Hi Guys- I have been watching this thread for a while as I have been looking for a Merak. I got an educated opinion and bought a 1980 Merak ss. It seemed like it was in pretty good shape but has been stored for 10 or 15 years and hasn't been driven for 5-10 years. It has 38,000 miles on it and the VIn # is mca2103aa222804. It is a USA car and was originally from Florida but is located in the Northeast. I am in the middle of restoring a Dino 246gt and I cant really get into this car until Sept or October. I am pretty excited about it though. I will likely start off by buying the factory repair manual or whatever sourcebook that some of the experts here might advise. I intend to do most of the work myself and the first thing that I will change will be the bumpers to the euro version and remove the rectangular reflectors that were federally mandated. I don't really care if I make money or not as I bought it for the fun of restoring it. Please take a look & see what you think! Thanks Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Congrats! The car looks very nice. But please check the VIN again - it must start with AM122...... Ciao! Walter
Two weeks ago - Euro SS. Don't know VIN, but will by end of next week. Image Unavailable, Please Login
During August/Sept of 1980 the coding changed to ZAMCA. AM122.A.US.2730 [Sept-1980] & ZAMCA-2736 [August-1980] Here in the States anyway all the Meraks were coded ZAMCA from then on. Ciao, George
AM122.A.US.2730 [Sept-1980] & ZAMCA-2742 [October-1980]. That's more like it. Would be interesting to narrow it down even further. BTW, all VINs ending in even #s were bound for the US market till the end of the 1980 production run, by all of the available data. The factory says other wise. Go figure. Ciao, George
That Merak sure does look strange. For example, it has no rear lights, no grills on the open hood, no rear posts, missing parts in the engine bay, etc. I'm guessing some parts were melted by the fire, but some parts must be missing from before the fire.
Hi Maserati Blue The Merak was on it's way to the paintshop, and the owner dismantled lights, bumpers, buttresses, and a lot of the other trims. None of this parts was damaged in the fire. The seats, doors panels, and some other trim was also out of the car, but there is some damage to trim on the firewall, steering wheel and instrument pod. The car lit fire while it was driven up on the trailer, and the fire brigade used water to extinguish the fire. The VIN is AM122A1334, and I think the car was sold new in Switzerland and then imported to US when it was fairly new. It was imported to Norway last year, and got the Norwegian license plates in September. I bought the car from the unlucky owner, and picked it up last night (a nine hour drive). I'll do some rust protection on it this week, but it will stay in my dry storage until the winter. This summer I'll enjoy AM122US2444, that was imported last spring from US. Kind regards Marius Sorteberg Image Unavailable, Please Login
My documentation shows that AM122A1334 is a European Merak from 1976. Are you going to restore the car or are you going to keep it for spare parts?
Thanks! The registration papers also show that it's a 1976 model. It will be restored. The car has no, or very little rust, and the parts I will need can be sourced from rusty US Meraks that nobody seams to want to restore. It's not that many Euro SSs in nice condition in the marked, and the few ones are expensive. It may be a thread covering the restoration here on Mchat in the fall. Ciao Marius
Sounds great! I agree that you can easily find US Meraks for parts, they are so ugly... Maybe you can re-create the Merak Turbo from the Panini museum!
No, it will be completely original. The engine is not damaged, except the plastic parts. The engine and gearbox needs to be split for inspection and new gaskets, but was working fine before the fire. Ciao Marius
>>> sorry for the late response...it was never a UK car the PO liked the UK plate & put it on. The plate,bumpers ,side markers will all be removed when I get to restoring the car in the Fall. Stay tuned!!
What a shot! Your Merak SS looks perfect. Water fountain - nice touch. Keep up the great work. Watch out world - here come the Meraks. Ciao, George
fantastic car, fantastic surroundings but really ugly bumpers, they should be forbidden this is mine Image Unavailable, Please Login
The sports car club held this season's first outdoor meeting on Thursday, with several Maseratis attending. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. Ciao, George Image Unavailable, Please Login
