Start with what the Maserati 26M is: a car with 2.5 , built from 1930, when streamlining and independent suspension were arriving together. What it meant takes a little longer. The shape is credited to Alfieri Maserati.
The background
The Maserati Tipo 26M was a model of Grand Prix race car produced by Italian manufacturer Maserati in Bologna, for a total of 13 units, between 1930 and 1932. Before the Tipo 26M, the original Tipo 26 from 1926 had evolved into versions such as 26B, 26C and 26R. Based on these, the Tipo 26M was designed in 1930 as mostly single-seaters (M meaning monoposto) and also referred to as 8C 2500 (8 cylinder, 2500 cc). Six of the 26M were made into Tipo 26M Sport for long endurance purposes. The 26M Grand Sport by Carrozzeria Castagna and the Sport Tipo 1000 Miglia by Ugo Zagato were two-seater models for road use. Two four-seaters were later referred to as the company's first attempt at non-racing cars.
The Tipo 26M dominated the 1930 Grand Prix season having its debut at VI Premio Reale di Roma (Luigi Arcangeli won, 25 May 1930), IV Coppa Ciano (Luigi Fagioli won, 21 July 1930), VI Coppa Acerbo (Achille Varzi won, Ernesto Maserati second, 17 August 1930), III Gran Premio di Monza (Varzi won, Arcangeli second, 7 September 1930) and the VII Gran Premio de España (Varzi won, Aymo Maggi second, 5 October 1930). In the first half of the 1931 Grand Prix season it lost to the Alfa Romeo 8C and Bugatti T51. The engine was a straight-eight with a displacement of 2495.4 cc. The bore and stroke are 65 and 94 mm, respectively. The horsepower delivered was 185 hp (136 kW) at 5600 rpm, while the compression ratio was 5.5:1. A bored out engine with carburetors from Edoardo Weber of Bologna, became the 8C 2800. Thanks to a 69 mm (2.72 in) bore, this engine's displacement is 2811.9 cc; maximum po
The engineering
The engine is 2.5 other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. On the scales it comes to 800 kg. Drive goes through a 4 speed manual transmission. 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 2640 mm (103.9 in). These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Where it sits
In the Maserati line-up the Maserati 26M has a clear place: it replaced the Maserati Tipo 26B; it handed the line to the Maserati 8C; the factory was Bologna, Italy. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Cadillac V-16, the Mercedes-Benz 770, the Rolls-Royce Phantom II limousine. Its Maserati stablemates include the Maserati 150S and the Maserati 200S.
Owning one today
There is no federal ownership record for the Maserati 26M — 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.