Maserati does not build many cars like the Maserati Tipo 26 with 1.5 , built from 1926 to 1932 the vintage years, when coachbuilders still shaped most of what was sold. Its designer of record is Alfieri Maserati.
The background
The Maserati Tipo 26 was a model of Grand Prix racing car and was the first car built by Italian manufacturer Maserati, for a total of 11 examples, between 1926 and 1932. The Tipo 26 originated from a Grand Prix car that Alfieri Maserati had designed for Diatto: when the collaboration between Maserati and Diatto ended, Alfieri took his design to the Bologna workshop that he had set up with his brothers in 1914.
The design of the Tipo 26 consisted of a steel ladder-type frame supporting a supercharged inline-eight engine displacing 1.5 L (1,492.9 cc), with a bore and stroke of 60 mm × 66 mm (2.36 in × 2.60 in), with a three-speed manual transmission and aluminium two-seater bodywork made by Medardo Fantuzzi. The engine featured a crankshaft-driven Roots supercharger, twin gear-driven overhead camshafts and dry sump lubrication; to comply with the 1926 Grand Prix regulations the displacement was fixed to 1.5-litres. At its debut race in the 1926 Targa Florio, the Maserati Tipo 26, with Alfieri Maserati driving and a young Guerino Bertocchi as riding mechanic, finished first in the Grand Prix class and ninth overall.
The engineering
Under the skin sits 1.5 . Kerb weight is 720-780 kg. The gearbox is a 3-speed manual (4-speed since 1927). 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 2650 mm (2580 mm since 1928). These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Where it sits
Where it sits in Maserati's history is not in doubt: the Maserati 4CM followed it; it was built at Bologna, Italy. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Mercedes-Benz W03, the Fiat 507, the Bugatti type 23 airfoiled. Its Maserati stablemates include the Maserati 150S and the Maserati 200S.
The money
There is no federal ownership record for the Maserati Tipo 26 — 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.