Sacre Metal Maserati Mexico

text: Jan van Ekris
photos: Jan van Ekris, Henk Stolp edit: Henk Middelkoop

If it has four wheels, a steering wheel, an engine, doors, a hood and trunk lid, then it must be a car. Absolutely true, but everything in between can give a lot of color and character to that concept.

STUDY MODEL
In 1965, the first prototype of the Mexico was introduced at the Turin Auto Salon, but it was not until the 1966 Paris Auto Salon that the official presentation/introduction of the final production model took place.

The 1965 study model had been designed by Virginio Vairo, working at design studio and coachbuilder Carrozzeria Alfredo Vignale in Turin.

It was built on the chassis of a very exclusive Maserati 5000 GT, owned by Mexican President Adolfo López Mateos. The story goes that Mateos had sent his 5000 GT badly damaged after an accident to Maserati in Modena, Italy for repair. However, this repair would have been too expensive for the president's liking, after which Maserati proposed to mount the body of the study model on the chassis of the 5000 GT. President Mateos was very enamored with the Mexico study model and so it was done. In order to avoid high import duties, the same chassis number of the 5000 GT was used. Even then, corruption and tax evasion reigned supreme in South American countries.

GRAN TURISMO
The Mexico had to fill the gap after the planned end of production of both the Maserati's Sebring in 1968 as well as the Mistral in 1969. Also these were 4-seat coupe models, but equipped with now obsolete 6-cylinder inline engines.

The Maserati Quattroporte I introduced in 1963 already had a racing-derived V8 with (almost) 4200 cc and a 4700 cc variant available.

The latter was also fitted in the 2-seater sports coupe introduced in 1967, the Ghibli. Powerful engines with 260 and 290 hp respectively with hefty engine torque, which better suited the character of these Maserati models. It made driving the Mexico very pleasant: lots of power at the bottom which gave a comfortable and relaxed driving experience, but also did not get in the way of sporty driving. So you could go very hard without getting tired. Very different from the character of the competing models like the Ferrari Daytona or the Lamborghini Miura with their nervous engines and ditto handling that belongs to a real sports car. Maserati wanted to focus even more on the concept of Gran Turismo and succeeded very well with this philosophy. They were also cars intended for daily use. It is not strange to come across Maserati cars from this era with relatively high mileage of 100,000 km or (much) more.

It is the first thing I think of when the beautifully restored Maserati Mexico and my SM stand side by side for the photo shoot of this first "Sacré Métal,” a continuation of the "Similar Magic” series introduced by club member Robin Visser. Both cars have two doors, four seats and an engine in the front. Any comparison immediately ends there. This is quite unusual, since they were both designed with the philosophy of transporting occupants as comfortably as possible at high speeds. They are therefore true Gran Turismo's: large automobiles, packed with all the luxuries available at the time to make the often long journey as pleasant as possible.

This then also immediately defines that both the SM and the Maserati Mexico are not sports cars. Pure sports cars are anything but comfortable and lack many luxuries in order to keep weight as low as possible to optimize performance. Okay, you can go fast with both cars, but the high weight of both the SM and the Mexico - 1470 kg and 1550 kg respectively - keep a "sharp on the edge” handling. So no agile Alfa Romeo GTV or Renault Alpine, not to mention contemporaries of Lamborghini and Ferrari at all.

 
CLIENT
No, the SM and the Mexico were for a very different clientele. Often older, more distinguished men or women with fat to very fat wallets. But with good taste and a taste for the pleasures of life. Savoir Vivre, as the French call it.

In 1970 the Maserati Mexico 4700 cost no less than FL. 69,000, - while an SM in the year of its introduction (1970) cost 38,675 rock-hard florins. Keep in mind that the average house price in that year was 52,000 guilders and a 12-cylinder Ferrari 365 GTB (better known as the Daytona) with a new price of FL. 61,000, - was no less than 8000 guilders cheaper than a Mexico. So a Maserati was even then for the "happy few. It is for this reason that a total of only 485 copies of the Mexico were built.

Things like leather upholstery, tinted glass, electric windows, air conditioning, a gearbox with 5 gears, disc brakes all around and three ashtrays(!), were already standard on most Maserati models. Unthinkable in 1970 for most cars. Even an SM or expensive Mercedes had to pay extra for these options. Nowadays we laugh at this: a Dacia of less than 15,000 euros has all this and much more. Except for those ashtrays, which have pretty much evolved out of them in the last 30 years. We used to smoke our brains out: anywhere, anytime, and even in the car with the kids in the back seat without a seat belt! And yes, even an SM has three beautifully styled ashtrays.

MULTICULTURAL
A Mexico is actually half an English car. The car's leather comes from Connely (also the leather supplier to Rolls Royce and Bentley at the time), the carpet from Wilton, large parts of the electrical system from Lucas, the brake row from Girling and the differential from Salisbury. Even the seven dashboard clocks and gauges were from Smith, and I won't be surprised if the wooden dashboard was also "Made in England. Except for the gearbox and power steering from German ZF and the shock absorbers from Dutch Koni, the rest did come to the credit of Italian manufacture. Italians are true artists when it comes to designing and building bodies by hand. They are artistic sculptures rather than functional transportation boxes. Italians, from their culture, have the urge to make everything beautiful. Functionality is always secondary to that. Even a Fiat 500 from that era is a beautiful and timeless design.

V8 RACING MONSTERS
The engines used for the Mexico were, as mentioned earlier, a further development of the V8 racing engines as used in the Tipo 450S racing/circuit monsters of the later

Weighing less than 800 kg, but with 400 hp at 7,000 rpm, these were super-fast and also very dangerous as well as moderately tractable racing cars. They could easily reach speeds of 320 km/h. However, they were not successful as racing cars: the heavy engines exerted too much pressure on the front axle, making handling, especially when cornering, an enormous task for the drivers. In addition, the FIA changed the regulations, only allowing the engines used to have a more limited displacement. Maserati went along with this and, for this reason, afterwards built only super-light racing cars with small 6-cylinder engines.

The V8 racing monsters were literally kicked aside and written off by the factory. Until one day, Maserati adept Reza Pahlavi Sr. the Shah of Iran, was walking around the Maserati factory and saw some V8 racing engines lying in a corner. The shah loved super fast cars and Maserati was his favorite car brand. Would it be possible to hang the racing engines in a luxury coupe that would rise far above anything Maserati was already producing in terms of exclusivity and luxury?

5000 GT
Maserati has always been a brand of "You ask and we turn. Anything was possible, as long as you brought a very fat wallet with a checkbook or a suitcase with millions of lira. This is how the super-exclusive 5000 GT series was created. Only 34 examples were manufactured, by as many as eight different body designers. No one is the same in terms of execution. All were customized for a number of notable individuals such as the Shah of Persia (Emperor of Iran), Giovanni Agnelli (owner of Fiat concern), Ferdinando Innocenti (manufacturer of Lambretta scooters), Briggs Cunningham (entrepreneur, racing driver and celebrated sportsman in America), Prince Majid Bin-Saud of Saudi Arabia, President Lopez Mateos of Mexico and religious Muslim leader Karim Aga Khan, among others. A price for a 5000 GT has never been announced. Partly because of the model's exclusivity, and partly because it was outrageously high. According to reports, three times the price of a Maserati 3500 GTi or about FL. 150.000,-. And that in 1957! No Ferrari from that time came even close to this Maserati 5000 GT series in terms of price!

The racing engines of the 5000 GT models were no longer available for the Mexico and that was a good thing. They were technically actually far too complex with a dual ignition and a mechanical fuel injection system from Lucas. There were frequent problems with them, so Maserati decided to equip the last two 5000 GT models with the technically simpler and therefore more reliable V8 engines with ordinary Weber carburetors and only one spark plug per cylinder from the Quattroporte I. Of course, this had consequences for the number of horsepower. Initially, the 5000 GT models had between 340 and 400 hp. In fact, far too much: nowhere in Europe could you drive speeds of 300 km/h unless you had a good dose of life fatigue. According to Maserati, speeds for the Mexico of 250 km/h for the 4200 and 260 km/h for the 4700 cc variant were enough. After all, you were much faster than all other traffic of the time anyway.

MUSCLES
Driving a Mexico, like driving an SM, is an experience in itself, but of a very different order. A Mexico can only be driven with the necessary muscle power. The clutch and (non-powered) steering are downright heavy. The German ZF gearbox shifts precisely but also not exactly with two fingers. No, a Mexico wants to be handled.

It is not everyone's friend and certainly not a woman-friendly automobile. Once at speed, everything goes much better. the Mexico is clearly in its element on the highway or on a winding mountain road. This is where Maserati's racing genes clearly come to the fore: the steering is extremely precise and roadholding is like on rails. Especially at speed, the Mexico is in its element. At cruising speeds of 160 to 180 km/h, the powerful V8 babbles away lustily. You can keep this up for hours, although the noise level is a bit different than today. Maybe just drive 130-140 km/h where allowed? The Girling power-assisted brakes (disc brakes with 4-pods calipers and double brake booster) work well/adequately, but I prefer to make an emergency stop with an SM.

WAY
You can sense from everything about the Mexico that it was designed and tested on a limited budget. There is no other way with the very low production numbers. There is little financial room for extensive testing and modifications. Even with "old school” technology such as a rigid rear axle with leaf springs, Maserati continued for a very long time. It was not until the Maserati Khamsin in 1975 that the concept of independent suspension was introduced. Citroën used it as early as 1955 on the DS.

A car with a rigid rear axle will follow a curve even to high speeds. However, if things go wrong and the rear starts to slide, salvage yourself. It is then only correctable for fast-reacting and very experienced drivers: the rest end up in a tree or ditch or - like me - somewhere else. I myself had a Mexico for seven years and drove it on circuits such as Zandvoort and Assen. At Assen it went wrong after five laps in the double S-bend just before the pit lane: the rear started to slide. I never made it to the second corner, resulting in a humiliating encounter with the gravel pit.

Anyway: a Mexico is more in its element on a track than an SM. If you want another laugh, go on a track driving an SM. The protests from the suspension, suspension and steering are unrelenting. Even you are thrown back and forth in the seats without any lateral support and you feel like you will land on the side at any moment. No, an SM is not built for a race track!

A Mexico's suspension and damping are quite comfortable on long road bumps. Short bumps and holes in the road surface are met with a short, stiff slap from the rear axle. On the front axle, which of course has independent suspension, you don't have that effect, in part because of the high engine weight pressing on the front axle. My Mexico did not initially have power steering when I bought her. Then at low speeds in town and especially when parking, you get a 1950s truck feel - not very nice. Later I was able to get my hands on an original ZF power steering kit. That was quite a relief.

 

CULTURE
When the owner of the Mexico, Henk Stolp, gets into the SM, he undergoes a culture shock. The seats in the SM sit very differently, the steering wheel is thicker with only one spoke, the shiny shift console looks like that of a car with an automatic transmission, the dashboard with the oval clocks looks so much more modern. Nothing compares to the 'old school' Mexico and then Henk hasn't even driven it a meter! The engine is started and the SM reacts immediately by raising its beautiful bodywork a few extra centimeters above the road surface.

I warn Henk about the SM's steering and brakes. That always gives the first few hundred meters always a comical sight. As if there were a drunk driver behind the wheel. Henk has great feel for cars in general, however, and drives the SM surprisingly fast as if he were not used to anything else. "How comfortable this drives,” he exclaims. He understands the enthusiasm for the SM very well: not only does an SM look fantastic, it also drives very pleasantly with a good dose of character. Cars with character, Henk likes that. Besides several older and newer Porsche's, Alfa Romeo's, Ferrari's, a Jaguar E-type as well as a Morgan +8, the Mexico is also all about character. In that list, by the way, the SM fits in seamlessly....

The SM's relatively small V6-Maserati does have to be pushed hard to deliver performance. With only 170 hp and about 230 nm, the SM does not have a potent power source under its long hood. Nevertheless, this engine suits the character of the SM. The velvet suspension comfort and front-wheel drive are not waiting for high power and torque. It simply does not suit the SM. No, Citroën made the right choice for the SM with this Maserati engine.

NOSTALGY
Driving a Mexico conjures up nostalgic and romantic images from days gone by. The Italy of the 1960s. Elegant ladies wearing Chanel suits and gloves taking a seat next to their chic husband in a double breasted tailored suit with Mr. Borsalino felt hat on the hat rack. The Mexico is a true 'Gentlemen Express' with an otherwise high English 'feel good' character as described above.

Not surprising of course if you now know that many parts and materials come from England.

The engine character of the Mexico only further strengthens the image of a true Gran Turismo. The gigantic engine torque of over 400 nm and almost 300 hp ensure very smooth acceleration. Rarely do you have to pull the engine up to the maximum speed of 5,500 rpm: after all, maximum torque is already reached at about 4,000 rpm. It makes driving the Mexico a relaxing activity. I fantasize that the drive from the office in Milan to the country house in Tuscany must already have been the beginning of an enjoyable weekend in those days! The beautiful aluminum wire wheels with chrome spokes by Borrani further underscore the classic look of the Mexico. Very different from the stainless steel hubcaps on steel rims of the SM.

UNIQUE
The Maserati Mexico already existed when Citroën took over the brand in 1968. With the introduction of the SM in 1970, it cannot help but be that the Maserati management fell off its chair at the sight of the first one. In any case, it ensured that the SM was a great sales success in Italy. As many as 2,000 examples were sold there, obviously in part because of the Italian "Cuore Sportivo” under the hood.

As I noted at the beginning of this story, there are few similarities between the SM and the Mexico except for their Gran Turismo character. It is therefore quite remarkable that they were contemporaries. Fortunately, they both lived in different perceptions and that makes them, even today, unique in the automotive landscape of the 1970s.