SPARK S5425 Maserati Bora 1971 %

Spark — S5425 | Maserati Bora (1971)

Premiered at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1971, the Maserati Bora (Tipo 117) represented a historic milestone for the Trident marque as its first-ever production mid-engine sports car. Penned by Giorgetto Giugiaro of Italdesign, its clean, wedge-shaped profile stood out with a distinctive brushed stainless-steel roof and A-pillars, paired with pop-up headlamps and sleek proportions. Benefiting from Maserati's ownership under Citroën at the time, the Bora innovatively incorporated advanced high-pressure hydraulics to operate the ventilated disc brakes, retractable headlights, and the hydraulically adjustable pedal box.

Mounted longitudinally behind the cockpit on a rubber-isolated subframe to minimize noise and harshness, the all-aluminum 4.7-liter (4,719 cc) quad-cam V8 breathed through four twin-choke Weber 42 DCNF carburetors. It produced 310 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 461 Nm (340 lb-ft) of torque, channeled to the rear wheels through a 5-speed ZF transaxle manual gearbox. Featuring fully independent double-wishbone suspension at all four corners—another first for a road-going Maserati—the Bora brilliantly merged long-distance Grand Touring refinement with supercar performance, accelerating from 0 to 100 km/h in roughly 6.5 seconds on its way to a 270 km/h (168 mph) top speed.