Piston, though not quite broke
Mike McCarthy was one of the first pro journalists in what was then the weird and amateurish world of classic-car journalism. He turned a dust-dry journal about vintage lorries into the eclectic and engaging Old Motor magazine in 1979. Like my Octane colleagues, he thrived on relaying what old cars were like to drive in the present day, which he was very good at after years of forensically testing new ones for Motor throughout the 1970s.
Setting out on my car mag career, I really looked up to Mike and, despite his liking for a waspish put-down, found him a kind man. Everyone in the industry knew him and wanted him along on press trips. Upon a particular breathless return from Heathrow and a jolly to Maserati to drive one of its many Biturbo derivatives, he plonked this intriguing object down on his desk. It took me a while to realise it was a polished and engraved Maserati piston cut down into an ashtray-cum-paperweight. He could clearly tell that the office junior coveted it, so he said: ‘Get me a coffee and you can have it.’ I sprinted to the canteen to oblige, and it’s been on and around my various workstations ever since.
The corporate launch gift reached its pinnacle in the 1980s and ’90s. Watches, fountain pens, jackets and briefcases abounded, as well as stays in expensive resorts. Of course, these days, as in many areas of corporate life where corruption could lurk, slyly given presents usually have to be declared, or declined, if they’re worth more than a mint on a hotel room pillow.
The Maserati ashtray is, however, more a sample of what the plant in Modena actually produced than an aid to flattering coverage. There’s something innocent about it as a gift, and in its normal guise it’s probably one of the few things that didn’t malfunction on a Biturbo. I notice that Aston Workshop is offering something similar today, made from spent DB5 pistons, at £43 a pop. So the Biturbo ones I’ve found for sale at £120 – supplied as sales desk accoutrements to Maserati dealers globally – seem rather overpriced. I’ve seen another presentation example made from an old Cosworth DFV piston.
While I regularly minesweep my office to sell accumulated bits and pieces and clear the decks, I’ll never dispose of this. It reminds me of Mike and the irony that the foul Gauloise cigarettes he puffed helped cause the stroke that ended his career and, finally, finished him. Super guy, though.