Curbside Classic: 1977 Maserati Merak SS – Moustaches, Green Balls And Flying Buttresses

They called the ‘70s Anni di piombo “the years of lead” in Italy. Social, economic and political turmoil, terrorism, the Maffia, an epidemic of moustaches – times were tough. But it was even tougher at Maserati. The firm was bought by Citroën in the late ‘60s, only to be sold to the infamous Alejandro de Tomaso when the French company was itself taken over by Peugeot in 1975. In the midst of all this cacophony of executive warfare, they still managed to create a few new models, such as the awesome Khamsin, the stillborn Quattroporte II and the fascinating Merak.

Launched in 1972, at the same time as the Lamborghini Urraco we saw earlier this week, the Maserati Merak was also responding to the same Dino 246GT paradigm shift: a smaller, mid-engined model, hopefully built in greater numbers than the larger supercars that remained in the range.

By the mid-‘70s, said range included the Khamsin and the Bora, both V8-powered. The Merak was essentially a downmarket Bora, sharing that car’s body from the C-pillar forward, but featuring a lighter “flying buttress” rear end design, as well as a 3-litre V6. However, the Bora had an expensive tubular chassis, whereas the Merak went with an all-steel monocoque.

Here is the V6, almost hiding. It was compact enough to be fitted longitudinally, both here and in the front of the Citroën SM. The French front-driver premiered the Maserati V6 in 1970, albeit in 2.7 litre form. It was designed by Giulio Alfieri, who had authored Maserati’s 4.2 litre V8. Alfieri did not merely lob off a pair of pots from that V8, as some claimed – the V6 was a clean-sheet design, but he did decide to keep the V8’s 90° angle for a number of reasons. This made the Maserati V6 a bit less smooth than, say, the Dino engine, but it still had a good career.

In the SM, the V6 is buried under a spider’s web of hoses, pipes and ducts. So too in the Merak – you really have to go look for it. In contrast to the SM, the Merak only has one green sphere – the famous Citroën hydropneumatics are present in the car, but only for a few key functions. Most notably, the Merak’s brakes and its pop-up headlights are powered by the mysterious green ball. But not the suspension, the steering or the gearbox, though that last item is also Citroën-sourced. The 5-speed they designed for the SM and the DS was apparently a very good piece of kit, used by several carmakers, including Lotus.

The 3-litre engine was used in a somewhat detuned form in the SM, but only for those with automatic transmission. And unlike the Citroën, which switched to EFI in 1972, the Merak’s V6 always kept a triple Weber carburator setup. Our featured car is a later “SS” version, so said Webers were a little bigger, allowing the power to climb to 217hp (DIN), though this number has been known to fluctuate (between 190 and 220), depending on the source and year. In 1977, emulating Ferrari and Lamborghini, Maserati also proposed a domestic-market-only 2-litre Merak 2000 GT, only good for 168hp.

The Merak SS did relatively well in the marketplace. It helped that Maserati, unlike Lamborghini, managed to sell a few in the US. But beyond that, the Merak sold for less than the Urraco and had very positive reviews, especially in SS trim. The top dog in this reduced-size 2+2 mid-engined supercar race was the Ferrari Dino 308 GT4, no question, but the Maserati had its appeal, which can explain its rather long (1972-83) production run. Let’s look at it in context, shall we?

I was going to re-use the comparison table I did recently for the 1975 Urraco (and there are a few cars that appear in both), but decided to do a new one for MY 1980. The Merak SS sold just as well, if not better, than the non-SS pre-1975 version. It’s not hard to see why: its performance was still above average, plus some of its opposition (e.g. De Tomaso, TVR, Jaguar) really got hit with the ugly stick.

One undeniable fact is that the Merak, outside of the US, looked gorgeous from the get-go. The Dino’s wedgy design was perhaps trendier in the ‘70s, but the Merak’s see-through rear quarters and delicate detailing made it more interesting to look at. Plus, there were kooky trinkets from the Citroën parts bin here and there, such as the door handles, which came straight off the GS.

As per usual, the artiste signed his oeuvre. Another hit by Giorgetto.

Oh, and if you ever come across on of these that, like this car, has had its badges removed for whatever reason, you’ll know it’s an SS by the presence of this black grill on the front. They sure liked to grow a moustache, in them days.

Peeking inside, we can immediately recognize the shifter as coming from a Citroën SM. The rest of the dash used to be pretty much SM all the way through as well, but when De Tomaso took over, he ordered a complete redesign to get rid of the lingering French stench, so all post-1975 Meraks have this rather unremarkable dash…

…whereas earlier cars had the whacky and stylish SM item. Hopefully not all came with that upholstery, though. Not that the fabric seen in our featured car is that much better.

The De Tomaso takeover caused a lot of changes in the Maserati range. The Bora died in 1978, the FWD Quattroporte II never got off the ground and the new Kyalami, launched in 1976, was a De Tomaso Longchamp in a different dress (and with a Maserati engine). Ultimately, the Biturbo would take over the whole range, for better and (mostly) for the worse. In this context, the last mid-engined car in the range had no hope to find a successor: the last Merak SS was made in 1983, and Maserati reverted to front-engined cars only for the next couple of decades.

At least, the Merak could claim to have found a limited audience: with just over 1800 made, including about 1000 of the SS kind and a mere 200 2-litre GTs, the first and last “small” mid-engined Maser was a partial success. Or a demi-failure, depending on how your buttress is flying.

From a styling point of view, it has to be one of Giugiaro’s best efforts of the ‘70s. And there was a man who made a lot of efforts. I wonder whether he wore facial hair in those days? Probably a pencil moustache.

 

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Cohort Outtake: Maserati Merak – The Citroën of Supercars, by PN