Rare Maserati Quattroporte Prototype with a Smidgen of Citroën Influence
A very rare forerunner to the Maserati Quattroporte II, with just a couple of Citroën components, was offered for sale today by RM | Sotheby’s in Le Castellet, France as part of the Guikas Collection — a single-owner collection comprised of 75 of the finest racing and road cars in the world.
This 1971 Maserati Quattroporte Prototipo by Frua was estimated to sell for between €180,000 – €220,000 ($205,000 – $250,000 USD) and was offered without reserve. It sold for €155,250.
It is a forerunner to the Quattroporte II (featured here in Citroënvie) that was based on the SM. But as you can see on this car, there are only a few apparent things that are Citroën based — a hydraulic reservoir in the engine bay (with two return lines – presumably for power steering and brakes) and 2 ashtrays straight out of an SM in the interior.
Here’s the story on this car;
This is the first of just two Maserati Quattroportes that were graced with coachwork by Frua. Chassis 002 was first shown to the public at the Paris Salon de l’Automobile in October of 1971, where it was presented by Juan Manuel Fangio. The public was taken with the car’s design, and over the coming years, it appeared at a number of events, including the 1972 Geneva Motor Show, Trophé des Journaliestes in Monaco prior to the 1972 Monaco Grand Prix, once again at Paris in 1973, at the Salón Internacional del Automóvil de Barcelona in 1973 (where it participated in the “Desfile de Elegancia en Automóvil”), and at Barcelona once more in 1974.
The Aga Khan clearly took note of this car’s appearance and beauty, commissioning a one-off Quattroporte for himself, chassis number 004.
Following its motor show career, the Quattroporte was sold privately to Barcelona and was registered there as “B 6997 AZ” on 17 May 1975. It remained in the city through 1988 with a handful of owners. Passing into the hands of Kurt A. Kunti of Alicante, the car was restored in his ownership and refinished in its current colour combination of dark blue over a beige interior.
The Quattroporte remained in Europe through the 1990s prior to being sold to the respected American Maserati collector Alfredo Brener in 2000 and moved across the Atlantic.
In July of 2003, Brener sold the Quattroporte to Bruce D. Milner of Los Angeles, California. Milner was also a respected collector with a penchant for one-off Italian automobiles and during his ownership, 002 was reunited with its sister car, chassis number 004, putting both Frua-bodied Quattroportes under the same roof.
The car remained in Milner’s ownership for several years and was then purchased by Doug Magnon of Riverside, California. Magnon owned the Riverside International Automobile Museum and was a well-known Maserati enthusiast. He kept the Quattroporte at the museum alongside a number of other Maseratis, where it proved to be a highlight for the staff and visitors alike.
In addition to remaining on display in the museum, the Quattroporte was shown a handful of times in the museum’s ownership, including at Concorso Italiano in 2015—where it was voted Best of Maserati in a very competitive class.
Following Magnon’s passing in 2015 and the closing of the Riverside International Automobile Museum, Magnon’s collection was sold at the RM | Sotheby’s Monterey auction in the summer of 2016. The Quattroporte was sold for $88,000 US to Mr. Guikas and moved to the south of France, where it remained to this day as a highlight of his esteemed personal collection.
You can view the RM | Sotheby’s listing here: