On Sunday the 17th of August at the 64th Concours d'Elegance held at Pebble Beach, U.S., Gran Turismo series Producer Kazunori Yamauchi awarded the “Gran Turismo Trophy” to the 1954 Maserati A6GCS Spider.

Maserati began in 1913 in a workshop started in Bologna by Alfieri Maserati and brothers: their first racing car carrying the Maserati name saw the light in 1926, and since then fought in fierce competition against Alfa Romeo and Ferrari in numerous Grand Prix. The early A6GCS is a racing sportscar introduced by Maserati in 1947, a sort of a transitional model that was just a cigar-shaped Grand Prix car converted into a two seater. In 1953, these types of sportscars were banned from competing, and Maserati improved the body of the A6GCS to give it an elegant sportscar appearance. The result was the winner of this year’s award, the later model A6GCS.

The beautiful flowing body is the highlight of this car; the Carrozzeria Fantuzzi created the shape of the car by just covering its mechanical components and wheels with minimalistic exterior elements, but many racing cars after the A6GCS copied its style, giving more visibility and popularity to the advanced nature of the car around the world.

Under the long engine bonnet there is a 2 litre 6 cylinder engine designed by Gioacchino Colombo, the famous engineer who transferred to Maserati from Ferrari. Its power output is said to have been dropped to 170ps in consideration for the commercially sold gasoline, but this still propelled its light weight body to well over 230km/h. Meanwhile, the racing version of the A6GCS entered and achieved many victories in races like the Mille Miglia, Targa Florio and Watkins Glen.

This year's “Best of Show” award, the most prestigious award at the Concours d’Elegance, was assigned to the 1954 Ferrari 375MM Scaglietti Coupe.