Maserati Boomerang | Designed With Just A Ruler

Words by Carlo Brema / Photos by Maserati

Each of us has a personal vision about the cars of their dreams, but what really are the so-called dream cars? Let’s start from the fact that dreaming is free – at least for now – so we immediately remove everything that keeps us tied to rationality, functionality and politically correct as well. A dream car is not just a supercar, but a vision, a fleeting glimpse into the future. Often referred to as concept cars precisely because they act as an ideal study bench to evaluate the reactions of critics and public and thus allow designers to smooth out the corners and perfect what will become the production models of a specific brand.

And speaking of angles and solutions that are nothing short of extreme, how can one not think of the whimsical pencil of master Giorgetto Giugiaro, who in 1971 took a Maserati Bora and transformed it into a model that was anything but rational, the Boomerang. In first place just an exercise in style, the following year it was revealed at the Geneva Motor Show as a real running car. In reality there was no intention of producing it, after all who would have had the guts to travel hundreds of kilometers holding the craziest steering wheel in the history of the automobile, but which nevertheless housed an airbag and provided a particular movement useful for guaranteeing safety for the driver in case of an accident. Only one was produced, but it marked history indelibly.

The Boomerang sported the classic wedge shape so dear to Giugiaro’s signature, taken up for example with the subsequent Maserati Merak, Lotus Esprit, but also the first Lancia Delta and Volkswagen Golf, just to name two models produced in huge numbers and which obtained enormous success. To define the lines of the Maserati concept, designed exclusively through the use of a ruler, we find a low and extremely angular car body, with door panels characterized by two glass surfaces (as on the 2018 McLaren Senna), pop-up headlights and specific wheels . The engine borrowed from the Bora, in fact perfectly capable of pushing the Boomerang at respectable speeds, is mounted in mid-rear position and it’s a 4,719 cc V8 grounding 310 horsepower on the rear wheels, claiming to reach 300 kph.

Coming back to the singular passenger compartment, there was wide space for driver and passenger, with a very bright cabin thanks to the large windows and immense and comfortable leather seats, while the dashboard could enjoy a clean line due to the fact that all the indicators were grouped together inside the steering wheel. Those were times when oddities of this type were not always understood, but looking at it 50 years later, one easily realizes the role and importance that a test bench of this kind has played in the development of global automotive design, with certainly less extreme lines and solutions, but which would soon be welcomed on numerous models, from sports cars to everyday cars. A dream car, or concept car, should not simply be seen as a vehicle, but rather as a sheet of paper on which lines have been drawn, a daydream that slowly takes shape and is preparing to define the stylistic language of a brand in the years to come. If after half a century an object like the Maserati Boomerang is still capable of surprising, imagine the sensation it caused in that distant 1972.