The High Road
Bella Macchina
Maserati creates the most glamorous of grand tourers with its new GranTurismo coupe.
By HOWARD WALKER
Why is it that most things in life sound so much sexier in Italian?
Go to any restaurant and there’s no style in ordering a house salad. But at my local Italian ristorante, I get positively giddy at the thought of asking our waiter for an “insalata della casa, per favore.”
It’s the same with names. Would Federico Fellini have had such worldwide renown had he been born in the Bronx and been christened Fred Fellini? Would we have idolized Gina Lollobrigida if we knew her as Jenny Lowbridge?
There are no cooler examples of names than in the automotive world. A four-door sedan isn’t just a four-door sedan in Italian; it’s a salone quattroporte. Fuel injection somehow sounds much more exotic when it’s pronounced iniezione.
That is probably why I fell head-over-heels in amore with Maserati’s brand new GranTurismo before I even turned the key. GranTurismo: It’s just so much more sexy-sounding than plain-Jane GT.
Ah, Maserati. In the fifties, this was the car to beat on the world’s racetracks, with legendary drivers like Argentinean Juan Manuel Fangio dominating the checkered flag.
Then it tumbled into obscurity with a succession of new owners with no cash and cars with all the visual and emotional excitement of tofu. Anyone remember the Chrysler TC by Maserati? Didn’t think so.
Things changed when the Italian auto giant Fiat came to the rescue in 1993. Fiat made Maserati part of its Ferrari division, and spent a fortune on a new factory and improving quality. The stunning four-door Quattroporte—the car of choice for the boys in the HBO hit Entourage—debuted in 2004 and marked the beginning of Maserati’s renaissance.
It’s the new GranTurismo coupe, though, that shows what a reborn Maserati can really do.
First of all, it’s gorgeous. As in drop-dead, break-your-heart, cash-in-your-401K gorgeous. See one on the street and it’ll spin heads faster than Michael Jordan at a Mini-Me look-alike contest.
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