MASERATI BOOMERANG

The Maserati Boomerang was first displayed as a non-functional model at the Turin Motor 5how in 1971. By the Geneva show in March 1972, it had been transformed into a fully operational vehicle. The mechanics were borrowed from Maserati, the engine being the race-bred 4.7-litre V8, developing no less than 310 bhp and good for an indicated top speed of 300 kph. One journalist observed it looked as though it was doing a hundred miles an hour standing still! It was then, until 1974, successively shown at the Paris, London and Barcelona motor shows and was unanimously praised for its audacity. Unlike now, it was not uncommon for manufacturers and coachbuilders to sell their concept cars when they had served their purpose. Thus, after the Barcelona show, the Boomerang remained in Spain and was eventually sold to a night club owner in Benidorm. The present owner discovered it there during a holiday trip in 1980 and could not resist the temptation of buying it, for he has first seen the car eight years earlier and was only able to purchase a model of it. After a careful restoration, it re-appeared for the first time in the 1990 Bagatelle Concours in Paris, where Giorgetto Giugiaro was a judge and proudly hand-signed the rear panel. Since, the Boomerang has been invited to all the major events in the world and has deservedly won numerous awards, including in Pebble Beach. Indeed, the fourth sports car concept introduced by the young Italdesign after its inception also proved to be the most influential. Its unforgettable wedgeshaped body was the inspiration for some small series Maseratis, for the Lotus Esprit which, nearly thirty years after its launch is still being produced and significantly, for the hugely popular Golf 1 that VW had asked Ciugiaro to pen and was marketed in 1974. It is extremely rare that a one-off masterpiece such as this, a fully engineered work of art with its unique pedigree, reaches the market. Following the Cisitalia in the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Lotus in the Moderna Musect in Stockholm, the Boomerang would deserve a place in a museum; it would certainly enhance any collection in the world.