Maserati Birdcage at Mecum Monterey – La [Bird]Cage aux…

La [Bird]Cage aux …

By Rick Carey, Auction Editor

“Replica”, “re-creation”, “tribute”, “fake”, all describe something that isn’t what it seems.

This ongoing debate over terminology has crystallized around Mecum Auctions’ offering of the Tipo 60/61 Maserati Birdcage using the chassis number 2459 in its upcoming 2011 Monterey auction.

Its addendum posted to its Monterey auction site is a paradigm of clear, honest and accurate exposition, but more on that later.

The salient facts in 2459′s history are succinct.

It was bought from Maserati by Briggs Cunningham. Raced at Sebring in 1960, it retired on lap 150 with “driveline failure.” After further preparation by Alfred Momo it went on to SCCA National competition where it scored a string of wins at Cumberland, Bridgehampton, Roosevelt Field and Montgomery driven by the fast and consistent Walt Hansgen. Another dnf at Sebring in 1961 was followed by SCCA National wins at Danville and Bridgehampton, a third at the August Bridgehampton race driven by Dick Thompson and a win at Indianapolis driven by Hansgen.

Augie Pabst wheeled it at the 3-hour Daytona Continental for the opening race of the 1962 World Sports Car Championship season. He crashed 2459 heavily during practice. The remains were shipped back to Momo in Queens, New York but were never repaired. Some time later its salvaged parts were shipped to England where they were dispersed among surviving Birdcages to keep them running.

Third person quote from Augie Pabst regarding 2459: “My Birdcage doesn’t exist any more.”
That would be the end of the story, except that the fantastic handling, balance and speed of the Birdcages kept the legend alive. They were, arguably, the ultimate development of the front mid-engined sports racing car.

Modern restorers can make any bundle of small diameter tubes better even than the 60′s artisans at Maserati. Therein lies the story of the re-construction – more about that term later – of the Maserati Tipo 60/61 currently using s/n 2459.

The frame, body and even the driveline – a Tipo 60 2-liter instead of 2459′s original 2.5-liter Tipo 61 – originated in spares bins and the shop of UK restorer Steve Hart Racing. The 2459 identity is traced to a few boxes of bits identified as taillights, front wheel hubs and dashboard switches which trace their origins to the original load of scrapped 2459 parts shipped to the UK.

The car is beautiful. It was built by one of the UK’s best Maserati shops. It looks like a Birdcage, albeit better than it ever did when completed by Maserati. It’s the right stuff.

The FIA has given it papers to compete in international events.

There are, however, two categories of FIA papers.

An FIA Historical Certificate (“HC”) attests to the car’s identity: “The HC, on the other hand, is primarily an historical document, concerned solely with the authenticity of the car. It certifies that, in the opinion of the FIA, the car is the real thing, having existed as a complete car with an original chassis/VIN number since it was built in the period to which it belongs.”

We recently [since first publishing this article] heard from John L.M. Hughes CBE, President of the FIA Historic Motor Sport Commission that “the Heritage Certificate was discontinued in 2010 and is no longer issued by the FIA.”

An FIA Historic Technical Passport (“HTP”) attests only to the car’s authentic technical character: “The HTP is essentially a sporting document. It is intended to ensure that a car complies with the specification of the car it purports to be. Whether that car is wholly original, partly original, assembled wholly or partly out of period components or a copy or replica built recently does not matter.”

It’s not clear which category the offered Birdcage using s/n 2459 claims … but with its interrupted identity and 1962 reduction to a parts car as well as the FIA’s recent discontinuation of the Heritage Certificate, it’s a loooong stretch to think it has an HC.

Back in 1987 historian, racer and journalist Denis Jenkinson addressed the emerging issue in a little softbound book, “Directory of Historic Racing Cars – The Survivors – Genuine, Authentic & Facsimile.” It was the mid 80′s, not cluttered by clustered zeros before the decimal points in their prices.

“Jenks” established a continuum of eleven categories from Original (“Almost impossible to find”) to Broken Up.

Relevant to the Maserati Birdcage currently using s/n 2459 are Jenks’ fourth and fifth levels (which – on a scale of eleven – are pretty high up the hierarchy):

• Resurrection – “Eventually insufficient of the car remained to form an acceptable entity … such components that still existed were gathered up to form the basis of a new car; a new chassis frame and new body were required and, from the bare bones or the ashes of the original, another one appears. It cannot claim to be the original car …”

• Re-construction – “This can stem from a single original component, or a collection of components from a variety of cars, but usually there is very little left of the original racing car, except its history and its character. From these small particles a complete new car is built, its only connection with the original car being a few components and the last-known pile of rust left over when decomposition set in.”

There are more pejorative terms in Jenks’ lexicon like “Facsimile”, “Destroyed” and “Scrapped” (“taken out of service by a factory team [which Briggs Cunningham’s most certainly was] and either deliberately destroyed…, or useful components are removed and put into store and the rest is thrown on the scrap heap for crushing or melting down.”)

The simple facts of the history of the Birdcage currently using s/n 2459 is that it was “Scrapped”, then “Re-constructed”, in Jenks’ hierarchy, from a few pieces of dubious importance and adopted 2459′s lost identity.

Mecum Auctions has recently published this addendum on its website:

The original configuration of 2459 was crashed and deemed un-repairable in 1962, thus it was dismantled. The current owner/seller of 2459 purchased parts from the original which he used in his construction of the latest rendition of 2459. In the owner/seller’s opinion, he via due process has right and claim to that number. He constructed the current car to exacting standards and applied to the FIA for certification. The FIA approved the car in September of 2010 making it eligible to compete in FIA sanctioned events for historic vehicles worldwide.
In the owner/seller’s opinion, he has followed the same protocol as many other historic race cars that have been re-constructed from very minimal remains.

Mecum Auction’s position is the seller has been transparent and willing to share all aspects of the project. The number 2459 which is well documented to have been a “total” in a crash was disclosed to all potential buyers to do their due diligence at least 150 days before the upcoming auction.

Some internet blogs have called the car a fake and counterfeit. We would like to define fake or counterfeit as words that pertain when you attempt to deceive someone. The history and explanation is fully disclosed on this car. We do acknowledge that there can be a difference of opinions. The owner/seller’s opinion is he is selling a re-constructed current rendition of the original. If potential buyers wish to opinion [sic] the car in a different light, that is their discretion and they should make the decision to not bid or bid according to their opinion of the car. When ascertaining value, the car has FIA papers and is approved to race in FIA sanctioned events for historic vehicles world wide. Per a statement in Finn’s book, of the 22 Birdcages, only 1 remains with the original body, chassis and motor. Thus virtually every Birdcage in the world has been wrecked and re-bodied, reconstructed or updated and evolved.

Bid accordingly.

That’s exactly right, if broad where it describes the configurations of surviving Birdcages in terms of Joel Finn’s outdated but still informative Birdcage book. Willem Oosthoeck’s and Michel Bolleé’s more recent and exhaustive “The Magnificent Front-engined Birdcages” is rather more accepting of original chassis frames, bodies and engines.

The car itself is pristine, beautiful and described by Maserati expert Richard Crump as follows:

If you were a buyer of a Birdcage in the 1960’s then this car, chassis number 2459 [sic], finished by Steve Hart Racing in the UK, is what it would be like. If you have ever been driven in a “cage” you will know it is exciting; but if you have ever been the driver, the car’s message is clear: light steering, fabulous brakes, big torque with useable power, and it sticks like glue to the tarmac.

If you are a driver or a collector you will not easily tire of using such a Maserati, and when it comes to a stop you will just wish you could do it all again.

“Re-construction”, “resurrection”, or even “scrapped”, this is a marvelous 2-liter Maserati Birdcage that deserves to be, and with organizers’ acceptance and its FIA papers can be, driven with alacrity and satisfaction on circuits worldwide.

The single error of judgment is attaching 2459’s chassis number to it.

Many years ago when the Maserati 250F was a staple of historic GP racing British restorer Cameron Millar assembled eight cars with various original content. He, however, gave them their own chassis numbers beginning with his initials, eliminating the possibility of confusion with the factory-built 250Fs. It would have been easy, and more forthright, to follow Millar’s lead with this Birdcage. Even calling it “2459SH” would have prevented controversy.

However, the temptation of 2459’s identity is apparent from the sale of Maserati Birdcage Tipo 61 s/n 2470 – made from the front of 2471 and the back of 2470 – for $3,277,642 at RM Monaco in 2010.

The debate over the origins of the Birdcage currently claiming s/n 2459 is, in the end, academic and financial.

The car is what it is and the debate will be settled on the auction block.

[Source: Rick Carey; FIA; photo credit: Mecum]