The A6G 2000 is one of the earliest road cars created by Maserati, which until this car they had only produced racing machines for track use. The Grand Touring car featured the Maserati brothers' own detuned 6 cylinder SOHC 1,978cc racing engine, with many popular carrozzeria, such as Pininfarina, preparing elegant coupe and cabriolet bodies on the running chassis. There were not many produced, in fact a mere 16 and of those nine were Pininfarina, six Frua, and one Vignale. The car here on display is the only one made by Vignale. Back then at the Carrozzeria Vignale, much of the work was done by Alfredo Vignale and the talented designer Giovanni Michelotti. Both Alfredo and Giovanni worked at Stabilimenti Farina right after the war and then went independent. The "new kids on the block", Arfredo and Giovanni, became known as a hot duo capable of producing exciting designs. Maserati and the duo at Vignale extended their collaboration and through the good chemistry between both sides, in 1963, the fruits of their partnership resulted in the first mass produced GT, the Sebring. The car we feature comes with a very sound history. It was a specially ordered car commissioned by Harcel Schwab who was an automotive enthusiast residing in Paris. It was delivered by Maserati dealer Guliermo di Roma, and then displayed at the Paris Salon in 1951. Its documents tells us it raced the Tour de France, and featured in America's leading publication Road&Track. The car was sold to a buyer in the US and entered numerous races. In the '60s the original engine was replaced by a Ford 260V8 prepared for the AC Cobra by Carroll Shelby and survived a rough life of numerous modifications designed to win races. In 1972, the car was discovered by American sports car enthusiast Paul Morrigan. The car was in such a terrible shape that the original shape was no longer evident. Paul decided to perform a ground up restoration which took about 25 years to bring the car back to its original condition. The original engine was found buried in the back yard of the shop where it was left many years before, supposedly for safe-keeping. What you see here is the result of all those years of hard work, culminating with first place in the "post war sports car class" at Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in 1998.