Merak - Maserati’s Small Supercar
Striking Mid-engined car ideal successor to Bora

In the late 1960s Maserati entered a period of technical collaboration with Citroën when the French automaker turned to Maserati to develop an engine for a new line of Citroën cars. The French automaker was renowned for its innovative, sleek designs and cutting-edge technology, particularly in regard to hydraulic systems – the use of hydraulic suspension gave Citroën cars an incredibly smooth ride. Given that Maserati was famous for the engines that powered both its road and race cars, it was only natural that the new power-plant that Maserati contributed to the partnership was going to be good.

This new engine was designated the C.114, a 2.7-liter V6 that, while similar in bore and stroke to the legendary V8 that had powered many Maseratis, was in fact all new. The Maserati engineers had strict guidelines to work within; the new engine needed to be powerful, yet also light and compact. This was because the Citroën SM was to be front-wheel-drive, a very unusual feature in a large car for those times; this meant that space under the hood was at a premium, and weight was important so as not to overload suspension and transmission components.

The engineers at Maserati duly worked their magic, and the Tipo C.114 engine was ideal for its intended application. The main block was just 13 inches long, and the use of light alloy for the block and cylinder heads, as well as other components, kept the weight low. Not that this meant sacrificing power; despite being intended for a mass-market, high-mileage car the engine still employed chain-driven dual overhead camshafts – a feature not often seen on road cars in the early 1970s. The unit produced some 180 hp – enough to give the slippery SM a top speed over 140mph. The SM was a hit – Motor Trend named it their Car of the Year in 1972, the first time the award was given to an import, and around 13,000 examples were built.

Having developed such a light, powerful engine it was only natural that Maserati looked to see where it could be used within their own range – and so the Maserati Merak was created. The Modenese company had recently introduced the Bora, a full-on supercar. It was the first mid-engined street car the company had built, and it was a huge success. With a 4.7-liter V8 sitting directly behind the cabin, handling and performance were breathtaking – no surprise it has become one of the most sought-after cars of its period.

Now that they had a light, compact engine to use, the Maserati engineers realized that slotting it into the same chassis as the Bora offered a couple of significant advantages. The first was that the smaller engine allowed them to make the passenger compartment larger, making the new car a 2+2 – the Bora was strictly a two-seater. And the V6 (enlarged to 3 liters) was more economical than the larger V8 – an important consideration given the oil crisis of the early 1970s.

And so the Merak was created – similar to the Bora, but the two additional seats aided its practicality. From the nose to the rear of the cabin, the exterior styling was similar, with a true family resemblance, but at the rear the compartment over the engine bay was completely removed, with two flying pillars used to link the roof line to the rear of the car. With the compartment gone the rear of the Merak looked even more sharply angular than the Bora, emphasizing its short rear overhang.  It was in some ways an answer to Ferrari's Dino, demonstrating the vivacity of their old rivalry and Maserati's ability to meet a challenge.  Many younger enthusiasts today do not realize the Ferrari Dino and Maserati Merak were contemporaries, as the Dino looks to be from an older era while the Merak is still strikingly modern.

With the engine putting out 190 hp the Merak was good for 150 mph – impressive performance for 1972 with ‘only’ a 3-liter engine. More was to come: in 1974 an uprated version of the engine was created, a higher compression ratio helping lift power to 208 hp. The Merak was also subjected to a thorough weight-saving program; even though the original wasn’t exactly obese, somehow Maserati managed to shed over 300 lbs. The reworked car was designated the Merak SS, and went from 0-60 mph in 7.6 sec.

Somewhat predictably, the Merak was compared to its larger-engined stablemate; equally predictably, those comparisons focused on the differences in performance between the two cars, a comparison where the Merak will always come out on the losing side. That doesn’t do the Merak justice – it is akin to comparing the GranTurismo with the MC12, and concluding that the GranTurismo is the lesser car: it is not.  The Bora was always intended as an exclusive supercar – until the MC12 came along, it was the Italian company’s only such car. The Merak had more interior space, and the lesser performance should be balanced against the superior fuel economy. Over its seven-year production run, just 530 examples of the Bora were built, whereas the Merak remained in production for more than a decade, and over 1,800 cars were produced.

We recently had the opportunity to drive a Merak, out in California, where it proved itself to be anything but ‘Bora-lite’. With identical dimensions it has the same wonderfully responsive handling as its sibling – the mid-mounted engine reduces the weight on the front end, which allows more feedback to be communicated to the driver than in a front-engined car. At normal road speeds the 3-liter V6  provided lively performance even by today’s standards, helped by the car weighing only 3,000 lbs. What came as a surprise was the amount of attention the Merak garnered; each time we pulled up at a stop light we could see people staring at this rare beast. With the same low-slung looks as the Bora, the Merak is a real head-turner – making it even more desirable, this is something of a ‘sleeper’ in the classic car market, often selling for less than a quarter of the price of a Bora.

The name ‘Merak’ is worthy of explanation. To this point Maserati had named three cars after winds: Mistral, Ghibli and Bora; two cars after racing circuits: Sebring and Indy; and one car, the Mexico, after a country. Changing tack yet again, the Merak took its name from a star, one in the Big Dipper. While we can offer no insight into the reasons behind the choice, we think it was particularly inspired; it may be overshadowed by its more famous predecessor, but we think the Merak is a real star in the history of Maserati.