Boys only. Or not?

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Maserati has been around for a century (enjoy the first great Maserati show of the year in Maastricht). And since that start in 1914 the make is ever so masculine. The fact that the company was founded by brothers only – from a family of seven children, none of them a girl – says a bit. Prewar Maserati's were hairy machines, with four, six, eight or even sixteen cylinders. Some had superchargers boosting power to over 300bhp and top speed to 170mph. Some had independent suspension on all wheels so they could corner too - as long as you had arms like Popeye.

Girls liked that. But they were just allowed to pose with them, as we have never come across any photographic evidence of women actually driving them. That all changed after the War, when a 22-year old girl got attracted to motor sports. She made a bet with her brothers saying she could win a race. And she did. That girl became a works driver for Maserati and the first woman ever in a Grand Prix: Maria Teresa de Filippis. She’s still about, too, and not too frail to steer a Maserati over a track. Boy, what a girl.

(Text Jeroen Booij)

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