Maserati Merak Buyer's Guide

The Merak (1972–1983) is the junior mid-engined Maserati of the Citroën era: Giugiaro's Bora body with flying buttresses instead of a glazed tail, and a V6 in place of the V8. Our single sold result, £21,375 for a 1978 Merak SS in August 2026, buys a genuine Italian mid-engined exotic for the price of a well-optioned modern hatchback.

Know your versions

Three variants. The original Merak (1972 on) carries the 190hp 3.0-litre V6 developed from the Citroën SM engine, plus, on early cars, SM-derived hydraulics and instruments. The Merak SS (1976–1983) is the one to have: 220hp, less weight, and progressively less Citroën content as Maserati passed to De Tomaso ownership. The Merak 2000 GT (1977–1983) is the 170hp 2.0-litre tax-special built mainly for Italy, rare in the UK and the least valuable of the three. Our sold car is the desirable SS, a Tipo AM122/A.

What to pay

One result: £21,375 for a 1978 SS. That is the only number our data can offer, and it represents a driver-grade example of the best variant. With a single sale we will not construct tiers; we will simply note that the Merak has long trailed the V8 Bora in the market, and that at this money the gap between purchase price and restoration cost is wide enough that condition matters far more than variant.

What goes wrong

Early cars carry Citroën's high-pressure hydraulics for the brakes (and pop-up light actuation), which work beautifully when maintained by someone who understands them and are a specialist-only proposition when not; later SS cars simplified matters. The V6 is a strong unit with proper care but needs its timing chains, tensioners and carburettor balance kept up, and parts flow through a small number of specialists rather than a catalogue. Rust is the real killer: the box-section chassis structure, sills, floors and the area around the buttresses all corrode, and poor-quality seventies build means even dry cars need inspection on a lift. Interior trim and glass are scarce; a complete, unmolested car is worth a large premium over a cheaper project because so many pieces are effectively unobtainable.

Our view

At our £21,375 result the Merak SS is one of the cheapest routes to a proper mid-engined Italian exotic with real racing-marque lineage, and that mispricing will not survive scrutiny forever. It is a specialist car in a way a contemporary Porsche is not: buy the most complete, most documented SS you can find, budget honestly for the hydraulics and chains, and treat any rust as structural until proven cosmetic.