Maserati Quattroporte
The Maserati Quattroporte is a four-door full-size luxury sedan produced by Italian automobile manufacturer Maserati. The name translated from Italian means "four doors". The production of the sixth generation ended in late 2023, with the first generation introduced in 1963.
Quattroporte I (AM107, 1963–1969)
The original Maserati Quattroporte was built between 1963 and 1969. It was a large saloon powered by a V8 engine, both firsts for a series production Maserati automobile.History
The task of styling the Quattroporte was given to Turinese coachbuilder Pietro Frua, who drew inspiration from a special 5000 GT which he had designed in 1962 for Prince Karim Aga Khan. While the design was by Frua, body construction was carried out by Vignale.Series I (1963–1966)
The Quattroporte was introduced at the October-November 1963 Turin Motor Show, where a pre-production prototype was on the Maserati stand next to the Mistral coupé. Regular production began in 1964.The Tipo 107 Quattroporte joined two other grand tourers, the Facel Vega and the Lagonda Rapide, capable of traveling at speeds of up to on the new motorways in Europe.
It was equipped with a 4.1-litre V8 engine, rated at at 5,000 rpm, and equipped with either a five-speed ZF manual transmission or a three-speed Borg Warner automatic on request. Maserati claimed a top speed of.
The car was also exported to the United States, where federal regulations mandated twin round headlamps in place of the single rectangular ones found on European models.
Maserati manufactured 230 of its first generation Quattroportes Between 1963 and 1966.
Series II (1966–1969)
In 1966, Maserati revised the Tipo 107, adding the twin headlights already used on the U.S. model. A leaf-sprung solid axle took the place of the previous De Dion tube. The interior was completely redesigned, including the dashboard, which now had a full-width wood-trimmed fascia.In 1968 alongside the 4.1-litre a 4.7-litre version became also available, developing DIN. Top speed increased to a claimed, making the Quattroporte 4700 the fastest four-door sedan in the world at the time.
Around 500 of the second series were made, for a total of 776 Tipo 107 Quattroportes. Production ended in 1969.
Specifications
The first generation of the Quattroporte had a steel unibody structure, complemented by a front subframe.Front suspension was independent, with coil springs and hydraulic dampers. Rear suspension used a coil sprung De Dion tube featuring inboard brakes on the first series, later changed to a more conventional Salisbury leaf sprung solid axle with a single trailing link on the second series. On both axles there were anti-roll bars. Brakes were solid Girling discs all around. A limited slip differential was optional.
Engines
The long lived quad cam, all-aluminium Maserati V8 engine made its début on the Quattroporte. It featured two chain-driven overhead camshafts per bank, 16 angled valves, hemispherical combustion chambers, inserted cast iron wet cylinder liners, and was fed through an aluminium, water-cooled inlet manifold by four downdraft twin-choke Weber carburetors—initially 38 DCNL 5 and 40 DCNL 5 on 4200 and 4700 cars respectively, later changed to 40 DCNF 5 and 42 DCNF 5 starting from December 1968.| Model | Engine | Peak power | Peak torque | Top speed |
| Quattroporte 4200 | 90° DOHC V8 | at 5,500 rpm | at 3,500 rpm | |
| Quattroporte 4700 | 90° DOHC V8 | at 5,200 rpm | at 3,500 rpm |
Special models (AM121, 1971 and 1974)
In 1971, Karim Aga Khan ordered another special one-off based on the Maserati Indy platform. Rory Brown was commissioned as the chief engineer of the project. The car received the 4.9-litre V8 engine, rated at. Carrozzeria Frua designed the car, the prototype of which was displayed in 1971 and 1972 in Paris and Geneva respectively. The car was production ready, even receiving its own chassis code, but new owner Citroën used their influence to have Maserati develop the SM-based Quattroporte II instead. Only two vehicles were finished, chassis #004 was sold by Maserati to the Aga Khan in 1974, and the prototype #002 went to the King of Spain, who bought the car directly from Frua.Quattroporte II (AM123, 1974–1978)
The second generation Quattroporte, named Maserati Quattroporte II, was introduced at the Paris Motor Show and the Turin Motor Show in October 1974. As the result of Citroën's joint-venture with Maserati in 1968, the Quattroporte II was very different from its predecessor and the other Maserati automobiles of the past. Based on a stretched version of the Citroën SM's chassis, the Quattroporte II featured a front-mid-engine, front-wheel-drive layout, hydropneumatic suspension, four fixed headlamps with two swivelling directional headlights, and a V6 engine. The bodywork was designed by Marcello Gandini at Bertone.Maserati had planned to equip Quattroporte II with a V8 engine, but the Tipo 107 V8 engine was too large for the Citroën SM based chassis on top of being too obsolete. A prototype for a 4.0-litre V8 engine was built from two compact Citroën-Maserati V6 engines. Maserati cut through the rear cylinders in half on one block and the middle cylinders in half on another block then welded the blocks together. The output was. The new V8 engine was fitted to the Citroën SM for durability testing which lasted for. This was done to prove that the chassis was robust enough to handle the additional power of the larger engine. Alejandro de Tomaso, the Italian entrepreneur who took over Maserati in 1975, cancelled the V8 engine programme.
A single running prototype of the Quattroporte II was built and tested in 1974. The 1973 oil crisis and the collapse of Citroën's finances in 1974 prevented Maserati from gaining the EEC approval for the European market. The production did not commence until 1976, and each Quattroporte II was built to order and sold in the Middle East and Spain where the type approval was not needed. Only twelve production cars were built from 1976 to 1978.
The engineering and development had cost Maserati about four billion lire by the time the production ended in 1978.
Quattroporte III/Royale (AM330, 1979–1990)
The third generation of the Maserati Quattroporte was developed under the Alejandro de Tomaso-GEPI ownership. After the Citroën-era front-wheel drive Quattroporte II, the third generation returned to rear-wheel drive with an enlarged variation of the Maserati Tipo 107 V8 engine. The exterior was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro.History
From 1974 to 1976, Giorgetto Giugiaro presented two Italdesign show cars on Maserati platforms, called the Medici I and Medici II. The latter had features that would make it into the production version of the third-generation of the Quattroporte.A pre-production Quattroporte was introduced to the press by the then Maserati president Alejandro de Tomaso on 1 November 1976, in advance of its début at the Turin Motor Show later that month. It was only three years later though, in 1979, that the production version of the car went on sale. De Tomaso, who disliked Citroën, removed all of the influence of the French marque from the car. The quad-cam V8 engines built since 1963 were used in a stretched version of the Maserati Kyalami chassis. The SM V8 engine prototype under development in the Citroën ownership was also scrapped and the staff was replaced, the most notable being head engineer Giulio Alfieri who was replaced by Aurelio Bertocchi. The hydraulic system of the Quattroporte II was replaced by a conventional power steering setup and the suspension geometry was akin to the Jaguar XJ.
Initially badging reading "4PORTE" was used, but this was changed in 1981 to ones spelling out "Quattroporte". Two versions of the V8 engine were available: a version generating a maximum power output of, and a smaller built-to-order engine generating, which was phased out in 1981. The interior was upholstered in leather and trimmed in briar wood. The climate controls came from the Mopar parts bin on early US-spec cars. In 1984, the climate control system was upgraded to share parts with the mass produced Biturbo.
The Quattroporte III marked the last of the hand-built Italian cars; all exterior joints and seams were filled to give a seamless appearance. From 1987 onwards, the Royale superseded the Quattroporte. The Quattroporte III was an instant success and 120 units were sold in Italy in 1980 alone.
Maserati Royale
On 14 December 1986, at Maserati's 60th anniversary as a car manufacturer, De Tomaso presented the Maserati Royale in Modena, a built-to-order, ultra-luxury version of the Quattroporte. It featured a higher compression 4.9-litre V8 engine, generating a maximum power output of. Besides the usual leather upholstery and veneer trim, the car featured a revised dashboard with an analogue clock, four electrically adjustable seats, retractable veneered tables in the rear doors, and a mini-bar. Visually, the Royale was distinguished by new disc-shaped alloy wheels and silver-coloured side sills. A limited production run of 120 cars was announced, but when production ceased in 1990 only 53 cars were completed.In all, including the Royale, production of the Quattroporte III amounted to 2,155 units in total.
Specifications
The Quattroporte III utilised an all-steel unibody structure. The chassis was related to that of the Kyalami, in turn derived from the De Tomaso Longchamp and therefore ultimately related to the De Tomaso Deauville luxury saloon.Front suspension was of the double wishbone type, with single coaxial dampers and coil springs and an anti-roll bar.
The rear axle used a peculiar layout very similar to Jaguar independent rear suspension. Each cast aluminium hub carrier was linked to the chassis only by a single lower wishbone, the half shafts doubling as upper control arms, and was sprung by twin coaxial dampers and coil springs units. Rear brakes were mounted inboard, the callipers were bolted directly to the housing of the differential. The entire assembly was supported by a bushing-insulated crossbeam. Initially a Salisbury-type limited slip differential was used; in 1984 it was replaced by a more advanced Gleason-licensed Torsen—or "Sensitork" in Maserati parlance.
The engine was an evolution of Maserati's own all-aluminium, quad overhead cam V8, fed by four Weber carburetors. The automatic transmission used was a three-speed Chrysler A727 "Torqueflite" gearbox. The manual gearboxes are ZF S5 five speed units. When leaving the factory all the cars were originally fitted with Pirelli Cinturato 205VR15 tyres.