The Maserati Mexico (''Tipo AM112'') is a 4-seater

grand touring A grand tourer (GT) is a type of car that is designed for high speed and long-distance driving with performance and luxury. The most common format is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive two-door coupé with either a two-seat or a 2+2 arrangement ...

coupé A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and typically with two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the Fr ...

produced by Italian automobile manufacturer

Maserati Maserati S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer. Established on 1 December 1914 in Bologna, Italy, the company's headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. The company has been owned by Stellantis since 2021. Ma ...

between 1966 and 1972. It was based on the second series of the original ''AM107''

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 ...

, and it was powered by the same 4.2 and 4.7 L

V8 engine A V8 engine is an eight- cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. Origins The first known V8 was the Antoinette, designed by Léon Levavasseur, a ...

History

The Maserati Mexico's design derived from a 2+2 prototype bodywork by Virginio Vairo shown on the

Vignale Vignale is the luxury car sub-brand of Ford Motor Company used in automobiles sold in Europe.Salone di Torino and built upon a 4.9-litre 5000 GT chassis, rebodied after it had been damaged. As the car after the show was sold to Mexican president

Adolfo López Mateos Adolfo López Mateos (; 26 May 1909 – 22 September 1969) was a Mexican politician and lawyer who served as President of Mexico from 1958 to 1964. Previously, he served as Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfare, Secretary of Labor and Social ...

, the model became known as the Mexico. By coincidence,

John Surtees John Norman Surtees (11 February 1934 – 10 March 2017) was a British racing driver and motorcycle road racer, who competed in Grand Prix motorcycle racing from to , and Formula One from to . Surtees was a seven-time Grand Prix motorcycl ...

won the

Mexican Grand Prix The Mexican Grand Prix (), currently held under the name Mexico City Grand Prix (), is a motor racing event held at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City. It first appeared as a non-championship event in 1962 before being held as a ...

on a Cooper-Maserati T81 the following year. Vignale's prototype was so well received that Maserati immediately made plans to put a version into production. The production Maserati Mexico debuted in August 1966 at the 20° Concorso internazionale di eleganza per auto in

Rimini Rimini ( , ; or ; ) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. Sprawling along the Adriatic Sea, Rimini is situated at a strategically-important north-south passage along the coast at the southern tip of the Po Valley. It is ...

, while its international première was at the October

Paris Motor Show The Paris Motor Show () is a biennial auto show in Paris. Held during October, it is one of the most important auto shows, often with many new production automobile and concept car debuts. The show presently takes place in Paris expo Porte de V ...

. It was built on the chassis of the first generation of the Quattroporte with a wheelbase shortened by . Originally powered by a 4.7-litre 90° V8 fed by four twin-choke 38 DCNL5

Weber carburetor Weber Carburetors is an automotive manufacturing company founded in 1923, known for their carburetors. History Eduardo Weber began his automotive career working for Fiat, first at their Turin plant (in 1914) and later at a dealership in Bologn ...

s that was rated at 290 hp, the car managed to turn out a top speed between . In 1969, however, contrary to Maserati tradition, the Mexico was also made available with a smaller, 4.2-litre V8 engine. Apart from the smaller engine option the Mexico underwent few changes during its production life span. Its luxurious interior included a rich leather seating for four adults, electric windows, wooden dashboard, iodine headlights and air conditioning as standard. Automatic transmission,

power steering Power steering is a system for reducing a driver's effort to turn a steering wheel of a motor vehicle, by using a power source to assist steering. Hydraulic or electric actuators add controlled energy to the steering mechanism, so the driver can ...

and a radio were available as optional extras. The 4.7-litre version was fitted with 650x15"

Borrani Ruote Borrani S.p.A. (established 1922 in Milan) is an Italian manufacturer of automobile and motorcycle wheels. They are known for supplying Rudge-Whitworth design centerlocking wire wheels to many Italian racing cars, sports cars and luxury cars ...

chrome

wire wheel Wire wheels, wire-spoked wheels, tension-spoked wheels, or "suspension" wheels are wheels whose rims connect to their hubs by wire spokes. Although these wires are considerably stiffer than a similar diameter wire rope, they function mechani ...

s and the 4.2-litre version with steel disc wheels. When leaving the factory all Maserati Mexicos originally fitted

Pirelli Cinturato The Pirelli Cinturato is a Pirelli-developed car tyre (wheel), tyre that was the first example of a wrap-around radial tyre structure. It was used to good effect in motorsport, and most modern tyres are based upon the design. The five-times Formul ...

205VR15 tyres (CN72). The Mexico was the first production Maserati to be fitted with servo assisted ventilated

disc brake A disc brake is a type of brake that uses the #Calipers, calipers to squeeze pairs of #Brake pads, pads against a disc (sometimes called a

rake Rake may refer to: Common meanings * Rake (tool), a horticultural implement, a long-handled tool with tines * Rake (stock character), a man habituated to immoral conduct * Rake (poker), the commission taken by the house when hosting a poker game ...

rotor) to create friction. There are two basic types of brake pad friction mechanisms: abrasive f ...

s on all four wheels. In May 1967, under commission from the German concessionnaire Auto Koenig for one client, Herr Rupertzhoven, Maserati built a one-off Mexico similar to Vignale's original prototype design but it was the work of Frua. Appearing like a 4-seat Mistral and built on the same tubular chassis as the 3500 GT (2600 mm wheelbase), this prototype 'Mexico' was fitted with the Mistral's six-cylinder 3.7-litre Lucas fuel-injected engine. It was finished in Oro Longchamps with a black leather interior. Its dashboard came from the Quattroporte.http://www.maserati-alfieri.co.uk/alfieri64x.htm 485 Mexicos were produced, 175 equipped with the 4.7-litre engine and 305 with the 4.2-litre engine.

References

External links

The Maserati Mexico - Enrico's Maserati Page
{{Maserati early timeline

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Rear-wheel-drive vehicles Grand tourers 1970s cars Cars introduced in 1965