Quattroporte

Quattroporte (pronounced Quat-rah-port-eh)

(1) An Italian term (literally “four door”) for a berlina (a four-door sedan) (not with initial capital).

(2) A model name for a Maserati berlina, produced over six generations since 1963 (with initial capital).

1963: An Italian compound, the construct being quattro (four) + porte (door).  Quattro was from the Latin quattuor, from the Proto-Italic kettwōr, from the primitive Indo-European ketwṓr, neuter plural of ketwóres (cognates of which include the Sanskrit चतुर् (catur), the Old Armenian չորք (čʿorkʿ), the Ancient Greek τέσσαρες (téssares) and the Old English fēower (source of the Modern English four)).  Etymologists note the change of e to a is unexplained and under the usual conventions which evolved, the expected form would be “quettuor”.  Porte was from the Old French porte, from the Latin porta, from the primitive Indo-European root per- (to pass through), ultimate source also of the Modern English portal.  Quattroporte is a noun; the noun plural is quattroportes (with initial capital if speaking of Maseratis).

In Italian, things tend to sound better than in English.  An Italian could read from a lawn mower repair manual and to English-speaking ears it would sound poetic but occasionally, the Italians even improve Italian.  A (conventional three-box) four door car is in English a saloon or sedan which sounds OK but in Italian it’s the more pleasing berlina.  Berlina was from the late nineteenth century French berline (an automobile with the front and rear compartments separated by a glass partition, now most associated with the "limousine"), from the seventeenth century German Berlin & Berline (a four-wheeled, horse-drawn carriage with a separate, enclosed compartment for two, noted for its lightness and durability and named after the city where it was designed).  However, pleasing to the ear though berlina might be, when in the early 1960s Maserati decided to enter the then quite novel (and barely contested) market segment of the high-performance four-door luxury sedan, they decided on a new name which, while etymologically merely descriptive, was the lyrical Quattroporte (pronounced Quat-rah-port-eh).  For Italians, the branding exercise would have been unremarkable but in the English-speaking world, one needed only to hear the word to know it was attached to something exotic.

1978 Benelli 250 Quattro.

Although Benelli’s 750 & 900 cm³ six-cylinder Sei (Six, 1972-1978) is better known, the 231 cm³ Quattro also has a following among collectors, one aspect of its charm being it remains the lowest-displacement multi-cylinder (four or more) motor-cycle offered for general sale.  Although the small pistons of BRM’s charismatic 1.5 litre V16 (1947-1955) always intrigued those who adore intricacy, those parts were really big because each cylinder was 93 cm³ compared with the 58 of the Benelli.  However, even that wouldn’t have impressed Honda’s engineers who in 1963 developed a 125 cm³ four for racing (with 31 cm³ cylinders) and not content to stop there, two years later the Japanese deployed a 125 cm³ five with cylinders displacing 25 cm³, the pistons truly jewel-like.  Only ten years earlier people had been impressed by Moto Guzzi’s 500 cm³ V8 with 62 cm³ cylinders.

1978 Benelli 250 Quattro.

On sale between 1977-1984, for those for whom the meaning of “Quattro” was obscure, the 250 Quattro was advertised also as the “Benelli 254” which recalled Armstrong Siddeley's Sapphire 234 (1955-1958) & Sapphire 236 (1955-1957) which denoted respectively a car with a 2.3 litre four-cylinder car and one with a 2.3 litre six.  Being as familiar with “badge engineering” as the British and Americans, the diminutive machine was offered also as the Moto Guzzi 254 which, although mechanically identical, varied in appearance with different moldings used.  An example of the principles Italian companies often brought to industrial design, there were nice touches such as the instruments being mounted in the gas (petrol) tank’s housing although this of course reduced its capacity so the range was limited to around 130 km (80 miles) which meant some potential export markets declined importation.

Quattro 1.0 from DOSDays historic review.  The drop-down menus were a considerable advance on the Lotus 1-2-3 interface which was fast and powerful but not intuitive.

Others in the English-speaking world also used Quattro to denote “four”.  First displayed to the press in 1987, Borland's Quattro was a spreadsheet program which ran under PC/MS-DOS before in 1992 being ported to MS-Windows 3.0.  The Quattro name had no overt Italian connection and was intended to hint at the product being the “next step” from Lotus 1-2-3 which, shortly after its debut in 1983, rapidly had emerged as the PC (personal computer) industry's first “killer app”, resulting in a symbiosis which encouraged sales of both hardware and software.  The cheeky semi-compliment didn't impress Lotus which sued Borland, resulting in a series of appeals which reached the SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the US) before Borland ultimately prevailed although by then Quattro has been sold to Novell.  Remarkably, although Borland, Lotus and Novell no longer exist, a descendent of Quattro (Quattro Pro) remains available from Alludo, either as a stand-alone spreadsheet or bundled with the WordPerfect Office suite.  Quattro is an improbable survivor from the era in the late 1980s when the standard horizontal-market products on PCs in commercial use were WordPerfect 5.1 (word-processor), Lotus 1-2-3 2.x or 3.x (spreadsheet) and dBASE III Plus 1.1.

Six generations of the Maserati Quattroporte

First generation, Series 1, 1963-1966. 

Although it later gained the reputation, the early Maserati Quattroporte may not have been the world’s fastest four-door sedan but the 210 km/h (130 mph) of which it was capable was a match for the rare Lagonda Rapide and it could outrun the fastest of the Jaguar saloons.  Styled by Pietro Frua (1913-1983) who aimed to make a four-door version of the very expensive 5000GT which had been produced in a run of thirty-two bespoke creations after the interest generated by the original made for the Shah of Iran, the coachwork was actually built by Carrozzeria Vignale with a modern sheet metal structure atop box-section rails instead of Maserati’s traditional tubular frame.  Maserati were at the time in the throes of their final fling in Formula One and weren't out to create a Rolls-Royce.  The 4.2 litre (252 cubic inch) V8 engine, although derived from the unit used in the 5000GT, was detuned in the quest for a more refined experience although purposefully, its origins on the race track were never entirely disguised.

First generation, Series 2, 1966-1969.  

Although visually little changed on the outside, the second series cars underwent significant change.  The four round headlamps, previously reserved only for the US market in deference to their protectionist regulations, were now fitted as standard across the range and the interior was transformed into something more luxurious, a fully integrated climate control system included as standard equipment.  That attracted much favorable comment but one downgrade was the replacement of the very capable de Dion rear axle with a more agricultural rigid layout with semi-elliptic springs, a system Maserati used on other models.  Still the downgrade probably pleased most customers, the leaf-sprung rear much quieter that the chattering de Dion, the advantages of which few drivers of a car like the Quattroporte were likely to explore and it suited Maserati too, lowering the cost of production.  Most of the series 2 Quattroportes were fitted with the 4.2 litre (258 cubic inch) V8 but seven received the 4.7 (288) and two, supplied to special order, were fitted with the 4.9 (301) and it's likely either of the bigger units would have delivered a top speed which probably did set the mark as the fastest four-door of the decade in the field of genuine "production cars".

A four door Maserati coach-built in 1971 by Carrozzeria Frua on commission from the Prince Karim al-Husseini (1936–2025; Aga Khan IV, 49^th imam of Nizari Isma'ilism 1957-2025).

There was a coda to the first generation.  In 1971, on commission from the Aga Khan, Carrozzeria Frua had built a four-door sedan based on a Maserati’ Indy (a 2+2 coupé (1969-1975)).  Elegant and in the vein of the contemporary Iso Fidia, Maserati had Fura construct a production-ready prototype for what was intended to be the Quattroporte II but Citroën, after assuming ownership of Maserati, instead insisted the new car be based on their top-of-the-range SM which was a misunderstanding of the Quattroporte's target market but would to Citroën's accountants & MBAs have seemed a logical way to reduce development costs and amortize the costs of an existing investment.  That didn’t end well but, given the events which were to unfold in the 1970s, there’s no guarantee that had the prototype reached production it would have long been successful, such indulgences rapidly rendered unfashionable by the first oil shock (1973).  However, built on the solid, if unadventurous, platform of the Indy, even had it been a commercial failure, it would have been a less costly one than the SM-based debacle proved.

Second generation, 1974-1978.

Beset by political, industrial and economic turmoil, the second generation aptly reflects the state of Italy (and at least parts of the Italian state) by the mid-1970s.  Styled by Carrozzeria Bertone's Marcello Gandini (1938-2024), the Quattroporte II was developed while Maserati was owned by Citroën and was technically almost identical to the French machine which meant it was a 3.0 litre (181 cubic inch) 90° V6 with front wheel drive and hydro-pneumatic suspension.  It's not entirely accurate to think of it as a four-door SM (eight of which were actually built by coachbuilder Henri Chapron including two which served for a time in the mews of the Élysée Palace as the presidential limousine) but the Italian variation certainly encapsulated all the virtues and vices of the original.  The appointments were opulent and the hydro-pneumatic suspension guaranteed a superb ride but it was slower than its illustrious V8 predecessors, the added weight and some sacrifice in aerodynamic efficiency meaning performance was blunted compared even to the SM.  There had been plans to use a V8 but the old Maserati engine, its roots in 1950 sports car racing, was both too big to fit and in its last days, the modifications required to conform with upcoming legislation prohibitively difficult and expensive.

A recreation of 1974 Citroën SM V8 prototype.

Accordingly, a V8 was developed from the Maserati V6 fitted to the SM and, being (unusually) in a 90^o configuration, the six was a good basis for an eight and the prototype built and tested in an SM proved satisfactory but such were the corporate uncertainties the project was cancelled.  On paper though, the V6 Quattroporte II survived the corporate re-structure, largely because so much of the tooling required for production had been built but, such was the financial chaos in the era, funds were never allocated for the certification programmes required for it to be sold in major markets like the US, the UK and Europe so it languished until 1976 when it was made available, on special order, for markets where regulations were scant and, if affecting the rich, rarely enforced.  In the three years it was sold between 1976-1978, it attracted a dozen buyers, mostly in the Middle-East although two reputedly were shipped to Spain which, post-Franco but pre-EU, also had few (selectively imposed) regulations.  Tellingly, most models from Ferrari or Maserati with a run of only twelve are rare, collectable and expensive but the Quattroporte II is mostly unremembered, unlamented and, when offered for sale, sometimes unsold.

Third generation, 1979-1990.

Alejandro De Tomaso (1928-2003) who purchased Maserati from Citroën was an Argentine-born former race-car driver of Italian descent who had married well, enabling him to commence production of a number of flawed but compellingly attractive cars which combined performance with a low TCO (total cost of ownership) made possible by dipping into the mainstream parts bin.  He disapproved of FWD (front wheel drive), regarded hydraulic suspension as a good idea for a truck or bus and thought no good had ever come from the French being involved in the design of Italian cars.  The Quattroporte III was therefore based on De Tomaso’s 2+2 coupé, the Longchamp (1972-1989) which would also begat the Maserati Kyalami (1976-1983), all three cars on a platform which began life as the De Tomaso Deauville (1971-1985), something of an Italian take on the original Jaguar XJ6 (1968) though rendered with lines which anticipated Pininfarina's work on the roofline of the Series 3 XJ (1979-1992).

1982 Maserati Quattroporte.

The important point was the Quattroporte was again configured with a V8 engine and RWD (rear wheel drive), both then threshold points for the target market.  The body, designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro (b 1938), hasn’t aged as well as the early Quattroportes but that’s something which can be said of much which emerged from the 1970s and in the context of the time, it was an expression of current thinking and the marked responded, the car successful immediately from its debut in 1979.  In production until 1990, it was little changed over its run, although the "Royale" version, with some minor restyling, upgraded interior appointments and a slight increase in the power from the 4.9 litre V8, was offered as a limited-edition variation to celebrate the marque’s sixtieth anniversary.

Fourth generation, 1994-2001.

Presented at the Turin Motor Show in April 1994, the Quattroporte IV was the first Maserati released since Fiat assumed ownership.  The new car was smaller than either its predecessors or successors and reflected Fiat’s interest in the lucrative premium end of the compact-executive market now defined by the BMW 3-series but in which neither the Fiat nor the corporate companion Lancia brand-name was likely to attract buyers.  Gandini’s design, recalling aspects of his earlier, spectacular, Maserati Shamal (1990-1996) was much admired and the lavish interiors, all wood and leather though in an Italian rather than an English manner, seduced many.  Offered variously with V6 and V8 engines between 2.0 (122 cubic inch) and 3.2 litres (196 cubic inch), performance was class-leading, 270 km/h (168 mph) the top speed of the most powerful.  It was certainly a different sort of sedan than was offered by Mercedes-Benz, a six-speed manual gearbox always standard equipment although in most markets, the optional automatic attracted most buyers.  The Quattroporte IV is notable too as the car which best reflects the improvements rendered when Fiat in 1997 passed control to Ferrari, the objective being to raise build quality and enhance reliability, then the greatest impediment to greater success.  The Quattroporte IV had from the start been praised for its dynamic qualities but the patchy reputation gained early hadn’t improved and it was this Ferrari sought to address and, there being little wrong with the basic design, focused on the production process and the quality control imposed on component supply.  The result was the much-improved Evoluzione model presented in 1998.

Fifth generation, 2003-2012.

Bigger than its predecessor, the Quattroporte V focused less on outright performance and returned Maserati to the upper premium segment, very much in the spirit of the first generation cars of 1963.  The Pininfarina-designed body (which recalled the French Monica 560 (1972-1974) was perhaps the most accomplished four-door sedan since the Jaguar XJ6 in 1968 and, now underpinned by Ferrari’s engineering including 4.2 and 4.7 litre V8s and a robotized transaxle to optimize weight distribution, the dynamic qualities attracted praise, awards and commercial success soon following.  The popularity proved enduring, the fifth generation cars the biggest selling Quattroporte yet but feedback confirmed the only thing restricting appeal was the lack of a fully automatic gearbox, the Duoselect an ideal companion in a sports sedan but there were many who adored the slinky style but wanted something more effortless.  Accordingly, the automatic version was displayed at the 2007 Detroit Motor Show, the US clearly expected to be the biggest market which it proved to be.  More than 15,000 had been produced by 2008 when a re-styled version was released including variations on the Quattroporte S and Quattroporte Sport GT S although, in a sign of the times, the restyled models were available only with an automatic six-speed transmission only, the Duoselect option discontinued.

Before, during & after.  A 2009 (fifth generation) Quattroporte leased by Lindsay Lohan's father was damaged in minor traffic accident while her assistant was at the wheel, Los Angeles, March 2009.

Sixth generation, 2013-.

In another sign of the time, the sixth generation Quattroporte was actually offered with a diesel engine, albeit one which could still allow the car to reach 250 km/h (155 mph) but for those who remembered the way things used to be done, the most powerful of the traditional petrol-powered models, the Quattroporte Trofeo, now with a twin-turbocharged 3.8 litre (232 cubic inch) V8 rated at 572 horsepower, could attain 326 km/h (203 mph), faster than any Maserati Grand Prix car had ever travelled.  The new body-shape was obviously an evolution of the fifth generation and was well-executed but, lacking the languid look and the originality of the earlier car, it attracted less comment and was thought essentially derivative.  Another innovation was the all-wheel-drive (AWD) system offered on some of the V6s but the most profitable was said to be the Zegna Limited Edition, one-hundred of which were made in 2015.  Based on the GTS, it was mechanically unchanged but, trimmed in collaboration with Italian fashion house Ermenegildo Zegna in a manner which might be expressed as “the acceptable face of bling”, the exterior details including a platinum-metallic silk paint scheme with aluminum pigments, the twenty-inch wheels color-coordinated.  Inside, the seats, panels, roof lining and sun visors were covered variously in silk, leather in a shade exclusive to the model or a woolen herringbone.

Hofit Golan (b 1985, left) and Lindsay Lohan (b 1986, right) attending  Summer Tour Maserati in Porto Cervo, Sardinia, July 2016.  The Quattroporte is a 1964 Series I.

The fastest four-door sedan of the 1960s

1958 Chrysler New Yorker four-door hardtop with 392 Hemi.

Often supercharged, the straight-eight Dusenbergs and Mercedes-Benz 770s had in the 1930s set the standard but by the late 1950s, powerful engines in four-door sedans had again become a thing.  In 1958, Chrysler’s 392 cubic inch (6.4 litre) Hemi V8 (used in the two-door 300s), could be fitted to the four-door New Yorker and was standard on the Imperial line.  Rated at 345 horsepower (chronic unreliability meant the fuel-injected "Electrojector" option which promised 390 hp proved abortive) and contemporary reports suggest over 130 mph was possible.  The Hemi was discontinued after 1958, its 413 cubic inch (6.8 litre) wedge-headed successor proving displacement was a cheaper path to power and the top speed was similar.  However, seeking success on the track, Chrysler resumed production of a hemi-headed V8 in 1964.  Now 426 cubic inches (7.0 litres), it was intended only for the track and not the general public, an attitude which displeased the sanctioning body for the competition in which it was used; deciding to ban the thing, NASCAR claimed the use of a custom race engine in what was called a “stock car” series was hardly in the spirit of the rules.  Actually, the cars hadn’t for many years been close to “stock” but NASCAR ignored that argument and banned the Hemi.

1966 Dodge Coronet Sedan with 426 Street Hemi.  Dodge’s butterfly-shaped tail-lamps are also a footnote in legal history, being a matter of dispute in the legal proceedings pursuant to the infamous 1966 triple-murder in which the defendants were the boxers Rubin "Hurricane" Carter (1937–2014) & John Artis (1946-2021).

Chrysler’s reaction was to detune the Hemi (a little), quieten it (a lot) and, as the “426 Street Hemi”, offer it in 1966 as an option in the road cars.  That way, provided enough were sold, it would become a “stock” engine and eligible for competition and to ensure enough were sold, the Street Hemi was made available in a wide range of vehicles; between 1966-1971, Chrysler didn’t sell as many (of what was a very expensive option) as expected but moved more than enough to satisfy the rules.  In 1966, most went into big two-door coupes (and a few convertibles) but five buyers ordered them in four-door sedans and these, Chrysler duly built, two reputedly special orders for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) although some doubt has been cast on that.  All were fitted with the robust 727 Torqueflite automatic transmissions, a final-drive ratio of 3.23 and a front anti-roll bar, the build otherwise distinguished mostly by heavy-duty components, many from the station-wagon which was rated for towing heavy loads.

Powerful in the spirit of the Maserati Quattroporte but with few concessions to luxury, like all the Street Hemi-powered cars there was no air-conditioning but the five 1966 sedans were more basic still, lacking power-steering, power brakes or power windows and Chrysler also sold Hemi-powered cars to the public with four-wheel drum brakes which, given the weight of the things and the performance on tap, was about as bad an idea as it sounds.  Chrysler never published any performance claims for the Hemi-powered sedans but automobile-catalog.com’s ProfessCars™ estimation of the top speed of a two door with a manual transmission was 147 mph (236 km/h), impressive in 1966 especially given that on the same gearing the ET for the standing ¼ mile was 13.5 seconds which does demonstrate the advantages of using a genuine racing engine as the base.  Contemporary reports confirm the efficient TorqueFlite barely affected things, the two and four door Coronets were of similar weight, the frontal area the same and although experience suggests the upright rear window of the sedan may have induced more performance-sapping drag than the flatter line on the coupe, it seems likely the 1966 Hemi sedans were capable of more than 140 mph (225 km/h) and may have matched the 4.7 litre Quattroportes sold that year.  With only five of the former and seven of the latter being produced, they can barely be considered production cars but technically, both qualify.  Interestingly, Chrysler that year did offer a 2.73 final drive ratio which, if fitted, would have pushed the (theoretical) top speed towards 160 mph (257 km/h), a velocity which might have required enough concentration from the driver to divert thought from those drum brakes.

1965 Mercedes-Benz 600 (SWB).

Mercedes-Benz had high hopes for the 600 (W100) Grosser (1963-1981), introduced at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1963.  The true successor to the 770K Grosser (W07: 1930-1938 & W150: 1939-1943), the projections were at least a thousand would find buyers annually but by 1966, it seemed clear this was too optimistic, the 345 sold in 1965 apparently the high water mark rather than the encouraging start hoped.  It was clear the trend was downward and worse, an unexpected on-rush of legislation would soon banish the 600 from sale in the United States, always by far the biggest potential market.  That rarity in automotive production, the almost all-new vehicle (only the automatic transmission and a few suspension components were modifications of earlier designs), the 600’s development programme had been long and expensive and all indications were the W100 ledger would continue to be written in red ink.  What was needed was a way to amortize the investment and the most obvious way (increasing sales of the 600) was clearly improbable.

Thus the 300 SEL 6.3.  The legend has always been that famous engineer Erich Waxenberger (1931-2017), requisitioned one of the 6.3 litre V8s (M100) developed for and then exclusive to the 600 and fitted it to a 300 SE (W112) coupé which, having failed quality control checks, was scheduled for destruction.  According to Herr Waxenberger, he dreamed up the combination because he was annoyed by the press suggesting the model range had become staid after the retirement of the 300 SL (W198) roadster.  Doubling the size of the engine in a 300 SE certainly made for something more exciting and the board, apparently impressed, authorized production on the proviso the long-wheelbase four-door 300 SEL (W109) be used instead of the lovely coupé or cabriolet, a 6.3 litre sedan thought to have the greater sales appeal.  So it proved, 6523 6.3s being sold between 1968-1972 and all at a very high price, a lucrative operation which, when combined with the 7380 M100 powered (W116) 450 SEL 6.9s shifted between 1975-1981, may well have covered any losses sustained in the 18-odd years (1963-1981) it took to sell 2677 600s (all reputedly at a loss).

1971 Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3.

The tale of a nostalgic engineer secretly building a hotrod which the board liked so much they went on to build thousands is a good one but what Herr Waxenberger never mentioned were any prior discussions within the corporation about the disappointing sales of the 600 and the desirably of finding some way to amortize the cost of the programme.  The obvious solution was to find a way profitability to share some of the unique components used on the 600 with other, better selling vehicles and obviously, the 600’s V8 was a major component so putting it in a car which would, at a high price, sell in much greater numbers was obviously a good idea.  The factory has a bit of previous in myth-making, for years circulating the story of how mechanics were in 1934 forced to work overnight scraping the traditional white paint from the W25 Grand Prix car because scrutineers had found it a solitary kilogram over the newly introduced 750 KG limit.  It wasn’t until decades later that researchers checked the rules for that race (the 1934 Eifelrennen) and discovered the 750 KG formula didn’t that day apply to the “unlimited” class in which the W25 had been entered.  Their appetite whetted, digging deeper they found photographs of the cars arriving at the circuit in the bare aluminum skins in which they raced and of the many photographs of the event which survive, never does a W25 appear in anything but bare metal.  Still, it’s a good story and the factory’s website now tacitly acknowledges the dubious relationship with the truth by referring to it as a “legend”.  That seems a reasonable view and it is such a good story it deserves to endure.  The story of the birth of 6.3 may too be a little murky.  Everything Herr Waxenberger said was true and things surely happened just as he recounted but the truth was perhaps incomplete, his motives perhaps a little more pragmatic than the lust to build a gentleman’s hot rod.

It was though certainly was a hotrod for gentlemen (ladies not then considered), an air-suspended, 6.3 litre howler from a time when BMWs were not yet three litres, Jaguar’s XJ12 was half a decade away and it was for years an autobahn favorite which, rated by the factory at 220 km/h (137 mph, a figure confirmed by contemporary tests) could outrun the 4.2 litre Quattroportes but couldn’t quite match the 4.7 litre cars.   Aerodynamics rather than available power seemed to be the issue, the later, heavier (and actually slightly less powerful) 450SEL 6.9, achieving 240 km/h (149 mph) when tested by those with enough road to let it wind out, an impressive lift over the 225 km/h (140 mph) claimed by the factory.

1963 Lagonda Rapide.

It’s thus a contested space but, all things considered, the 4.7 Quattroportes probably do deserve to be thought the fastest four door sedans of the 1960s, even if they never managed some of the extraordinary speeds claimed in some corners of the internet.  The other contenders from the era either couldn’t touch 225 km/h (140 mph) or came too late.  The Lagonda Rapide (1961-1964) and Iso Fidia (1967-1975) both could exceed 210 km/h (130 mph) but not by much and the Jaguar Mark X & 420G (1961-1970) not even that, the earlier 3.8 Mark II (1959-1968) managing 202 km/h (126 mph).  The Australian Ford Falcon GTHO (1969-1972) did top 225 km/h (140 mph) but not until 1971, the 1969 editions about 10 mph (16 km/h) slower.  The De Tomaso Deauville (1971-1985) and Monteverdi’s High Speed 375/4 (1971-1976) came later, the early versions Swiss 375/4 (with the most powerful (and toxic) of the 440 cubic inch (7.2 litre) Chrysler V8s it would use) truly impressive and able to touch 232 km/h (144 mph), attentive drivers  reputedly able at that velocity to be amused by the discernible leftward movement of the fuel gauge.

Errant & Arrant

Errant (pronounced er-uhnt)

(1) Deviating from the regular or proper course; erring; straying outside established limits (often used in sport as “errant shot”, “errant punch” etc).

(2) Prone to error; misbehaved; moving in an aimless or lightly changing manner (often used in a non-human context: breezes, water-flows et al).

(3) Journeying or traveling, as a medieval knight in quest of adventure; roving adventurously (archaic, although it may in this sense still be a literary device).

(4) Utter, complete (obsolete, the meaning now served by “arrant”).

1300–1350: From the Middle English erraunt (traveling, roving), from the Anglo-Norman erraunt, from the Middle French, from the Old French errant, present participle of errer & edrer (to travel or wander), from the unattested Vulgar Latin iterāre (to journey) (and influenced by the Classical Latin errāre (to err)), from the Late Latin itinerārī, a derivative of iter (stem itiner-) (journey) and source of the modern English itinerary), from the root of ire (to go), from the primitive Indo-European root ei- (to go).  Understandably, in the Medieval era, the word was often confused with the Middle French errant (present participle of errer (to err)) so the use in old translations need to be read with care and the Old French errant in its two senses (1) the present participle of errer (to travel or wander) & (2) past participle of errer were often confused even before entering English.  In any event, much of the latter sense went with arrant (which was once a doublet of errant).  All the muddle is attributable to the link between the Old French errant with the Latin errāns, errāntem & errāre (to err) and the present participle of errer (to wander), which was from the Classical Latin iterō (I travel; I voyage) rather than errō, which is the ancestor of the etymology of error (to err; to make an error).  The comparative is more errant and the superlative most errant and the synonyms (depending on context) include aberrant, erratic, offending, stray, unorthodox, wayward, deviating, devious, drifting, errable, fallible, heretic, meandering, misbehaving, mischievous, miscreant, naughty, rambling, ranging & roaming.  The obsolete alternative spelling was erraunt.  Errant is a noun & adjective (often postpositive) and errantly is an adverb; the noun plural is errants.

Arrant (pronounced ar-uhnt)

(1) Downright; thorough-going; flagrant, utter, unmitigated; notorious (the latter in the non-derogatory sense).

(2) Wandering; errant (obsolete).

1350–1400: From the Middle English, a variant of errant (wandering, vagabond), the sense developed from its frequent use in phrases like “arrant thief” which became synonymous with “notorious thief”.  Etymologists tracking the late fourteenth century shift note that as a variant of errant, it was first merely derogatory in the sense of “a wandering vagrant” and remembered as an intensifier due to its use as an epithet because of poetic phrases such as “arrant thieves and arrant knaves” (ie “wandering bandits”).  In the 1500s the word gradually shed its opprobrious force and acquiring the meaning “thorough-going, downright and notorious (the latter in the non-derogatory sense)”.  In a limited number of specific uses, arrant can still convey a negative sense such as “arrant nonsense!” (utterly untrue) and the meaning is preserved when Shakespeare’s “arrant knaves” (from the nunnery scene in Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1) is invoked.  Remarkably, there are still dictionaries which list arrant simply as an alternative form of errant, despite in practice use having separated centuries earlier and some style guides suggest arrant should be avoided because (1) some may confuse it with errant and (2) it’s an adjective which seems used mostly in clichés.  The obsolete alternative spelling was arraunt, the obsolete comparative was arranter and the obsolete superlative, arrantest.  Arrant is an adjective and arrantly an adverb.

Errant driving: The aftermath of three Lindsay Lohan car crashes although the Maserati Quattroporte (right; borrowed from her father) suffered little more than a nudge and it's said her assistant was at the wheel at the time.

Resin

Resin (pronounced rez-in)

(1) Any of a group of non-volatile solid or semisolid organic substances & compounds (that consist of amorphous mixtures of carboxylic acids), obtained directly from certain plants as exudations of such as copal, rosin & amber (or prepared by polymerization of simple molecules) and used typically in pharmaceuticals, plastic production, lacquers, adhesives and varnishes.

(2) A substance of this type obtained from certain pine trees (also called rosin).

(3) To treat, rub or coat with resin.

(4) A precipitate formed by the addition of water to certain tinctures.

(5) Any of various artificial substances, such as polyurethane, that possess similar properties to natural resins and used in the production of plastics; any synthetic compound with similar properties.

1350–1400: From the Middle English resyn & resyne (hardened secretions of various plants), from the Old French resine (gum, resin), from the Latin rēsīna (resin), from the Ancient Greek rhētī́nē (resin of the pine tree), both probably from a non-Indo-European language.  In chemistry, the word came to be applied to synthetic products by after 1883.  The verb resinate (impregnate with resin) dated from 1756.  The adjective resinous (of the nature of, pertaining to, or obtained from resin) is documented since the 1640s, from the Latin resinosus; the earlier adjective was resiny (having a character or quality like resin), noted since the 1570s.  The related (and now rare) noun rosin (distillate of turpentine (especially when in a solid state and employed for ordinary purposes)) dates from the late thirteenth century and was from the Old French raisine & rousine, both variants of résine; it was used as a verb after the mid-fifteenth century.  The later adjectives resiniferous & resinless appear never to have been used except in chemistry or technical literature in relevant industries, the more common forms in general use being resin-like or resinous.  Because the word resin covers a wide field of substances, it usually appears in modified form (acaroid resin, acrylic resin, epoxy resin, phenolic resin, polyresin, polyvinyl resin et al).  The present participle is resining and the past participle resined.  Resin, resinousness & resinite are nouns, resinously is an adverb and resinify is a verb; the noun plural is resins.

The Citroën SM and Michelin's resin wheels

1972 Citroën SM with Michelin RR wheels. 

Although sometimes referred to as being made from “carbon fibre”, materials engineers insist the optional wheels offered on the Citroën SM must be described as “synthetic resin reinforced with long-strand carbon fibre”.  Notable as the first composite road wheel offered for public sale, they were developed by Michelin, the tyre-maker which since 1934 had been Citroën’s parent corporation and the innovation was an appropriate accessory for the SM which, upon release in 1971, was immediately recognized as among the planet's most intricate and intriguing cars.  A descendant of the DS which in 1955 had been even more of a sensation, it took Citroën not only up-market but into a niche the SM had created, nothing quite like it previously existing, the combination of a large (in European terms), front-wheel-drive (FWD) luxury coupé with hydro-pneumatic suspension, self-centreing (Vari-Power) steering, high-pressure braking and a four-cam V6 engine, unique in the world.  The engine had been developed by Maserati, one of Citroën’s recent acquisitions and the name acknowledged the Italian debt, SM standing for Systemé Maserati.  Although, given the size and weight of the SM, the V6 was of modest displacement to attract lower taxes (initially 2.7 litres (163 cubic inch)) and power was limited (181 HP (133 kW)) compared to the competition, such was the slipperiness of the body's aerodynamics that in terms of top speed, it was at least a match for most.

Michelin RR wheel on Citroën SM.

However, lacking the high-performance pedigree enjoy by some of that competition, a rallying campaign had been planned as a promotional tool.  Although obviously unsuited to circuit racing, the big, heavy SM didn’t immediately commend itself as a rally car; early tests indicated some potential but there was a need radically to reduce weight.  One obvious candidate was the steel wheels but attempts to use lightweight aluminum units proved abortive, cracking encountered when tested under rally conditions.  Michelin immediately offered to develop glass-fibre reinforced resin wheels, the company familiar with the material which had proved durable when tested under extreme loads.  Called the Michelin RR (roues resin (resin wheel)), the new wheels were created as a one-piece mold, made entirely of resin except for some embedded steel reinforcements at the stud holes to distribute the stresses.  At around 9.4 lb (4¼ kg) apiece, they were less than half the weight of a steel wheel and in testing proved as strong and reliable as Michelin had promised.  Thus satisfied, Citroën went rallying.

Citroën SM, Morocco Rally, 1971.

The improbable rally car proved a success, winning first time out in the 1971 Morocco Rally and further success followed.  Strangely, the 1970s proved an era of heavy cruisers doing well in the sport, Mercedes-Benz winning long-distance events with their 450 SLC 5.0 (1977-1980) which was both the first V8 and the first car with an automatic transmission to win a European rally.  Stranger still, Ford in Australia re-purposed one of the Falcon GTHO Phase IV race cars which had become redundant when the programme was cancelled in 1972 and the thing proved surprisingly competitive during the brief periods it was mobile, the lack of suitable tyres for the large, heavy machine meaning the sidewalls repeatedly failed.  The SM, GTHO & SLC proved a quixotic tilt and, for better (Group B, 1982-1986) and worse (everything else), the sport went a different direction.  On the SM, the resin wheels had proved their durability, not one failing during the whole campaign and, encouraged by customer requests, Citroën in 1972 offered them as a factory option although only in Europe; apparently the thought of asking the US federal safety regulators to approve "plastic wheels" (as they’d already been dubbed by the motoring press) seemed to the French so absurd they never bothered to submit an application.

Reproduction RR wheel in aluminum. 

Michelin ceased to make the RR when SM production ended in 1975 but did provide another batch for sale in the mid 1980s and this was said to be a new production run rather than unsold stock.  A cult accessory for a cult car, perfect examples now sell for around US$2000 each which does sound expensive but, given what it can cost to restore (or even maintain) a SM, it’s not a significant sum and, unlike much of the rest of the machine, the RRs are at least trouble-free.  Michelin are not said to be contemplating resuming production but another company has produced visually identical wheels made from aluminum; these only slightly heavier.  Despite the success and the fifty-year history of robustness, Citroën didn’t persist and the rest of the industry never adopted the resin wheel.  The reason was two-fold: (1) Even if economies of scale operated to lower the unit cost, the technology was always going to be more expensive than using aluminum and advances in alloys meant the metal units can provide similar strength with only a slight weight penalty and (2) the resin was always susceptible to high temperatures, something not encountered on the SM which used inboard brakes.  Most cars don’t use inboard brakes and as Ford found when testing resin wheels during Lincoln's downsizing programme in the mid-1970s, although the weight reduction was impressive, almost the same was possible with aluminum at much lower cost and the problems caused by heat-soak from the brakes were insoluble.  So it proved until the late 1980s when, with the development of new, heat-resistant materials, reinforced resin wheels were made available on the limited-production Dodge Shelby CSX (1989).

1973 Citroën SM with reproduction RR wheels in aluminium. 

True carbon fibre wheels have had a little more success, although only at the top-end of the market, Koenigsegg in 2013 manufacturing carbon fibre single-piece wheels which it offered as a US$40,000 option; a number which needs to be considered in the context of the US$2 million price tag for one of their cars.  Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari and Ford have all flirted with carbon fibre wheels and some manufactures are interested in the possibilities offered by hybrid designs which use aluminum for some components and carbon fibre for others, an idea familiar from earlier steel/aluminum combinations.  Regulatory authorities are apparently still pondering things.

Lindsay Lohan in Tsubi Scooter Jeans, Andrea Brueckner Saddle Bag, L.A.M.B. Lambstooth sweater, Manolo Blahnik Butterfly sandals & Louis Vuitton Inclusion resin bangles, Los Angeles, April 2005.

The SM V8

1974 prototype Citroën SM with 4.0 V8.

Ambitious as in 1971 it so obviously was, circumstances combined in a curious way that might have made the SM more remarkable still.  By 1973, sales of the SM, after an encouraging start, had for two years been in decline, a reputation for unreliability already tarnishing its reputation but the first oil shock dealt what appeared to be a fatal blow; from selling almost 5000 in 1971, by 1974 production numbered not even 300.  The market for fast, thirsty cars had shrunk and most of the trans-Atlantic hybrids (combining elegant European coachwork with large, powerful and cheap US V8s), which had for more than a decade done good business as alternative to the highly strung Italian thoroughbreds, had been driven extinct.  Counter-intuitively, Citroën’s solution was to develop an even thirstier V8 SM and that actually made sense because, in an attempt to amortize costs, the SM’s platform had been used as the basis for the new Maserati Quattroporte but, bigger and heavier still, performance was sub-standard and the theory was a V8 version would transform both and appeal to the US market, then the hope of many struggling European manufacturers.

Recreation of 1974 Citroën SM V8 prototype.

Citroën didn’t have a V8; Maserati did but it origins were in racing and while its (never wholly tamed) raucous qualities suited the character of the sports cars and saloons Maserati offered in the 1960s & 1970s, it would have been less than ideal for something like the SM.  However, the SM’s Maserati V6 was a 90^o unit and thus inherently better suited to an eight-cylinder configuration.  Therefore, in 1974, a 4.0 litre (244 cubic inch) V8 based on the V6 (by then 3.0 litres (181 cubic inch)) was quickly built and installed in an SM which was subjected to the usual battery of tests over a reported 20,000 km (12,000 miles) during which it was said to have performed faultlessly.  Unfortunately, bankruptcy (to which the SM, along with some of the company's other ventures, notably the GZ Wankel programme, contributed) was the death knell for SM production and the one-off V8 prototype was scrapped while the unique engine was removed and stored, later used to create a replica of the 1974 test mule.

The abortive Traction Avant V8

Citroën Traction Avant (TA) 22 (V8), Paris Motor Show, 1934 (the Coupé below, a Berline on the raised platform).  The frontal styling with fared-in headlights would have been exclusive to selected body-styles offered with the V8.

It was a shame because, despite being most associated with the US industry, it was the French engineer Léon Levavasseur (1863–1922) who in 1904 created the first V8 engine and at the 1934 Paris Motor Show, Citroën displayed their “TA 22”, a variation of their Traction Avant model but fitted with a 3.8 litre (233 cubic inch) V8, created by joining on a common crankcase two of their 1.9 litre (117 cubic inch) four-cylinder units.  At the show, several models were displayed and the promotional material confirmed the 22 would be available with a choice of coachwork including the Berline (four-door saloon), Familiale (long wheelbase (LWB) nine-passenger, four-door saloon with three rows of seats), two-door Coupé and Décapotable (two-door cabriolet).  Looming bankruptcy however halted the project and Michelin, having just taken corporate control, insisted the company concentrate on the best-selling, most profitable lines.  A reputed two dozen-odd 22s were built before the Michelin Man dropped his axe and it's never been clear if any passed into private hands in V8 form, most of the pre-production run having been re-fitted with standard 11 CV four cylinder engines under the usual hood (bonnet) and wings before being sold as TA 11s.  Inevitably, rumours abound, the most persistent being (1) an unnamed doctor or dentist in Brittany or Gascony locked a TA 22 in a barn where it remains, perfectly preserved and (2) there's one in a "secret garage" hidden somewhere in the Far-East, a remnant of the French colonial presence in Indo-China.  There's also the tale that one of the pre-production run displayed at the Paris Motor Show was stored in an underground car-park (in a "bricked-up room" to conceal it from the Nazi occupation forces which had a great fondness for the Traction Avant) in the Javel district of Paris (close to the Citroën factory) and it survived the war, only to be "destroyed" by Pierre "PJB" Boulanger (Pierre-Jules Boulanger, 1885–1950; chairman of Citroën 1935-1950).  Monsieur Boulanger was killed in an accident at the wheel of a TA 15-Six but, like the other legends, there's no documentary evidence of any of the V8 cars existing after 1935.  In recent years, some aficionados have built V8 TAs in the style of the 22 CVs, most fitted with contemporary Ford flathead V8s, an engine produced in several versions in France during the 1930s.   

1938 Citroën 11B Traction Avant coupé, one for four built in 1938 from a total production of 15.  Lovely though the art deco lines were, the 11B’s performance was rendered mediocre by the use of the even then rather agricultural 1.9 litre four-cylinder engine which, despite the fitting of twin downdraft carburetors, generated only 46 horsepower (hp) at a 3800 RPM of some harshness.  In the US, the memorable coffin-nose Cord 810 & 812 had already proved a power-train which combined a V8 with FWD could work and such a powerplant for the Traction Avant would have been transformative.  That the project was abandoned was one of many entries in the company’s long list of missed opportunities.

1937 Cord 812 Phaeton (left) and 1967 Cadillac Eldorado (right).

Thirty years apart, Cord and Cadillac demonstrated a big, FWD V8 could be made to work.  Rushed into production, the Cord had flaws but in a more buoyant economy might the resources might have been found to rectify the problems.  The Eldorado used an unusual chain-drive(!) version of the General Motors (GM) Turbo-Hydramatic automatic transmission which at the time raised the odd eyebrow but, coupled with engines as large as 500 cubic inches (8.2 litres which for 1970 briefly was tuned to a rated 400 hp), it proved robust and reliable.  Whatever happened later, in the 1960s, Cadillac's engineering could be said still to be the "standard of the world".

Evidence does however suggest a V8 SM would likely have been a failure, just compounding the existing error on an even grander scale.  It’s true Oldsmobile and Cadillac had offered big FWD coupés with great success since the mid 1960s but they were very different machines to the SM and appealed to a different market.  Probably the first car to explore what demand might have existed for a V8 SM was the hardly successful 1986 Lancia Thema 8·32 which used the Ferrari 2.9 litre (179 cubic inch) V8 in a FWD platform.  Although well-executed within the limitations the configuration imposed, it was about a daft an idea as it sounds, the understeer prodigious when tested on racetracks although it seems to have been manageable when sensibly driven on the road.  Even had the V8 SM been all-wheel-drive (AWD) it would probably still have been a failure but so configured it would now be remembered as a revolution ahead of its time.  As it is, the whole SM story is just another of Citroën's many, sometimes intriguing cul-de-sacs, albeit one which has become a minor cult.