A supercar without a significant windshield may sound absurd, but it’s a bit like an emerging market. For example, McLaren launched the Elva years ago, Ferrari launched the duo Monza SP1 and SP2 a little later and Aston Martin followed with the DBR22 at the end of last year. Each one must refer to racing cars from the 1950s and 1960s, but then there was another brand that achieved success after success on the track. That was Maserati, and they too are now being honored with a retro model.
No Maserati… or is it?
However, that does not happen in the way you think now, because Maserati did not build this Birdcage itself. It is the Japanese Ken Okuyama Design — Kode for short — that drew the car, but they took their inspiration from the Maserati Tipo 61 Birdcage race car of the time. It owes its name to the open tube construction of its dashboard and indeed: this reincarnation also gets a partly open frame inside. We also recognize the three Maserati-typical air scoops on the flanks, not to mention those trident rims. Ken Okuyama and his Design may try to hide what is going on under the skin, but based on those wheels we would guess that this Birdcage takes over the technique of a Maserati MC20.
That Ken Okuyama is not just any Japanese person with a sharp pencil. The man was at the head of Pininfarina for a while, where he was responsible for the lines of all kinds of Ferraris from around the turn of the century. For example, we owe the looks of the Ferrari Enzo largely to him, but he did not stop drawing even after his departure. In addition to boats, high-speed trains and teapots, we also find daring cars such as the Kode57 Enji and the Kode0 in its portfolio. They came on the market in a very limited edition, and that is also what Okuyama intends with this Kode61 Birdcage.
