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Maserati Tipo 61 Birdcage Recreation Ticks All the Right Boxes and Makes the Right Noises

One of the most revered sports racing cars ever produced, the Maserati Birdcage series ran from 1959 through 1961. The Tipo 60 came with a 2.0-liter engine, and the subsequent 61 leveled up to a 2.9-liter unit.
Maserati Tipo 61 Birdcage Recreation by Crosthwaite & Gardiner 26 photos
Photo: speed8classics on Bring a Trailer
Maserati Tipo 61 Birdcage Recreation by Crosthwaite & GardinerMaserati Tipo 61 Birdcage Recreation by Crosthwaite & GardinerMaserati Tipo 61 Birdcage Recreation by Crosthwaite & GardinerMaserati Tipo 61 Birdcage Recreation by Crosthwaite & GardinerMaserati Tipo 61 Birdcage Recreation by Crosthwaite & GardinerMaserati Tipo 61 Birdcage Recreation by Crosthwaite & GardinerMaserati Tipo 61 Birdcage Recreation by Crosthwaite & GardinerMaserati Tipo 61 Birdcage Recreation by Crosthwaite & GardinerMaserati Tipo 61 Birdcage Recreation by Crosthwaite & GardinerMaserati Tipo 61 Birdcage Recreation by Crosthwaite & GardinerMaserati Tipo 61 Birdcage Recreation by Crosthwaite & GardinerMaserati Tipo 61 Birdcage Recreation by Crosthwaite & GardinerMaserati Tipo 61 Birdcage Recreation by Crosthwaite & GardinerMaserati Tipo 61 Birdcage Recreation by Crosthwaite & GardinerMaserati Tipo 61 Birdcage Recreation by Crosthwaite & GardinerMaserati Tipo 61 Birdcage Recreation by Crosthwaite & GardinerMaserati Tipo 61 Birdcage Recreation by Crosthwaite & GardinerMaserati Tipo 61 Birdcage Recreation by Crosthwaite & GardinerMaserati Tipo 61 Birdcage Recreation by Crosthwaite & GardinerMaserati Tipo 61 Birdcage Recreation by Crosthwaite & GardinerMaserati Tipo 61 Birdcage Recreation by Crosthwaite & GardinerMaserati Tipo 61 Birdcage Recreation by Crosthwaite & GardinerMaserati Tipo 61 Birdcage Recreation by Crosthwaite & GardinerMaserati Tipo 61 Birdcage Recreation by Crosthwaite & GardinerMaserati Tipo 61 Birdcage Recreation by Crosthwaite & Gardiner
A little under 20 units of the 61 were produced, which makes this model a collector’s wet dream. The car in the featured gallery and video, however, isn’t a multi-million-dollar original but a superb-looking recreation that came into being sometime in the 1990s. Currently located in Belgium, the car was built by Crosthwaite & Gardiner in England for a Californian vintage racer and collector, Don Orosco. This gentleman’s original Tipo 61 reportedly served as a template for the build, according to the listing's description on Bring a Trailer.

Chassis number 2473 also spent 10 years in Australia before being transported to Belgium. Finished in red, the hand-formed aluminum body is complemented by a spaceframe chassis which comprises around 200 steel tube segments triangulated into a cage-like structure, hence the nickname.

The bodywork comes courtesy of Rod Jolley in the United Kingdom, and the spaceframe was assembled using TIG welds dressed with gas welds to simulate the appearance of factory joints. Equipped with a roll hoop, Borrani wire wheels, two-eared knock-offs, and Dunlop rubber boots, this oh-so-pretty recreation of the Maserati Tipo 61 Birdcage uses Dunlop-sourced hydraulic disc brakes with two-piston calipers and dual master cylinders.

As with pretty much every single old-school racing car, this fellow is spartan in terms of interior amenities. Two bucket seats wrapped in blue cloth are joined by a Monza five-point harness for the driver, a shifter with a hollow knob to shave off a few grams, and three pedals, of which two are drilled.

An electrical cutoff switch and a fire-suppression system are featured as well, along with a wood-rimmed steering wheel and a crinkle-finish dash panel that houses an 8,000-rpm tachometer. There is no odometer because - obviously enough - a racing driver doesn't need this kind of information while racing.

The belly of the beast, as mentioned in the intro, is a 2.9L four-cylinder mill with dry-sump lubrication. Fed by a pair of Weber 45 DCO3 side-draft carburetors, the high-revving lump was reportedly overhauled earlier this year. A five-speed transaxle connects the four-pot engine to the rear axle.

Offered with on a bill of sale with an FIA Historical Technical Passport dated 2007, this very faithful replica is currently going for $115,000 on Bring a Trailer after 10 bids. The auction ends Tuesday, October 25th, at 9:55 PM.

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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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