2002 c1950s De Joux Maserati Special (Replica)

Description

Ferris de Joux (1935-2009) was a designer, engineer and constructor of sports cars. de Joux was said to have been one of New Zealand's most talented automotive designers. He appeared regularly in motoring magazines such as Motorman and Sports Car World from the 1970s.de Joux's first car was a 1936 Austin Seven Ruby. He removed the body, designed and built a fiberglass body for it possibly New Zealand's first. Internationally de Joux is perhaps best known as the designer and manufacturer of a series of fibreglass bodies for Buckler sports cars. One of the first Buckler's to his design was the Ivy Stephenson Buckler.From there he created a Holden Special followed by a Ferrari Special. Jack Brabham commented that the Ferrari was the best non factory built car he had seen and offered him a job. de Joux declined.
Ferris went on to buy  the Ferrari 375 that José Froilán González drove and won the 1951 British Grand Prix at Silverstone from New Zealand racing driver Ron Roycroft. He converted it into a Gran Turismo that looked like a genuine factory built Ferrari road car. It was an exquisitely proportioned car used by de Joux daily for the next four and a half years until he sold it. The car was eventually restored back to a single seater and is now owned by Bernie Ecclestone.
In 1962 de Joux and Auckland mechanic Kevin Lamb made two deJoux Gran Turismo cars. The GT's look like a cross between a Maserati A6G and an AC Bristol Zagato with 1950's and 1960s styling.Also around this time De Joux is thought to have designed the Orchid, a 1960's period racer, molded by The Australasian Motor Works. Among several sports racers de Joux built was a Ferrari-Jaguar combination - called the Ferraguar.
In New Zealand de Joux is best known for his Mini derivative, the de Joux Mini GT. In 1965 he began the design of his GT, a car he described as "a Mini in a Bermuda jacket". The protoype was not finished until 1971. The Mini GT was a fibreglass sports GT body bonded onto a Mini floorpan
In 1999 de Joux made a one-off Maserati Special after acquiring from Auckland Ferrari enthusiast Allan Cattle a 3.5-litre, six-cylinder Maserati engine which he spotted sitting under a bench in his workshop, Alan found it in England beneath another car restorer's workshop bench and brought it home. Ferris decided to build a car in the style of a 1937-39 Maserati. The car was pieced together with assorted spare parts over a three year period and completed in 2002.