Maserati 150S

The Maserati 150S is a small-displacement sports racing car that Maserati built in the mid 1950s alongside the 200S to replace the ageing A6GCS racing cars. Its Tipo 53 project was designed by Vittorio Bellentani in 1953 around a 1.5 litre engine fed by twin Weber carburettors, and the car was unveiled at the Turin Motor Show in April 1955. Sources differ on whether twenty-four or twenty-seven were built, and one street-going car, the 150 GT, followed. A first series with a tubular frame and a de Dion rear axle gave way in 1956 to a second series with a five-speed ZF gearbox and new aerodynamic bodywork. Jean Behra won the 1955 1000 km race at the Nürburgring in one, and the engine had a second life in Lotus and Cooper chassis and as the Tipo 6 in early 1960s Formula One.