The Brothers Maserati

With this entire issue—both Racecar and Roadcar—we join the rest of the motoring world in celebrating the 100th anniversary of legendary Italian manufacturer Maserati. While you will read throughout these pages about a wide array of significant road and racecars that bore the Trident insignia, and a great number of the heroes and characters who played a role in that history, it’s surprising to me that so much of this year’s tributes—and history in general—have glossed over the remarkable tale of the men who made it all possible, the Brothers Maserati. The Maserati story is unique in all of motoring history—if for no other reason than no less than six brothers played a role in its development.

Their tale starts just south of Milan, in Piacenza, where a locomotive driver named Rodolfo, and his wife Carolina, gave birth to a son Carlo, in 1881. Not only was this young couple prolific, but Rodolfo apparently possessed the most dominant Y-chromosome in the history of mankind(!), as Carlo was followed by Bindo (1883), then another son named Alfieri (1885) who died within his first year, only to be followed by yet another Alfieri (1887), then Mario (1890), Ettore (1894) and the baby of the brothers, Ernesto in 1898. Seven sons born over a 17-year period.