A Maserati 300S is among the headline offerings at the 2013 Bonhams Goodwood Festival of Speed auction, scheduled for Friday 12 July at Goodwood House in Chichester, Sussex, UK. The sports-racing Maserati joins the previously announced Mercedes-Benz W196, making this year’s Festival of Speed auction the most anticipated in its history.
Chassis number 3053 was the third 300S ordered by the great American collector, Briggs Swift Cunningham, for his old friend and team driver Bill Spear. Upon delivery 3053 was co-driven by Bill Spear and Sherwood Johnston in the 1955 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race. The team finished third, beaten only by Phil Hill and Carroll Shelby’s Ferrari 750 Monza and the winning Briggs Cunningham-entered Jaguar D-Type of Mike Hawthorn and Phil Walters.
After racing 3053 widely throughout America, Bill Spear sold the car in 1956 to Joe Giubardo of Valley Stream, New York, who owned the car until 1964. Subsequently preserved by Maserati authority Joel Eric Finn, the Maserati 300S was acquired by German Maseratisto Dr. Thomas Bscher in 1986. After some twenty years in his care – during which it was maintained in highly original order while being campaigned in historic racing – the car passed from Dr. Bscher to its present vendor.
Sir Stirling Moss described the 3-litre, 6-cylinder-engined Maserati 300S as having been “one of my favourite front-engined sports Maseratis – one of the easiest, nicest, best-balanced sports-racing cars ever made.”
James Knight, Bonhams Group Motoring Director, commented, “In collecting terms, sports-racing cars of the 1950s are the most coveted of all. The competition between the great marques from this period – Aston Martin, Ferrari, Jaguar, Maserati – is as fierce today as it was then. The Maserati 300S is right up there among the greats. A car equally at home on road or track, offering impeccable handling and – crucially – able to accommodate two in comfort, it is the perfect all-rounder and eligible for all the great historic events, including the Mille Miglia, Le Mans Classic and Goodwood Revival.”
For additional information, visit Bonhams.com.
[Source: Bonhams]
