Work on the series began during the war years. Ernesto Maserati and engineer Alberto Massimino started development of the Tipo 6CS/46 — also called the A6 Sport or A6CS — in 1945, completing two prototype barchettas by late 1946. The cars used the 1,493 cc straight-six from the pre-war Maserati 6CM, producing 65 hp. On 11 May 1947, at the Circuito di Piacenza, two A6 Sports took the first two places, driven by Giulio Barbieri and Mario Angiolini.
The A6 1500, officially the 1500 Gran Turismo, was Maserati's first true production road car. Development had begun in 1941 but was suspended during wartime. The first chassis, bodied by Pinin Farina, debuted at the Geneva Salon International de l'Auto in March 1947 as a two-door, two-seat berlinetta with hidden headlamps and integrated front wings. Production Pinin Farina bodies used conventional headlamps; later cars gained a 2+2 fastback option. A Pinin Farina convertibile was shown at the 1948 Turin motor show, and Zagato produced a single distinctive coupé Panoramica in 1949. Sixty-one A6 1500s were built between 1947 and 1950.
Power came from a 1,488 cc single-overhead-camshaft inline-six with a single Weber carburettor producing 65 hp, with triple carburettors fitted to some cars from 1949. Top speed ranged from 146 to 154 km/h depending on bodywork and gearing. The chassis used tubular and sheet steel with double wishbones at the front and a solid rear axle, sprung on coil springs with Houdaille hydraulic dampers all round.
The A6G 2000 (officially 2000 Gran Turismo) began replacing the A6 1500 from 1950. The engine was enlarged to 1,954 cc with a bore and stroke of 72 mm × 80 mm, retaining a single overhead camshaft but now fed by triple carburettors for 90 to 100 hp. Top speed rose to between 160 and 180 km/h. Just sixteen cars were built between 1950 and 1951, with bodies by Pinin Farina, Frua, and Vignale.
Alongside the road cars, Maserati developed the A6GCS two-seater racer in 1947, powered by a 2-litre engine initially producing 120 hp. Often called the Monofaro for its single headlamp, this cycle-winged racer made its competition debut at Modena in 1947 with Luigi Villoresi and Alberto Ascari, and won the 1948 Italian Championship with Giovanni Bracco. Fifteen cars were made between 1947 and 1953.
Twelve A6GCM single-seaters were built between 1951 and 1953, developed by Gioacchino Colombo and constructed by Medardo Fantuzzi. These 2-litre monoposto racers produced 160 to 190 bhp. A revised variant, the A6 SSG of 1953, pointed directly toward the subsequent Maserati 250F and won the 1953 Italian Grand Prix driven by Juan Manuel Fangio.
To compete in the World Sportscar Championship, Maserati developed the A6GCS/53 in 1953. Engine output was improved to 170 hp. Bodies were typically open spiders, initially designed by Medardo Fantuzzi and then built either by Carrozzeria Fantuzzi or Celestino Fiandri of Carrozzeria Fiandri e Malagoli. Fifty-two cars were produced, including four berlinettas by Aldo Brovarone at Pinin Farina. Guglielmo Dei, a Rome dealer who acquired six chassis, later commissioned two additional open-top models from Carrozzeria Frua using engines with racing modifications including dry sump lubrication sourced from A6G/54 units. One of the A6GCS/53 cars won the Polyphony Digital Award, presented by Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi, at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in 2014.
Maserati returned to the road-car market at the 1954 Paris Salon with the A6G/54, distinguishing it from the earlier A6G 2000. A new double-overhead-camshaft inline-six displacing 1,985.6 cc with a bore and stroke of 76.5 mm × 72 mm replaced the earlier engine, fed by three twin-choke Weber DCO carburettors for 150 hp at 6,000 rpm and top speeds of 195 to 210 km/h. Dual ignition added in 1956 raised output to 160 hp.
Sixty cars were built between 1954 and 1956 across four body styles: a three-box Carrozzeria Allemano coupe designed by Giovanni Michelotti (21 units), a coupe and Gran Sport Spyder by Frua (6 and 12 respectively), and a fastback by Zagato (20 units) plus a single Zagato spider. The Zagato spider, chassis 2101, was purchased by Juan Perón but his government fell before revisions could be completed; the car was stored by Maserati before being sold after a 1958 Paris show appearance. Chassis 2155 received a unique non-fastback Zagato coupe body after a test-drive crash involving Gianni Zagato himself, and is one of only two A6G/54s fitted with a double-bubble roof.
The Maserati A6 established the marque's post-war identity across two parallel strands — refined gran turismo coachwork by Italy's leading carrozzerie, and a succession of increasingly potent racing cars culminating in the single-seater that directly prefigured the Maserati 250F. The breadth of coachbuilders involved — Pinin Farina, Zagato, Frua, Vignale, Ghia, Bertone, Allemano — makes surviving A6 examples among the most varied and individually distinguished Italian road cars of the early 1950s.
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