1955 Osca MT4 Spider
Only fourty ever built.
Only fourty ever built. Osca was created by the three Maserati brothers after they sold the Maserati company to the Orsi family. Successful in their era but fragile, they've been helped by modern technology to become relatively reliable. These are complicated cars to restore properly.
(source: Automobile Magazine).
Emerging in the spring of 1948, the first Osca was called the MT4 for Maserati tipo 4. It was a small open sports car powered by a 1092cc four-cylinder engine which had a compression ratio of 11.5:1 and produced 72bhp @ 6,000rpm. It started winning at Naples that summer driven by Villoresi. The following year the same engine had is capacity increased to 1342cc, the power going up to 90bhp @ 5,500rpm. These cars were a "siluro" design (ie with exposed wheels covered by bicycle type mudguards).
1950 saw both the above engines getting a new cylinder-head with two camshafts, the car becoming known as the MT4-2AD (or TwinCam). The power outputs went up to 92bhp @ 6,600rpm and 100bhp @ 6,300rpm respectively. The car got a new bodywork with integrated wheelarches, which gradually changed with time. These cars were built from 1950 until 1956, and a small number also received coupe bodies from various carrozzeria including Frua, Michelotti and Vignale.
The capacity was again increased in 1953 when a 1453cc version, with 110bhp @ 6,200rpm, was also produced. The ultimate MT4 had to be the 1491cc version built in small numbers from 1954 to 1957. This utilised twin plugs as well as twin camshafts and produced 120bhp @ 6,300rpm. Externally the cars were basically the same as the smaller engined variants, almost all MT4 cars sharing the same 2200mm wheelbase (only the early sohc cars had a 100mm longer wheelbase).
The logical development of the MT4 saw the birth of the TN in 1955. A revised and modified chassis (the 2200mm wheelbase remained) was fitted with a new 1491cc dohc engine, now with 125bhp @ 6,300rpm. The bodywork followed the same style as the MT4. These cars were only built until 1957, although the engine was also used in some later MT4 cars.
(source: cars from Italy.com)
Only fourty ever built. Osca was created by the three Maserati brothers after they sold the Maserati company to the Orsi family. Successful in their era but fragile, they've been helped by modern technology to become relatively reliable. These are complicated cars to restore properly.
(source: Automobile Magazine).
Emerging in the spring of 1948, the first Osca was called the MT4 for Maserati tipo 4. It was a small open sports car powered by a 1092cc four-cylinder engine which had a compression ratio of 11.5:1 and produced 72bhp @ 6,000rpm. It started winning at Naples that summer driven by Villoresi. The following year the same engine had is capacity increased to 1342cc, the power going up to 90bhp @ 5,500rpm. These cars were a "siluro" design (ie with exposed wheels covered by bicycle type mudguards).
1950 saw both the above engines getting a new cylinder-head with two camshafts, the car becoming known as the MT4-2AD (or TwinCam). The power outputs went up to 92bhp @ 6,600rpm and 100bhp @ 6,300rpm respectively. The car got a new bodywork with integrated wheelarches, which gradually changed with time. These cars were built from 1950 until 1956, and a small number also received coupe bodies from various carrozzeria including Frua, Michelotti and Vignale.
The capacity was again increased in 1953 when a 1453cc version, with 110bhp @ 6,200rpm, was also produced. The ultimate MT4 had to be the 1491cc version built in small numbers from 1954 to 1957. This utilised twin plugs as well as twin camshafts and produced 120bhp @ 6,300rpm. Externally the cars were basically the same as the smaller engined variants, almost all MT4 cars sharing the same 2200mm wheelbase (only the early sohc cars had a 100mm longer wheelbase).
The logical development of the MT4 saw the birth of the TN in 1955. A revised and modified chassis (the 2200mm wheelbase remained) was fitted with a new 1491cc dohc engine, now with 125bhp @ 6,300rpm. The bodywork followed the same style as the MT4. These cars were only built until 1957, although the engine was also used in some later MT4 cars.
(source: cars from Italy.com)
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