I love the Ghibli as much as anyone, but I thought it high time for a Bora picture thread. 1977 Bora #998 Red / Black (originally Celestial Blue / Mustard) Yeah I know the exhaust sucks. I have a Stebro, but am waiting on my stainless headers before installing. Lets see the others. Regards, Ron Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I don't know that I'd worry about the exhaust if it's originality that you're concerned about. The car has a lot of other bigger issues in that department. Are those MSW wheels? Bob S.
They were made by Compomotive. The original Campagnolos have the original Michelin type tires and are put on for car shows. What are the other "bigger issues"? Paint, interior, mirrors and modified bumpers I'm aware of and were done to the car prior to my purchase.
Interesting that when I owned my '73 BORA I noted that the styling Q's were strikingly similar to my '69 Mangusta. Yup, loose the wheels and Porsche flag mirrors. I think the stock exhaust on the BORA has one of the sweetest notes of ANY exotic.
Well you have to go to non-original wheels these days if you want decent tires. I don't consider the 215/70 XWXs decent, just original and expensive. Mirrors aren't supposed to be painted. They are the correct ones for a late Bora though. Spoiler is an add on from the Merak but a number of people did that to Boras. The chin and spoiler are supposed to be black on late Boras. This helps to reduce the "thick" look of the car. As does the black rocker panels except on black or dark cars. The rear lower exhaust valence always made these cars look heavy but they did come painted like that. Satin black also helps in this location. The color doesn't look correct but maybe that's just a digital camera/my monitor thing. The period Maserati red was more orange and frankly not that attractive. I have the original exhaust on mine and it's just plain steel, painted silver, single outlet on each side. There's nothing fancy about the original system and it's heavy as hell. The Stebro system won't be any more correct than what I see in the photos as it's stainless but that makes more sense than plain steel. So what are the sizes of of your wheels and tires? Bob S.
Wheels & tires... Wheels are 16X8 front and 16X10 rear. Tires are 225/55-16 on the front and 255/50-16 on the rear and improve both the ride and handling immensely. I went with 16s over 17s for looks. I think older cars look a bit weird with large rims, but that is just me. 17s would have allowed me to put a tire on the car with a similar rolling diameter as the originals although I wouldn't have been able to go quite so wide in the rear w/o rubbing issues. It is nearly impossible to find performance tires in 15". The Michelins and Pirelli P4000's are all I've ever found to fit the original Campagnolos. Paint... I also don't believe the paint is a Maserati code. I'd consider it "resale red" and was likely done many years ago when it got some damage to the passenger rear quarter panel. Paint will shine up nicely though does have some chips here and there. Whoever, painted it was thorough because it is red everywhere (inside quarter panels, inside door frames, everywhere that I can find). Thanks for the info on the paint. Knew most of that, but do have one question. Would the inside of the trunk and rear bonnet have been body color or black. All Bora I've see are resprays and were done in body color. I am likely to have it painted over the winter, back to original color. Also needs new mousehair. Unlikely to go back to mustard on the interior due to expense. Exhaust... Motivation for the Stebro is that the original system is pretty shot. The chrome sleeves were put over the original outlets which are rusted. Someone removed the resonators and welded extensions when they installed euro headers, so I'll have to have custom connectors made once I get the Stainless headers from Jacques. Regards, Ron
Bora # 1046 next to last production car. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
On the late Boras the rear bonnet and the area around those funny storage compartments (one with the coolant reservoir) are supposed to be black. They weren't finished very well. If fact the engine compartments on all Boras suck as they come from the factory. When I restored mine I did it in a semi gloss Imron black and that worked very nicely for maintenance. Earlier Boras were body color and IMHO more elegant. My front trunk is all body color on the lid with the black diamond pattern plastic pad inset, the rest is pretty much all carpet. A word about headers. The pipe from the headers to the exhaust runs damn close to the CV boots. That's why in stock form they're insulated and them spiral wrappped in aluminum strip that's welded. Don't skimp on this part. It took me a long time to figure out that I was overheating and exploding them due to inflation of the CV boots from the heat of these pipe. My CV joints are now vented to prevent inflation. You need to insulate here if you drive the car hard for more than 5 minutes. When driven flat out after 10 mintes the headers will glow cherry red on this car. That wreaks a lot of havoc with just aboiut everthing in the engine compartment. I used to drive mine pretty much flat out for an hour at a time in Nevada so I've seen what happens. The original color on your car is very nice. There was just one on Ebay like that. Modern big open wheels would look silly on this car with it's small rotors and calipers. The stock brakes are plenty strong enough if a bit touchy at low speeds. I've had mine on the track with shaved track tires and never had any braking issues. Have fun ... ! Bob S.
Here are 3 more Boras: #222 is still with its 1st. owner in Germany and was recently restored. One of the very rare Boras that rolled out of the Factory in white! #240 is in ice-blue, completly restored and for sale by a dealer in Germany. #298 is currently located in Switherland. Also totally restored but unfortunately fitted with non-original wheels. Ciao! Walter Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Interesting that when I owned my '73 BORA I noted that the styling Q's were strikingly similar to my '69 Mangusta. Its funny you say that, from the door pillars to the nose they are pretty identical...Giugiaro was big on that kind of styling!!
Here's one I took at this years Le Belle Macchine d'Italia. Joe, is this one yours? I thought you sold yours? Bill Image Unavailable, Please Login
Was the chin spoiler a factory add or were they only on the Merak and people subsequently added them to the Bora? I personally think the cars look better without.
Last time I checked that one still belongs to Jerry Kaye. That's his Countach next to it in the other picture as well. Bob S.
Now that's probably tough to definitively nail down but If you wanted one I can't see the factory refusing it as an option. I guess you'd have to have a build sheet with it listed as an option or find verified pictures of the factory delivering one with it in place. Lots of people added them. In stock configuration the car wanders at high speed. Just enough to make you a bit nervous but quite still drive-able. Effective air flow and down force are not one of the Bora's hallmarks ... So that's the motivation. I've seen even bigger front spoilers and that term was very apt on those cars. Bob S
I actually like the third car. Maybe it's just the photo? Do you have any more pictures of those wheels?
Beautiful car. I believe I prefer the cars w/o the front spoiler. Have you ever received any build data information. I got it from MIE and my build date for #998 was April 1978. This appears accurate as much of the glass in the car is listed with 3/78 manufacture dates. Yours must have been later. Is it listed as a 1977?
Those wheels came from POSTERT TUNING in Germany (ITALIA-MASERATI). The company does not exist anymore. Ciao! Walter
Here is a photo I was sent of the factory registry book. # 1046 was built on the same day as the last car # 1048 owned by forum member Bob Staaterman - staatsof Joe Image Unavailable, Please Login
Nice thread, Bora is one of my favouites, I was asked to exhibit my Pantera at a classic car show recently and there was a yellow Bora 4.9 there too. I had a quick drive in the car, could not believe how good it was inside, so comfortable, great driving position and seats, it had a stock exhaust but sounded wonderful. I ended up fixing a fuel leak I spotted when looking at the engine, the guy had driven 220 miles with fuel leaking!! More pictures would be great Steve
Yeah I thought so. I met them in 1994 at the international meet at Cortina and I remember they had some nice looking wheels on a Bora and Khamsin that were there. I kind of thought they were BBS based? Bob S.
Bob, this is the Postert-owned BORA (#117.666). The car is very modified. Ciao! Walter Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
This two BORA share the same (!!) chassisnumber #117.158. The factory records states it as build in silver with black interior. The silver car is located in Germany while the blue car is in the USA and clearly bears also the original stamping #117.158! I leave it up to you folks, for your opininons.........! Ciao! Walter Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login