1068

1966. Italy. Bleu sera Salchi 106 A18, leather Neutra, PAC 1544 (originally ordered as 4,2 litre, with Blue Tigullio 106.A17 and red leather, later changed to Senape, finally white leather). 4.7 litre. Radio. Borrani wire wheels. Ordered March 28/30 1966 for delivery in June, finally delivered September 7 to Sport Auto Roma, first owner Mrs. Maura Panni, an heiress. Second owner allegedly an industrialist (toy manufacturer) from Milan. Car was at one time sold via Citroen dealer Del Rossi e Giuliani in Pescara, maybe that’s where artist Salvatore Scarpitta acquired it from. Scarpitta traded a painting for it. The car was allegedly driven in Europe by his gallerist Leo Castelli, Scarpitta did not want his family to know that he bought a Maserati („our family needs food, not a Maserati“). Scarpitta had it shipped to New York in 1977 or 1978, claiming it was a gift from Castelli. The car sat unused in Scarpitta’s studio in Baltimore/Maryland for 30 years. After his death in 2007, it went into storage, sold by Scarpitta’s daughter Stella in 2012 at 2500 USD to John Ficarra who had its carbs refurbished at Bruce Canapa’s shop in Scotts Valley California, where Ficarra worked in marketing at the time. Ficarra claimed it had only done 40 000 miles by 2012, which could be quite accurate, as odometer shows 70 401 km in pictures shot in 2012. Ficarra advertised it in Octane Magazine, sold it in March 2016 UK for 38 000 USD to dealer Mr Speedlux, East Susssex. 2016 for sale in UK by Mr Speedlux, East Sussex, at 59 995 £. Update 2019: car now with Maserati distributor Intini in Luxembourg.

The third or fourth owner of 1068, Salvatore Scarpitta (23 March 1919 – 10 April 2007), was an American artist best known for his sculptural studies of motion. From 1959 until 1992, Scarpitta had 10 one man shows at the Castelli Gallery in New York. Scarpitta's work is part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1 in New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Kunstsammlungen zu Weimar Museum in Germany, Civico Museo d'Arte Contemporanea in Milan, the Guttuso Museum in Italy and the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.

But what‘s more interesting for us petrol heads: Scarpitta was the owner of a sprint car team! Scarpitta loved racing, and it was his outsider perspective that made him unique to the world of racing. In 1964, Scarpitta began tapping his lifelong obsession with race cars, creating his first full-scale model, Rajo Jack Special, a motorless facsimile of a car he had admired as a boy. He followed up with others, entirely self-built, some fully functional—Sal Cragar (1969), for example.

Back to 1068: At some time, the car received a new paint job in Oro Longchamps and the rear was altered, the lights were lowered, maybe after an accident (another indicator for this is the wrong Maserati script, it should read Maserati 4000, not Maserati only). Black protective paint on lower part of body also later addition. Unfortunately, those issues not yet corrected by current owner, official Maserati distributor for Luxembourg, Intini Garage. At least, broken trident has been replaced.