VIN: Gianni Agnelli's Maserati 5000 GT chassis 008

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HISTORY OF CHASSIS 008

Between 1959 and 1964, Maserati produced 34 5000 GTs, many of which were equipped with bespoke coachwork.

With its 450 S-derived V8 engine, the 5000 GT was the most powerful road-going model Maserati had ever built. It was also extremely expensive and the list of original owners read like an international who’s who.

The first two 5000 GTs were built with a different engine to subsequent examples. The V8 motors in these cars displaced 4935cc. They ran four enormous Weber 45 IDM carburettors and were fitted with the racing engine’s complex gear-driven overhead camshaft system. Peak output was 340bhp at 5500rpm.

Later 5000 GTs displaced 4941cc, used Lucas fuel-injection and quieter, simpler, chain driven overhead camshafts. These cars produced 325bhp at 5800rpm.

Chassis 008 was the fourth 5000 GT completed and one of nine built in 1961. It was the only example to come equipped with coachwork by Pininfarina.

The order was placed by Gianni Agnelli who was the grandson of Fiat founder, Giovanni Agnelli.

Originally christened in honour of his grandfather, young Giovanni went by the name Gianni to differentiate himself.

When he was 14, Gianni Agnelli’s father, Edoardo, died in an air crash. This left Gianni as the heir to the Fiat empire, a role he would take up in April 1966, 21 years after his grandfather had passed away. Between 1945 and 1966, Fiat was run on the Agnelli’s behalf by company president, Vittorio Valletta.

Prior to his installation as Fiat boss, Agnelli was an internationally renowned playboy.

During the 1950s and early 1960s, he ordered a fleet of high end cars, many of which were highly customised.

Agnelli’s Maserati was just such a car. However, the unusual body fitted to chassis 008 was almost identical to one that had already graced his 1959 Ferrari 400 Superamerica (chassis 1517 SA).

Were it not for the Ferrari’s hood-mounted intake scoop, slightly different sidelight treatment and shorter 2420mm wheelbase (the 5000 GT had a longer 2600mm wheelbase), the two cars would have been difficult to differentiate from one another.

Agnelli had overseen the design of both cars himself and made clear he wanted something that didn’t look like a traditional Ferrari or Maserati.

To that end, the cars were fitted with unusually upright nose profiles that featured a boxed primary intake flanked by twin headlights mounted in chrome oval shrouds. 008 and 1517 SA also came with a wraparound windscreen, inverted A pillars and notchback tail.

Agnelli frequently specified his cars with large glass roofs and these latest creations were no different.

As per the exteriors, 008 and 1517 SA were broadly the same inside. Instrumentation was housed in a curved binnacle directly behind the steering wheel. Supplementary gauges were located on a central console that linked the dash to the transmission tunnel.

Chassis 008 was dispatched on February 8th 1961.

How long Gianni Agnelli retained his unusual Argento / Nero Maserati is unclear. However, he rarely kept cars for more than a year or two before they were replaced with something newer.

In later years, chassis 008 joined the collection of serial 5000 GT owner, Alfredo Brener, in Poland.

Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: unattributed