The brand Maserati brings to mind, in an immediate way, cars. Racing, Gran Turismo, sporty and luxury cars: this is how the Maseratis on the market have been and are today. In the fifties, however, the name was also associated with the production of motorcyclesthanks to Factory Candles Accumulators Maserati SpA., managed by Ida Orsi, and by the Bolognese company Italmoto.
The Maserati spin-off company (so we would say today) was the result of a division of the Trident brand, in 1953, into three different realities. Adolfo Orsi had maintained control over the automotive business, Marcello managed the foundries while Ida, in fact, the components and the motorcycles. Maserati had arrived there through the acquisition of Italmoto, a company that is still on the market today through the production of motorcycles, scooters and electrical products (including scooters and city bikes). At the time, the agreement provided for the production of the majority of the components by Italmoto (although in Modena, no longer in Bologna), and the use of the Maserati brand on markets considered fundamental such as Italy and Europe, and later South Africa and North America.
Production with the Maserati brand ceased at the beginning of the following decade: the competition, in those sixties, would become really strong. Today, in any case, having a fully functional Maserati motorcycle is the stuff of true lovers of the classic. Between 22 and 24 September 2022, for example, RM Sotheby’s will auction a model from the Gene Ponder collection: it is a Maserati Turismo Veloce from 1954, also known by the initials 125 TVdue to its single-cylinder two-stroke.
With the 125 TV Maserati had reached a power of almost 6 horsepower, and instead of the three gears he had decided to switch to a four-speed system, without modifying the crankcase. The thickness of the gears was reduced to a minimum, and for this reason the reliability was not exceptional. In any case, these bikes were mostly popular, to have a bit of a competitive edge with respect to a market that was incredibly flourishing in that historical period. Maserati’s motorcycle division closed its doors in 1960.
(images: courtesy of RM Sotheby’s)
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