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O.S.C.A.
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| Defunct |
Officine Specializzate Costruzioni Automobili - Fratelli Maserati SpA, is usually abbreviated to O.S.C.A. and sometimes spelled OSCA or Osca, was an Italian brand of sports car automobiles.
It was founded 1947 by Ernesto Maserati, Ettore Maserati, and Bindo Maserati, brothers who left Maserati as their ten-year contract with Adolfo Orsi had then terminated. Ten year earlier, in 1937, the remaining Maserati brothers from the original company bearing their name and founded in 1926, had sold their shares in the company to the Orsi family, who, in 1940, had relocated the company headquarters to their hometown of Modena, where it remains to this day.
The new workshop for O.S.C.A. was established in Bologna, returning to the hometown of the Maserati brothers, where the original family company reigned from 1926 to 1940. Their basic business goal was to develop an automobile to compete in the 1100 ccm racing class.
O.S.C.A.'s first automobile was the MT4, Maserati Tipo 4. The number, 4, represented the number of cylinders in the engine. The 1.092-litre engine (72 bhp @ 6000 rpm) had a FIAT-derived block, alloy top, and the coach was built as a two-seater barchetta. The MT4 first raced at Pescara 1948 and later at Grand Prix of Naples 1948, driven by Luigi Villoresi, it won. The basic engine was complemented by a 1.342-litre version (90 bhp @ 5500 rpm) in 1949.
In 1950, a new DOHC camshaft (MT4-2AD) raised powers (92 bhp @ 6600 and 100 bhp @ 6300), followed in 1953 by a 1.453-litre engine (110 bhp @ 6200 rpm) and the 1.491-litre twin-plugged (120 bhp @ 6300 rpm). The latter was used in the O.S.C.A. TN of 1955.
Mostly these automobiles were barchettas, but a few were built as more luxurious berlinetta coaches by Frua, Michelotti, and Vignale. A Vignale was run in the 1500 ccm-class at 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1953.
The 1954 12 Hours of Sebring was won by drivers, Stirling Moss and Bill Lloyd, in a O.S.C.A. MT4 [1] as part of the Briggs Cunningham Team. In the April 6, 1992 issue of AutoWeek, Cunningham stated that, of all the automobiles he built, owned, and raced, O.S.C.A. was his favorite racecar.
From 1951 to 1962, automobiles or engines made by O.S.C.A. also were entered in some Formula One events although they mainly built small sports cars of which some were designed by Pietro Frua.
The final ranking of O.S.C.A. in the World Sportscar Championship:
- 1953 10
- 1954 4
- 1955 -
- 1956 -
- 1957 6
- 1958 5
- 1959 -
- 1960 -
- 1961 4
In 1963 the O.S.C.A. company was sold to Count Domenico Agusta, owner of MV Agusta, and, four years later, was closed in 1967.
