05 May 2023
On 1 December 1914, in Bologna, Maserati was born.
To celebrate its centenary, a very limited-edition motor car was built and unveiled at the 2015 Villa d’Este Concorso d’Elegance, welcome the Maserati Mostro Zagato.
Zagato is an independent coachbuilding business that manufactures hand-made motor cars to commemorate special dates for marques.
Zagato is one of Italy’s most important coachbuilding companies: founded in Milan in the 1920s by Ugo Zagato.
Zagato has a history with Maserati; it built the legendary 1957 Maserati 450S Coupé which was commissioned and raced by Stirling Moss. The 450S was known as ‘il Mostro’ (the Monster) and thought to be the most powerful front-engined racing car in the world into the 1990s.
In 2015, Zagato produced five Zagato Maserati Mostro commemorating Maserati’s 100-year existence.
The Mostro is a beautiful motor car and very typical of Zagato styling as recognised on other manufacturers’ cars that Zagato has influenced.
The Japanese designer Norihiko Harada (chief designer at Zagato) created the retro-style body.
The Zagato features cues from the leading British aerodynamicist thinker Frank Costin.
That said, his design of a Zagato coupé body for Maserati to race at Le Mans was an embarrassing flop.
Back to the story, the Mostro was fitted with a naturally aspirated Maserati 4.2 litre V8 engine producing an estimated 460bhp and doors that opened upwards unlike any other Maserati.
As mentioned, Zagato created five Mostros and offered all of them to existing Zagato clients.
Pricing has never been disclosed.
