47. 2434

1970. Blue scuro/natural. Delivered May 9 to that great Quattroporte admirer, Prince Karim Aga Khan. Power steering, self locking differential, 4 Koni shock absorbers. The Aga Khan was given a 20% discount. He was indeed a very good customer and deserved some incentives: He had a 5000 GT made (his architect ordered one, too), a new Quattroporte by Frua in 1972 (based on an Indy chassis), and he gave Quattroportes as presents, to his mother, for instance (#2112). As far as I know, he owned #1026, #2076, #2112, #2274 and #47.2434. I‘m pretty sure he also owned one or two of the series I cars... just look out for Blu scuro ones...Update July 2018: Maserati, or rather Frua himself, showed a potential successor to the Tipo 107 at the Paris Show in autumn 1971, the Tipo 121 (1121.002, 4,7 litre). But only at the next Paris show in 1972, Karim Aga Khan had a test drive with this car. Later, in May 1973, the Aga Khan ordered this very tipo 121 via French importer Thépenier, but Frua and Maserati refused, as they did not want to sell him a used car which was already based on second hand components. Therefore, Thépenier asked Maserati to build a new chassis with 4,9 liter engine. The car (121.004) was finished in July 1974. 

It seems like the Aga Khan has somehow been aware of the fact that it would take time until he’d be able to drive a faster, more modern version of a Quattroporte. Therefore, already in January 1973 (before he even ordered 121.004), he wanted Maserati to install Citroën hydraulic brakes and a 4,9 litre engine (available from 1972 on the Indy, probably not the dry sump one from the Ghibli) in 2434, a car which was already in Modena, driven there by French Maserati concessionaire Jacques Charrière in November 1972 (so maybe Aga Khan had the idea to transform his existing car even earlier, shortly after having seen the Tipo 121 at the Paris show 1971, and realised, that it would take time to get a new Tipo 121). The transformation was finished in April 1973 and cost him 47 700 French francs, the factory charged the importer nearly 4 mio Italian Lire ( a new Quattroporte was, a few years earlier, about 7 mio Lire), or, in today’s value, ca 40 000 EUR. Furthermore, the engine itself was free (in exchange for the 4,7). 2434 is one of the very few 4,9 litre cars, maybe only two have been officially transformed at the factory, the other one being 2326, now in the Maserati collection. But 2434 is certainly the only Quattroporte with the Citroën brake system. (Thank you, Stefan Dierkes, for the documents. See more about Frua on his great website: http://www.pietro-frua.de) 2434 is one of 3 official 4,9 litre cars, the other ones being 2318 (whereabouts unknown) and 2326, now in the Maserati collection. But 2434 is certainly the only Quattroporte with the Citroën brake system. 

107_47_2434

maybe last remaing part of 2434

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