Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance: Maserati Centennial

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Pebble Beach CA, Aug 17 2014 - Maserati, a marque renowned for its racing greats as well as road cars offering both elegance and sporting performance, takes center stage at the 64th annual Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

“The history of this marque is entwined with the history of this Concours. Maseratis were often in the mix in the early Pebble Beach Road Races in the 1950s, and, to the surprise of many classic car enthusiasts, a Maserati Mistral Coupé took top honors as Best of Show at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in 1968. It was the most recent postwar car to do so.”

The Maserati brothers focused for decades on building potent single seaters that could (and did) win races, racking up early victories in fierce competitions such as the Targa Florio and the Tripoli Grand Prix. The marque went on to record the only wins by an Italian manufacturer at the Indianapolis 500 and to garner the world championship in 1957 with Juan Manuel Fangio at the helm of a 250F. Models for regular road use were added to the Maserati lineup in the 1940s, and the marque soon began to pair with designers like Pininfarina and Giugiaro to create luxury cars with great power and finesse.