm also built special versions of the FIAT 1500/1600, many of which were made as closed coupés, a style not
offered by FIAT). OSCA completed 128 examples of its 1600GT between 1960 and 1963, the greater majority (98) with bodies
by Carrozzeria Zagato.
Invaluable Auction
The OSCA 1600GT offered here is the work of Carrozzeria Fissore, which bodied 24 chassis, including three as cabriolets. Database
Founded by the four Fissore brothers in 1920, Carrozzeria Fissore produced car and commercial vehicle bodies for a wide Total Auction Lots:
variety of chassis before turning increasingly to FIAT in the 1950s. The firm is best remembered for its stylish FIAT 1500/1600S
coupés and spiders and the later versions on the OSCA chassis, of which this car is an example. 5 1, 8 2 4, 4 3 7

Total Value of Auction Lots:

The history of chassis number ʻ00103ʼ is unclear until the late 1970s when the car was for sale at Rudy Pas in Holland, at that
£ 9 6, 6 2 1, 0 9 2, 7 8
time finished in Alfa Romeo purple livery. It later resurfaced in Connecticut, USA in the ownership of John Geils of the then 9
Search Now!
famous J Geils Band. John restored the OSCA (he later owned a Ferrari restoration business) and painted it red. The car was
later sold to the celebrated Swedish collector Hans Thulin, known for his Ferrari GTO and Bugatti Royale. Subsequently put on
display in a Swedish museum, it was purchased in 2002 from the latter by the current owner, who advises us that the bumpers
and ʻFissoreʼ script have always been missing.

The OSCA had seen little use since its restoration in the 1980s and needed no further work, merely re-commissioning, after
which it was used for various events in Sweden and the Milan - San Remo in 2006 among others, while in 2007 the vendor
completed a 2,300-kilometre European tour in it without trouble.

We are advised that the engine has just been removed and rebuilt, its crankshaft being re-balanced and the camshafts replaced

http://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/one-of-24-built,c.1961-osca-1600gt-coupe-chassis-1-c-uhlydkw0mv Page 1 of 2
Lot 215: One of 24 built,c.1961 OSCA 1600GT Coupé Chassis no. 00103 Engine no. 00103 - Featured on Invaluable.com 3/31/09 9:00 PM

We are advised that the engine has just been removed and rebuilt, its crankshaft being re-balanced and the camshafts replaced
by new ones (photographs available). Its engine newly run-in, the car is described as in good usable condition. One of only a
relative handful of known survivors, it represents an exciting opportunity to acquire a fine example of this rare Italian Gran
Turismo eligible for a wide variety of the most important historic events.

Send This Lot to a Friend Save this Lot to My Invaluable

Email address: Send

Helpful Links Legal Copyright & Usage

Search Past Auction Prices Register – It's Free Terms of Use All content, images, and intellectual
property on this site protected by
Search Forthcoming Auctions Subscribe: Appraiser Privacy
digital watermark technology. Digital
Search Artists Subscribe: Auction Search Subscription Agreement copying of images strictly prohibited;
Art Genre Guide Subscribe: Fine Art violators will be pursued and
prosecuted to the full extent of the
Invaluable 1,000™ Offline Search
law including the Digital Millennium
Auction Style Guide Auction House Services Copyright Act.
About Invaluable Auction Calendar
Invaluable News Auction Houses A-Z Unauthorized use including account
sharing of Invaluable will result in
Contact Us FAQ/Help permanent account cancellation.
Link to Us Feedback
RSS Copyright © 1986-2009 Artfact, LLC.
and participating auction houses. All
Rights Reserved.

http://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/one-of-24-built,c.1961-osca-1600gt-coupe-chassis-1-c-uhlydkw0mv Page 2 of 2