Maserati

By Maurizio Tabuchi
ISBN 8879112600
Published by Giorgio Nada Editore, £49.99

Guilio Alfieri, who directed Maserati for so long, says that on reading this he was “filled with melancholy” that he didn’t do more for the company. Any book invoking that response in one of its central figures must be important.

History comes first, with much local detail of the car-mad brothers expanding into building cars, the buyout by the Orsi family, and the final absorption by Fiat Then the racing, concise but thorough, right up to this season.

But most of the book is a complete model-by-model list of everything down to the trucks, electric vans and powerboat engines which also carried the trident. Well laid out, with drawings, cutaways and chassis numbers, it’s a terrific reference. You’ll never muddle 4CL and 4CM again. GC