The Tipo 54 project was shelved in 1955 after a catastrophic crash at LeMans. In early 1956, Tony Parravano, a wealthy American housing developer, commissioned Maserati to build a new large-bore V8 engine for use in a Kurtis Indy chassis. This prompted Maserati to start working on the Tipo 54 project once again. A 350S chassis numbered 3501 was selected for testing the new engine and was elongated in order to accommodate the engine. Valerio Colotti designed the tubular frame for the chassis. The independent front suspension with double wishbones and coil-springs were retained but a much reinforced de Dion rear-end, based around a new five-speed transaxle were added. This transaxle was mounted ahead of the de Dion tube and the gearbox section was extended ahead of the final-drive instead of being integrated on the right-hand side. The drum brakes were borrowed from a 300S with improved cooling. The car had an open top body designed by Medardo Fantuzzi resembling the 300S.