1965 OSCA 1600 GT Zagato

The $169,000 achieved in Geneva for #99 represents an 82% appreciation in 48 months

by Donald Osborne

Just before the outbreak of WWII, the Maserati brothers sold their company to industrialist Adolfo Orsi. Not long after the war was over, they decided their real interests lay in racing, and together they formed OSCA—short for the rather more cumbersome Officina Specializzata Costruzione Automobili Maserati.

A variety of racing endeavors followed—including an ambitious V12 Formula One project—but OSCAs shone in the smaller displacement classes. Frequent competitors in important races throughout Europe and America, they were driven by such notable pilots as Stirling Moss, Luigi Villoresi, and Prince Behra.

While producing a wide variety of two-seat racing cars—all clothed by local coachbuilders—OSCA was approached by Fiat to develop a larger version of OSCA’s existing twin-cam engine for use in the 1500S sports car. Shortly afterward, OSCA decided to offer a street car and the natural engine choice was a 1,600-cc version of the engine developed...