Guerino Bertocchi took about a year to completely rebuild our Maserati 6CM. He sent dad a letter telling him that he had tested it with a temporary plate on the Modena-Bologna highway and had achieved 135 MPH. I am sure this made a great sight, a GP car tearing in and out of traffic on a public highway. Italy was wonderful in those days!
The finished car was shipped in a wooden crate to Radnor Pennsylvania, our home.
From the time dad had said yes to the purchase of the Maserati 6CM, I was constantly pressuring him to make him promise me that I could drive it. He kept saying yes, but I had my doubts. When the car was unloaded from the crate It was obvious that it needed a good clean and some bodywork.
Bertocchi had only rebuilt the mechanics of the Maserati 6CM and left the cosmetics for us to do. All the metal parts like the suspension and torsion bars were originally polished steel. They were now tarnished and slightly rusted from the sea voyage in the crate. These were days before sea containers. This was to be my job, re-polishing all the steel parts. This took a month of my time after school and many rolls of emery cloth. The bodywork was freshened by the head body man from Derham Bodyworks in Rosemont a company who built beautiful bodies to order on chassis like Packard and Dusenberg in the prewar years.
He would come on Saturdays with his bag of body tools. I was fascinated to watch this artisan reform the damaged nose and tail to original shape with hammers and dollies. After about 3 months he had completely attended to all of the body panels and the car was ready to paint…red of course!!
Our property had a long driveway and it was possible to drive laps around it like a small circuit. I once again took up my quest to get dad to allow me to drive it. He finally succumbed to my pressure but said only slowly. Imagine driving a Maserati 6CM slowly… It was simply not possible.
The only catch was I had to start the car. GP cars didn’t have starters like road cars and a hand crank was used for this. I practiced spinning the engine over with the crank. At 12 years old I was just strong enough to do this and fortunately, the car started easily. It had been converted by Bertocchi to run on gasoline instead of Methanol.
It was so great to drive and this was my weekly treat after school. I was gradually able to get the hang of it even with its central accelerator pedal. And in a short time, I was the world’s youngest GP driver!
One day my dad came down to the workshop where the car was kept and said he wanted to go for a drive. He had had a few cocktails and I asked him to be really careful. It was after all his car so what could I really say. It was obvious, after his smoking tire getaway, that trouble was looming. I heard a great burst of acceleration and then an unearthly silence and a big bang. Something ghastly must have happened. Was dad ok?
I ran towards my Grandmother’s house and when I arrived there was the Maserati 6CM halfway in the house now with no front door. My Grandmother was standing waving her cane at dad and shouting at him that she was glad it was broken at last!! She was really angry with him for letting her grandson (me) drive a dangerous car like this. Dad’s explanation was that he didn’t want to ruin the Rhododendron bushes and chose the front steps of his mother’s house instead.
At the exact moment, the Maserati 6CM passed through the front door my Grandmother’s chambermaid Bridgette went into her library an announced that Mr. Frank (my dad) was at the front door!
I had to go and get our tractor and a chain and pull the 6CM out of the foyer. I shall never forget this incredible Sunday afternoon.