The Last Birdcage

My first intro-duction to the Birdcage Maserati was at Riverside, California, in 1959. The car had been purchased by Joe Lubin and was driven by Bob Drake. I was very impressed by its light weight and balanced design, with engine in the front and transaxle in the rear. However, I had recently installed a powerful Chevy V8 in my D-Type Jaguar—which was a very fast but not always reliable combination—and I didn’t think the small Maserati 4-cylinder engine would have the power necessary to compete with the larger V8s and V12s.

This first impression was changed as soon as I had the opportunity to test the last Tipo 61 built in 1960. It was flown in here, brand-new from the factory, and we picked it up at LAX, no more than 10 days before we were to race in the Los Angles Times Grand Prix at Riverside. They had put the gears for Riverside in it in Italy, and they worked!