The story .....

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Something about the story of Maserati...
Maserati was founded in 1926 by 4 brothers: Alfreri Maserati, Ettore Maserti, Bindo Maserati and Ernesto Maserati. In the early years, they produced only racing cars.
One of these was the famous 250F, which won the GP world championship in 1957.
Afther that year they stopped with racing cars and concentrated on road cars

In 1947, Maserati brothers lost control of the company to Adolfo Orsi due to financial problem. The latter ran the company successfully until he sold it to Citroen in 1971. The new partnership with Citroen helped strengthening Maserati's finance a while, during which Maserati produced engines for the Citroen SM. However, heavy losses of Maserati led to the relationship to be broken in 1975. Then the "Professional Survivor" de Tomaso came and steered the company to produce more affordable coupes base on a single basic platform. Therefore in today you can see so many look-alike Maserati with different names - Biturbo, Spider, 222, 228, 420, 425, 430, Karif, 2.24, 4.24, Racing, Shamal, Ghibli and the newest Quattroporte. They are not the greatest Maseratis, if you ask me, but do help the company to survive.

In 1993, Maserati was bought by the giant Fiat. Since then a new marketing position was set - Sportier then Lancia, more luxurious then Ferrari, and priced between them. Until recently, Maserati is still losing money. And the quality problem is not solved yet. As a result, it was assigned to be managed by Ferrari in 1997. Can Ferrari solved its problem with its talented engineers, quality control and manufacturing facilities ?  Hmmm, the company still struggles on.
But some great cars arrived on the market.....   the Gible,  the 3200 GT.....
Will the company survice ?
Absolutely. However, the real and independent Maserati age will not come back soon !

The GT cars.....

In 1968 Maserati and Citroen joined forces to produce the stunning and hugely complex V6-engined SM. Within just two months, Citroen took a controlling interest. Much of the SM technology went into the mid-engined Bora and Merak coupes, which were complemented by the front-engined Khamsin.

The Bora was beautifully designed by Giugiaro.
Its strong V8 was mounted centrally and makes the car really fast and a rival for cars such as Ferrari and Lamborghini.
His cheaper little brother came one year later in 1972.
This new car, called Merak was fitted with a stretched version of Citroen SM's V6 engine.
It developes 190 bhp and  its top speed was 144 mph.
Due to this smaller engine, two rear seats can be added and it becames a 2+2 configuration.
During the oil crisis (1973) the Merak fas far more polular than his big brother Bora.
In 1976 Maserati retuned the engine up to 220 bhp. This version was called "SS".
This car 's weight was reduced by 150 kg so it became noticeable quicker.
At the same time a 2 litre version was unveiled (only for the Italian market).

The Merak died in 1983, afther 12 glorious Maserati years
A total of 1700 Meraks were build