1976 Maserati Merak Coupe

Maserati's exceptionally pretty mid-engined Merak was perhaps the most civilised and useable of the Seventies crop of supercars, with a powerful, efficient V6 motor, plenty of creature comforts and the added practicality of occasional rear seats plus a decent sized boot. With styling from Giugiaro's Ital Design studios in Turin, the Merak shared its basic architecture and floorpan with the V8 Bora, but the flying buttresses at the rear where a novel styling touch. In original form, the quad-cam V6 ran triple Weber 42 DCNF carburettors, produced 190 bhp and drove the rear wheels through a ZF five-speed transaxle, while the braking system employed a high-pressure pump sourced from Maserati's parent company Citroen. The interior was typical of Italian exotics from the era, with low-slung seats and plenty of luxurious touches but the usual offset driving position was tempered through the use of fully adjustable pedals and decent seat travel. Total Merak production was very low, with 1309 examples of the original model produced before the introduction of the SS in 1975, and just a handful of these ever reached our shores.