Strip the Maserati 150S back to its specification sheet and the character is already there: 1484 , 140 hp-metric at 7500 rpm. Maserati built from 1955 to 1957, at the height of the post-war boom. The shape is credited to Vittorio Bellentani and Medardo Fantuzzi. 25 were built.
The background
Maserati 150S is a racing car made by Maserati of Italy alongside the Maserati 200S, to take over for the aging Maserati A6GCS racing variants. Depending on the source, between twenty-four and twenty-seven examples were built, and one additional street-going car, called the Maserati 150 GT. The project Tipo 53 was designed by Vittorio Bellentani in 1953 and utilized the 4CF2 1484.1 cc engine, fitted with twin Weber 45 DCO3 carburetors and producing 140 hp (103 kW) at 7500 rpm.
The engine was developed from Alberto Massimino's earlier two-liter version, created to offer a simpler design suitable for private competitors in Formula 2 racing. The 1.5-liter version underwent initial testing in a racing boat belonging to Liborio Guidotti in 1954–1955. Maserati unveiled the 150S at the April 1955 Turin Motor Show; the final example was completed in January 1957.
The engineering
The engine is 1484 the output is 140 hp-metric at 7500 rpm. On the scales it comes to 630 kg. That is roughly 222 horsepower per tonne: quick by any era's standard, the kind of figure a hot hatch or a sports saloon posts. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 2150 mm (early) / 2250 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Where it sits
In the Maserati line-up the Maserati 150S has a clear place: it replaced the Maserati A6GCS. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Ferrari Dino, the Ferrari 225 S, the Lincoln Y-block V8 engine. Its Maserati stablemates include the Maserati 200S and the Maserati 300S.
Owning one today
There is no federal ownership record for the Maserati 150S — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.