Maserati Quattroporte Guides, Photos and Videos

The Maserati Quattroporte (Italian pronunciation: [ˌkwattroˈpɔrte]) is a four-door full-size luxury sports saloon produced by Italian automobile manufacturer Maserati. The name translated from Italian literally means "four doors". The car is currently in its sixth generation, with the first generation introduced in 1963.

The original Maserati Quattroporte (Tipo AM107) was built between 1963 and 1969. It was a large saloon powered by V8 engines—both firsts for a series production Maserati automobile.

The task of styling the Quattroporte was given to Turinese coachbuilder Pietro Frua, who drew inspiration from a special 5000 GT (chassis number 103.060) which he had designed in 1962 for Prince Karim Aga Khan. While the design was by Frua, body construction was carried out by Vignale.

The Quattroporte was introduced at the October–November 1963 Turin Motor Show, where a pre-production prototype was on the Maserati stand next to the Mistral coupé. Regular production began in 1964.The Tipo 107 Quattroporte joined two other grand tourers, the Facel Vega and the Lagonda Rapide, capable of traveling at speeds upto 200 km/h (124 mph) on the new motorways in Europe.It was equipped with a 4.1-litre (4,136 cc or 252 cu in) V8 engine, rated at 264 PS (194 kW; 260 hp) DIN at 5,000 rpm, and equipped with either a five-speed ZF manual transmission or a three-speed Borg Warner automatic on request. Maserati claimed a top speed of 230 km/h (143 mph).The car was also exported to the United States, where federal regulations mandated twin round headlamps in place of the single rectangular ones found on European models.

Between 1963 and 1966, 230 units were made.

In 1966, Maserati revised the Tipo 107, adding the twin headlights already used on the U.S. model. A leaf-sprung solid axle took place of the previous De Dion tube. The interior was completely redesigned, including the dashboard which now had a full width wood-trimmed fascia.In 1968 alongside the 4.1-litre a 4.7-litre version became also available (AM107/4700), developing 290 PS (213 kW; 286 hp) DIN. Top speed increased to a claimed 255 km/h (158 mph), making the Quattroporte 4700 the fastest four-door sedan in the world at the time.

Around 500 of the second series were made, for a total of 776 Tipo 107 Quattroportes. Production ended in 1969.

The first generation of the Quattroporte had a steel unibody structure, complemented by a front subframe.Front suspension was independent, with coil springs and hydraulic dampers. Rear suspension used a coil sprung De Dion tube featuring inboard brakes on the first series, later changed to a more conventional Salisbury leaf sprung solid axle with a single trailing link on the second series. On both axles there were anti-roll bars. Brakes were solid Girling discs all around. A limited slip differential was optional.

The long lived quad cam, all-aluminium Maserati V8 engine made its début on the Quattroporte. It featured two chain-driven overhead camshafts per bank, 32 angled valves, hemispherical combustion chambers, inserted cast iron wet cylinder liners, and was fed through an aluminium, water-cooled inlet manifold by four downdraft twin-choke Weber carburetors—initially 38 DCNL 5 and 40 DCNL 5 on 4,200 and 4,700 cars respectively, later changed to 40 DCNF 5 and 42 DCNF 5 starting from December 1968.

In 1971, Karim Aga Khan ordered another special one-off based on the Maserati Indy platform. Rory Brown was commissioned as the chief engineer of the project. The car received the 4.9-litre V8 engine (Tipo 107/49), rated at 300 PS (221 kW; 296 hp).Carrozzeria Frua designed the car, the prototype of which was displayed in 1971 and 1972 in Paris and Geneva respectively. The car was production ready, even receiving its own chassis code (AM 121), but new owner Citroën used their influence to have Maserati develop the SM-based Quattroporte II instead. Only two vehicles were finished, chassis #004 was sold by Maserati to the Aga Khan in 1974, and the prototype #002 went to the King of Spain, who bought the car directly from Frua.

The second generation of the Quattroporte, named Maserati Quattroporte II (AM 123), made its world première at the Paris Motor Showheld in October 1974, followed by an appearance at the Turin Motor Show. As a result of Citroën's purchase of the Italian company, it was a much different car from its predecessor and its successors: built on an extended Citroën SM chassis, it featured front wheel drive and Citroën's hydropneumatic suspension and swiveling directional headlights. The car had Bertone bodywork, penned by Marcello Gandini. The 1973 oil crisis combined with the collapse of the Citroën/Maserati relationship, made Maserati unable to gain EEC approval for the car. Most of the cars built were sold in the Middle East and in Spain, where such type of approval was not necessary.

The front-wheel drive layout and the modest 3.0-litre V6 powerplant based on the Citroën SM engine did not attract customers. Its 210 PS (154 kW; 207 hp) at 5,500 rpm power output was barely enough to propel the 1,600 kg (3,527 lb) car to 200 km/h (124 mph).

In 1974, Citroën had Maserati develop a V8 engine. It was essentially based on the 3.0-litre V6 engine used in the Merak with 2.5 cylinders from one block and 1.5 cylinders from another block welded together. This was done to save development costs. An SM was used to test this engine rated at 260 PS (191 kW; 256 hp) - the adjustments needed were modest and transformed the SM into a proper sports car. It was tested in excess of 17,703 km (11,000 mi) at Modena and Monza autodromes and was also in the personal use of Maserati engineer Giulio Alfieri. The bankruptcy of Citroën and Maserati ended the V8's development in 1975. When the marque was acquired by entrepreneur Alejandro De Tomaso, he scrapped the project but the engine was taken out of the test car and stored.

The production total amounted to no more than 13 cars. While the prototype was built in 1974, the succeeding twelve cars were built to order between 1976 and 1978. The nearly stillborn Quattroporte II project was costly for the small company, and the firm reached four billion lire in debt by the end of 1978.

The third generation of the Maserati Quattroporte (Tipo AM 330) was developed under the Alejandro de Tomaso-GEPI ownership. After the brief parenthesis of the Citroën-era front-wheel drive Quattroporte II, the third generation went back to the classic formula of rear-wheel drive and a large Maserati V8 engine. The exterior design was penned by Giorgetto Giugiaro.

From 1974 to 1976, Giorgetto Giugiaro presented two Italdesign show cars on Maserati platforms, called the Medici I and Medici II. The latter had features that would make it into the production version of the third-generation of the Quattroporte.

A pre-production Quattroporte was introduced to the press by the then Maserati president Alejandro de Tomaso on 1 November 1976, in advance of its début at the Turin Motor Show later that month. It was only three years later though, in 1979, that the production version of the car went on sale. De Tomaso, who disliked Citroën, removed all of the influence of the French marque from the car. The quad-cam V8 engines built from scratch for the Kyalami were used as well as other mechanical parts. The SM V8 engine prototype under development in the Citroën ownership was also scrapped and the staff was replaced, the most notable being head engineer Giulio Alfieri who was replaced by Aurelio Bertocchi. The hydraulic system of the Quattroporte II was replaced by a conventional power steering setup and the suspension geometry was akin to the Jaguar XJ.

Initially badging reading "4PORTE" was used, but this was changed in 1981 to ones spelling out "Quattroporte." Two versions of the V8 engine were available: a 4,930 cc (4.9 L) version generating a maximum power output of 280 PS (206 kW; 276 hp), and a smaller 4,136 cc (4.1 L) engine generating 255 PS (188 kW; 252 hp)(241 PS (177 kW; 238 hp) in later versions), which was phased out in 1981. The interior was upholstered in leather and trimmed in briar wood. The instrumentation came from the Plymouth Horizon.

The Quattroporte III marked the last of the hand-built Italian cars; all exterior joints and seams were filled to give a seamless appearance. From 1987 onwards, the Royale superseded the Quattroporte. The Quattroporte III was an instant success and 120 units were sold in Italy alone.

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