Maserati’s 200SI was a car developed with very large shoes to fill, it was to be the replacement for the popular and successful A6GC6, it would be driven by some of motor sport’s biggest names – including Carroll Shelby and Stirling Moss. Moss took 1st place at the 1956 Trofeo Supercortemaggiore in an evolved version of the 200S called the 250S – beating out 4 Ferrari 500TRs in the process, it was an exceedingly popular underdog victory at the time.
The car you see here has significant historic importance, it was the first chassis in the 200S series and it was upgraded to 200SI specification in 1956. SI stands for Sport Internazionale, and it was used to signify that the car was built to comply with standard international regulations.
The first 3 cars were built internally at Maserati with their aluminium bodies outsourced to Celestino Fiandri, the bodies were hand-beaten into shape and welded together – with the welds clearly visible on this particular car thanks to its raw, unpainted finish. The 4C2F DOHC 2.0 litre engine for the 200S was sourced from a Formula 2 car, it was an impressive power unit and was capable of 187hp at full chat thanks to its double Weber carburettors dual overhead valves and light alloy construction.
Chassis #2401 (shown here) has enjoyed a long life of racing, in its heyday it took 1st place in the Trofeo Vigorelli (1956), the Gran Premio di Napoli (1956), the Gran Premio di Bari (1956) and a 1st in class at the Grand Prix of Caracas (1956). More recently it’s taken a Best in Class at Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance (2010) and it’s been displayed at Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
If you’d like to read more about the history behind this car or register to bid on it, you can click here to visit Gooding & Company.
All images copyright and courtesy of Gooding & Company.
Photos by Mathieu Heurtault.
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
