1975 Maserati Bora Coupe

Not long after France's Citroen took control of Italian race- and exotic-car maker Maserati in 1968, then administrator Guy Malleret suggested to Ing. Giulio Alferi the idea of producing a two-seat mid-engined sports car. Given a growing trend toward mid-engined sports cars, Alfieri had already given this concept a lot of thought and was delighted when Malleret gave him the green light.

Alfieri worked on the mechanicals while Ital Design's Giorgetto Giugiaro penned the beautiful body. Work began that October, the first prototype was running the following summer, and the production-ready Bora was the hit of the Geneva Auto Show in March, 1971. The longitudinally-mounted European-market 310-hp 4.7-liter four-cam V8 was replaced for US sale with a 320-hp emissions-controlled 4.9-liter V8 driving through a five-speed ZF transaxle. A total of 571 Boras (some sources say 524 or 530) were produced between 1971 and 1979.

While this beauty was built in 1977 and purchased in 1978, the original owner bought a set of European bumpers and converted it to pre-US bumper-law appearance as soon as it hit these shores. The current owner bought it in near-pristine condition with a bit over 1,000 miles on its clock, drove it to Michigan in 2005 and has done only minor restoration work on it since.