Maserati Bora

The Maserati Bora (Tipo AM117) is a mid-engine two-seat coupe manufactured by Maserati from 1971 to 1978. In common with other Maserati cars of the era, it is named after a wind, Bora being the wind of Trieste. The Bora ended Maserati's reputation for producing fast but technologically out of date cars, being the first Maserati with four wheel independent suspension. In contrast, competitor Lamborghini had used independent suspension in 1964.

History

Shortly after Citroën took a controlling interest in Maserati in 1968, the concept of a mid-engined two-seat sports car was proposed. Lamborghini and De Tomaso already had the Miura and Mangusta, whilst Ferrari were known to be developing their own mid-engined contender. Initially known as Tipo 117 and later the Bora, the Maserati project got underway in October 1968 and a prototype was on the road by mid-1969. Shown in its final form at the Geneva Salon in March 1971, deliveries began before the end of the year. Maserati struggled after being bought by De Tomaso in 1975, and the Bora was discontinued after the 1978 model year. 564 Boras were produced in total, of which 275 were fitted with 4.9 L engines and the other 289 were fitted with 4.7 L engines.

Design

The Bora was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro at Italdesign and has a drag coefficient of 0.30. Fabrication of the all-steel panels was contracted to Officine Padane of Modena. The Bora had a number of innovative features that distinguished the car from Maserati's previous offerings. Compared to other supercars, it was civilized and practical, featuring a hydraulically powered pedal cluster that could be moved forward and backwards at the touch of a button and a steering wheel that could be tilted and telescoped, addressing the familiar problem of entering and exiting the vehicle typical of many supercars.

Most supercars offer little foot room and little to no provision for luggage, but the Bora has a full-size trunk in the front of the vehicle, and was otherwise known as being much more civilized in comforts from its competitors. Unlike its competitors, the Bora used dual-pane glass separating its cabin from the engine compartment as well as a carpeted aluminium engine cap, greatly decreasing the engine noise in the cabin and increasing the comfort level for the driver. The engine and five-speed ZF transaxle were mounted on a subframe attached to the monocoque via four flexible mounts,

Specifications

Initially two V8 engines were offered, a high-revving and a higher torque ; a US smog-qualified 4.9-litre engine was used (a stroked version of the 4.7), starting from the 1973 model year. Eventually, production switched to only using a more powerful version of the 4.9-litre engine rated at at 5,500 rpm and of torque at 4,000 rpm. All these engines traced their lineage back to the famous 450S racecar, were made of aluminium alloy and had hemispherical combustion chambers with 16 valves total operated by four cams (chain-driven). Both engines were mounted longitudinally in the middle of the car and were mated to a ZF-1 five-speed transaxle sending power to the rear wheels. They were fed by four 42 DCNF/14 downdraught Weber carburetors with Bosch electronic ignition. The compression ratio is 8.5:1.

A combined steel monocoque chassis and body featured a tubular steel subframe at the back for the engine and transmission. Also featured independent suspension all round (a first for a Maserati road car) with coil springs, telescopic suspension dampers and anti-roll bars. The development prototype and the broadly similar show car first seen at the 1971 Geneva Motor Show featured MacPherson strut based front suspension, but this was abandoned for production because, installed in combination with very wide front tyres and rack-and-pinion steering, the strut-based solution produced severe kickback. For the production cars Maserati reverted to a more conservative wishbone front-suspension arrangement.

Citroën's advanced high-pressure LHM hydraulics were adopted to operate the ventilated disc brakes on the main circuit, and on an auxiliary circuit the pedal box (clutch, brake, foot-throttle), the driver's seat (only vertical adjustments), and the retractable headlights. Wheels were Campagnolo light alloy type with distinctive removable polished stainless steel hubcaps in the earlier models. Tyres were Michelin XWX 205x70 front and rear, however these early cars exhibited problems with "tramlining" at speed. To solve this problem Maserati fitted later cars with 215/70VR15 tyres on the rear, with the choice of Michelin XWX or Pirelli Cinturato CN12 tyres.

The most distinctive details of the Bora were the brushed stainless steel roof and windscreen pillars. Inside, the bucket seats, dash, door trim, centre console and rear bulkhead were trimmed in leather, with electric windows and air conditioning as standard. The steering column was manually adjustable for rake and reach, whereas the LHM aux. circuit controls adjusted the driver's seat vertically, the pedal box (consisting of the brake, clutch and throttle pedals) can be set horizontally forwards and backwards by around --a first such application in the world for a production car, and also to raise and lower the concealed headlights in the front fenders.

The original estimated weight was , however, noise and safety concerns increased the weight to . It is popularly believed that the Bora is heavier than the Ghibli however the Ghibli weighs , some more than the Bora. The reason for this misconception probably stems from the state of tune of their respective engines as well as the difference in the gearing of the two cars.

The official Maserati website quotes a top speed of for the Bora 4.7 and for the Bora 4.9, although many sources give differing top speeds.

The first Boras were delivered to customers in late 1971, and only minor production changes were gradually phased in thereafter. About early 1974, front lids became hinged at front instead of rear, pop-up headlights showed rounded inside corners, and a rectangular black air-exit grille was added across the hood (similar to Pantera). From 1973, as the 4.7-litre engine had not been homologated in North America, US Bora models had air-pump emissions-equipped Super-Ghibli engines similar to those found in US-bound Ghiblis. Output was at 6,000 rpm, or less than the Euro-spec' derivative.

US safety-compliant front bumpers had to be added to meet US DOT safety legislation, on US-delivered cars, though many US Bora owners have subsequently retro-fitted the original Euro versions. Three years later, the 4.9-litre engine became standard on all Boras, displacement having been stroked from 85 to 89 mm, resulting in a size of 4,930 cc. With compression set at 8.75:1, output was increased by on the 4.7 with ( in Europe) at 5,500 rpm. Production ran from 1971 to 1978, with 564 cars built, 289 of which were 4.7s and the remaining 275 were 4.9s.

Maserati developed two Group 4 racing cars at the request of Thepenier, a French Maserati dealer. They were very competitive, but Maserati couldn't produce enough cars to meet the 500 road car homologation rule for Group 4 racing so the project was shelved.

The Bora was the basis for the Merak, which used the same bodyshell front clip but in a 2+2 configuration, made possible by using a smaller, lighter and less powerful Maserati V6 engine, also used in the Citroën SM. The Merak was popular, including the later modified and improved Merak SS, making its debut in 1981. Merak models had an opened rear engine-cover instead of the glass-enclosed and heavier cover of the Bora.

See also

*List of Maserati vehicles
* Maserati brothers

References

Further reading

*

External links

Bora

{{Maserati early timeline

Bora
Rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive vehicles
Sports cars
Cars introduced in 1971
Coupés