hmmm...its logic: Maserati`s racing aera -officially- ended in 1957. So everything from 1958 onwards.
Sixty three years ago ... We're talking about automotive archaeology when one considers the pace of today's technological advancement. The MC12 program being a momentary excursion. Maserati could no longer afford to race ... still can't. I hope they survive all the turmoil from Covid-19 but they were already in a lot of trouble here in the USA.
Don’t know about the Bora, but Moss did say something about the Merak in the “Million-dollar car test” in Popular Mechanics March 1981 issue. Stirling Moss and Phil Hill joined the editors for this test. They had praise for the Merak but also some complaints. Because the Bora has other seats and more power than the Merak I think they probably would not have had the same complaints had they tested a Bora. By the way, if you read what they say about some of the other cars (like the Ferrari Boxer, the Countach, the Esprit or the BMW M1), that really surprised me. They apparently didn’t like some cars that are now expensive classics. You can find the first 6 pages of the test here: https://archive.org/stream/PopularMechanics1981/Popular_Mechanics_03_1981#page/n105/mode/2up The test continues here (the next 15 pages including the part about the Merak): https://archive.org/stream/PopularMechanics1981/Popular_Mechanics_03_1981#page/n161/mode/2up Or you can use this link (and scroll to page 112 or, for the second part, 170) : https://books.google.nl/books?id=tdgDAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl=nl&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
Maserati’s (and Alfa’s) future is in the hands of Tavares and his vision of the brands. His background coupled with his track record of turning around PSA and Opel gives one a sense of optimism. However, one can only imagine where Maserati would be today if Marchionne didn’t try to turn Maserati into a 75,000 unit a year company by moving it under Chrysler instead of leaving it with Ferrari.
I remember that article I actually found that issue in Paris and read it intensely, they really went all out for that test and yes results were surprising, a very notable test. Decades later there was another similar major multi test in Classic & Sportscar with Derek Bell driving all sorts of top GT's, supercars and he was really disappointed by the 959 -and he is a Porker man so that was really suprising- and he put some other over hyped cars in their place but was deeply impressed by...the Bora))!
I saved that article in Classic & Sportscar because I own a Bora but others have said the same thing, that the Bora was a very civilized high performance GT which made no pretensions at being a sports car but could eat up the miles or kilometers while treating the driver and the passenger well. It was and still is one of the best mid-engined automobiles of its generation.
Hi Elliott, I hope you are well. Actually Derek (for whom I ghost wrote for 5 years in a Porsche dealership newsletter I edited and produced 20 years ago) was impressed by various aspects of the Bora including the handling, after all when a magazine gets a star driver to sample cars it is the handling and performance that gets analyzed and I was very happy to read what he wrote. If anyone has that test it would be great to read just that portion again.
