1979 Maserati Merak SS - Value

October 2006 issue of CPI shows:


1977-81 Merak Coupe SS
Fair = $ 9800
Excellent = $ 31500
Good = $ 17500

Have you spoken with Kerry at Maserati Club International? His phone is:
253-833-2598

Good luck

Mike
'02 Maserati GT Coupe

 

$15,000 for a 78 SS with 24K miles. I'm repairing the clutch and checking the Synchros.

 

Thats mine:
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You can test the quality of bodywork by using a paint thickness gauge, which will measure the the distance between the top layer of paint and the metal. Factory paint for a car this new will yield a reading of 15 mills or less (probably closer to 8-10 mills). 15-20 mils signals repaint. Anything over 30-40 mils means a lot of bondo.

I've had good success using Elcometer and eXacto gauges.

http://www.gardco.com/pages/film_thickness/dry_film/exacto.html

 

great looking Merak!!

 

+1!!

Is it lowered as well? Looks great.

 

Yes, a little! The BBS-wheels were on the market in the early 80ies but unfortunately out of the market today! People offered me a fortune for those as they are very sought after!

We put about 100 kilogramm of weight out of the car. For this we replaced the rear bonnnet by one made from kevlar and the front one was replaced by one made of fiber!

The car goes very well for a MERAK SS and after stiffened the suspension I outperform any BORA on a circuit.

The car gave me lots of fun!

Ciao!
Walter

 

i enjoyed my merak ss during my ownership. maint free during that time w/ the exception of the throttle cable case melting down thus having the need to replace...everything else was fine. they are great machines and are sexy, sexy to look at!

i replaced my ss w/ a bora which was also a tremendous car. the bora is the car i wish i still had...alot of car!!!!! too bad maser has no longer the interest in making cars that are as sexy as those from the 70's!!!

pcb

 

As a newbie to Masers, what is the difference between the Merak SS & the Bora???

 

Two quick differences:
One is a V-8 in the Bora vs V-6 in Meraks.
Two is that there were only @500 Boras vs more Meraks.

Front half of Meraks and Boras are similar (exact?).
Both are beautiful and timeless shapes!

 

i have had both. as stated the front end to the trailing edge of the door are the same. The only exception are the wheels and the stainless steel roof treatment on the bora. the interior is a bit more swanky and the dash board on all boras were the same whereas the merak had a citroen styled dash on the early cars and then went to the bora "airplane cockpit style" dash for the later ss cars. likewise, the bora had high pressure hydrulic brakes during the entire production run. the merak aslo used the same citroen hydrulics but like the dash, was also changed to a better less sensitive system in the ss cars.

mechanically, the bora has the lovely 4.7 or 4.9 liter v-8...what a motor!!! the rear of the bora also has a boxer like rear clam shell that is super cool but probably not as pretty as the delicate rear treatment for the merak.

they are both sexy cars and make you drop your jaw when / if your are lucky to see a nice one on the road. they are both great drivers and i always found it sad that these cars were never loved by the masses like the ferrari and lambo cars of similar era.

the merak ss is not quite as good a performer as the 308 and the bora is not quite up to the boxer standard. they are however better executed cars and to my mind, maser has not made a nice car since the merak or the bora. the days of the exotic gt's are gone so get these cars while you can!

i say many times, i should have kept my bora and my friends always say they should have bought my merak ss.

 

I gotta say I prefer the flyin buttress style of the SS over the Bora back end. To me, while the Bora is a better performer, I would prefer an SS. Both great cars though.
BT

 

Agreed. The only thing I never liked about the SS is the jump seats in the back.

 

...was thrown out of mine! but are very good for storage. Better than a Bora!

Ciao!
Walter

 

Hmmm.....at these prices, I wonder if you owners would consider these to be a good 'entry exotic'? The styling is fantastic!!!

 

Walter do you know what the wheel stud specifics are? Is it something like 114.3 5h or does it use only 4 stud (114.3 4h)?

 

Dunn`no...`! Have to check - but the car is rurrently with my mechanic. We had a battery-problem.

Ciao!
Walter

 

So buy a cheap Merak needing engine work, next buy and old Qportte..do a transplant. Voila...Borak!?