It’s hard not to stop for this sensuous Merak at the Cohort, posted by Yohai Rodin, despite all the other cars there too. It’s another exquisite design by Giorgetto Giugiaro during his golden era, when he was cranking out the hits. The Merak is a bit unusual, as it was an adaptation of the earlier V8 Bora, to utilize the Citroën SM’s V6 engine and some of its hydropneumatic systems, during the time that Maserati was under control of Citroën.
The 1971 Bora (above) and 1972 Merak shared much of their bodies up through the B-Pillar, and then diverged. TheBora had a glassed-in fastback, while the Merak’s was open, with flying buttresses.
Obviously, the Merak was substantially less expensive than the genuine supercar Bora, which meant that it outsold it by 3:1. The Bora only lasted until 1977, and something less than 600 were made. The Merak survived into the DeTomaso era at Maserati, and was built until 1983.
There were a few Meraks to be seen in Los Angeles when I moved there in 1977. My Encyclopedia says that in 1974, the Merak was listed at $21,700 ($102k adjusted), and the Bora at $30,900 ($144k adjusted). That’s a substantial discount, and for puttering around LA, the Merak was more suitable anyway.
Nice. I’ve never seen one in person but had a 1/64 Yat Ming diecast Merak as a kid.
The flying buttresses have always struck me as looking a little unfinished, or alternately, remind me of some of the angled-support roll bars avaiable for Jeeps. Lovely car otherwise, though, and kind of nice to see a V6 “practical supercar”. Or as practical as anything SM-derived can be considered!
The middle pic looks like a cross between a Ford Pantera and a Lamborghini Miura. And a little bit of something else too…maybe Ferarri, or maybe something British like an old TVR of some kind.
Sweet looking Maserati. I’ve seen Maseratis before, but I’ve never seen a Merak before.
By all accounts the Merak handles better than the Bora, with less weight mounted high up, and it’s a lot easier to maintain, as the hydraulics are limited to the clutch and brakes and the engine is “relatively” simple. Like Citroens of the day, the hydraulic system was designed so the brakes responded to pressure only, not pedal travel, which made the first few stops a bit abrupt (having driven a DS years ago I can attest to that). I believe the later model years reverted to more conventional brakes and clutch.
Meraks (and for that matter Boras) really haven’t caught the Italian exotic pricing fervour (fever?) of may of their contemporaries, so they make interesting entry points to that market. Pretty, too, as long as you don’t have the US-market steel girder bumpers. I doubt Giugiaro had a hand in those.
I think of this as a hairdresser’s car, because the guy who owned the salon where we got haircuts on Garth road in Scarsdale NY in the late 70s had a Merak.
On the flip side our dentist in the 80s had a Fiat Dino spyder.
Funny, I remember being dragged along, I guess in the late ’60s or early ’70s, to the salon where my mom had gone. The owner’s ’63 split window Corvette was parked outside all the time. Even then, I just circled around it, endlessly.
Ah, the Datsun taillights strike again! In all seriousness though I believe I like the Merak more than the Bora. The lack of louvres on the rear flank, along with the fact that the roof cuts off like a true mid-engine supercar just puts the profile of the car into perspective in the rear 3/4 view. Always reminds me that in the period between the early sixties to the mid seventies the supercar design rule was that form follows function, rather than… Well, whatever the hell Ferrari’s doing with the LaFerrari. I wonder how the thing doesn’t explode into fire when it sees its reflection in the glass side of a building.
Of note as well is that they shoved a V6 engine into a Maserati during the period when Maserati was obsessed with bigger displacements. You’d think after having a reputation for making “obsolete” and “underpowered” cars the last thing they’d want to do after shoving a honkin’ 4.7 litre V8 into the Bora was make its sibling drop the power rating to under half the Bora. But then again I’ve never understood how most supercar companies decide to backtrack after blazing new ground. Ah well, still a beautiful car.
Those were beautiful cars. I remember the Bora and the Khamsin, but never really paid much attention to the Merak. Giugiaro did indeed design some beautiful cars. But that was kind of the era of beautiful cars. The Lamborghini Miura, Jaguar XKE, several Ferraris and even the lowly Datsun 240/260/and 280Zs had real style.
Compare those cars to the hideous Lamborghini Countach, and every Lamborghini since, including the Aventador. My opinion of course.
I love the Countach personally, there was something truly beautiful about the first iteration of it before it got the flares(really even with them it didn’t become hideous to me until the US bumpers were applied as well as the Testarossa inspired rocker panels on the late 80s, especially the 89s). I much prefer the Miura though.
I really like the look of these. You can see the stylistic resemblance to the Pantera and the Ferrari 308, which was in development at the same time.
I see some 365/512BB on the engine cover too
+1. That’s what I saw at a glance
Jon I dare say they went smaller to gain more sales, Maserati was trying to avoid going broke again. They are ‘practical’ too, they have a back seat! So what if humans cant fit…
Ah, well they were an exotic sportscar company. Teetering on the brink of total financial failure is how they work. Just ask the head of Lotus. The thing that bothers me about it is that the Merak didn’t need to be a new model, as was proven with the multiple contemporary Porsche 911s that came out with different power ratings and equipment. As for the back seat, I’m 5’5″, so would say the size is nice for me. Though I’d mutilate anybody who relegated me to the back seat not because it’s small, but because I wouldn’t be driving.
Very pretty cars…and I still have my red Matchbox version. But the Bora, oh how I lusted after that car. There were a lot of truly beautiful supercars in the ’60s and ’70s.
Gorgeous. The 70s may have been a tacky awkward automotive era in most instances but Supercars like this were never this beautiful before or since.
“but Supercars like this were never this beautiful before or since.”
This was when cars were porn on wheels!
Maserati was hardly understood by people , arresting style, nice engines but the plebs couldn’t see the prancing horse badge so it didn’t rate.
Even Top Gear has been keen to rubbish the supercars of this era!
When you think Toyota was offering the shitbox Corolla and Crown at the time it makes this era of cars even more remarkable.
The Pantera was another gorgeous car from that era I forgot to mention. Not sure why, it was actually one of my favorites. And the Ford mechanicals made it possible to work on and get parts for. The Ferrari 308 was also a gorgeous car. I preferred the GTB hardtop version. The only car I really like removable roof panels on is the ’74-’77 Corvette, another one of the worlds most beautiful cars. It may not have had much under the hood, and quality was not the best, but with it’s urethane bumpers, it was an absolutely stunning design.
Can’t forget about the Lotus Esprit either, although I wouldn’t bet on it in a race against the rest.
Always thought these were lovely, there was one tooling around the mining town I grew up in during the 1980s. Such an odd car to have in Mt Isa!
Does the Bora do 185?
I assume Mr. Walsh could tell you!
No!
All I can think of when I see one of these is the engine in one of these exploding into oily chunks while it was being driven by Clarkson on that one episode of Top Gear.
That was the “10,000 Pound Supercar Challenge,” in which a rather dilapidated Merak and two other Italian exotics were purchased for under 10,000 quid apiece. Their mission was not a difficult one: all they had to do was get their vehicles to travel (IIRC) about 70 miles on normal British roads to a strip club. None made it: ALL THREE cars self-destructed on the way, the Merak’s suicide being the most dramatic of the bunch…
…Which led to Clarkson’s sage summary on the subject: “Yes, it is possible to buy a used supercar for less than 10,000 pounds… but for God’s sake, DON’T!”
Bora production lasted until ’78, or there were some that were sold as ’78 models. Total production for the Bora was 385 units give or take a few.
Outside of the Maserati Quattroporte II, is it known what other cars would have likely received the 4-litre V8 derived from the 3-litre Maserati V6?
Would the likes of the Maserati Merak, Maserati Bora and Maserati Khamsin been suitable candidates, assuming the 4-litre V8 fits into the back of the typically V6-only Merak?