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Category: Highlight

  • The Maserati Bora, the brand’s first mid-engine car, turns 50 years old

    As Maserati prepares to launch the mid-engine MC20, one of that car’s ancestors is celebrating its golden anniversary. The Maserati Bora debuted 50 years ago as the Italian automaker’s first mid-engine road car.

    Maserati had built race cars with the engine behind the driver, but the Bora brought that idea to the automaker’s road-car line when it debuted at the Geneva motor show on March 11, 1971, the automaker noted in a press release. Maserati was playing catch up, as the mid-engine Lamborghini Miura had debuted, in concept form, six years earlier.

    The engine, which was mounted under a carpeted floor to create luggage space, was a 4.7-liter V-8 that produced 310 hp (a 4.9-liter engine was added later). The longitudinally mounted V-8 drove the rear wheels through a 5-speed manual transmission. Maserati quoted a top speed of 174 mph.

    1971 Maserati Bora

    1971 Maserati Bora

    The Giorgetto Giugiaro-designed Bora was also the first Maserati road car with four-wheel independent suspension, and also sported disc brakes which were still not a given at the time.

    Maserati built 564 Boras through the end of production in 1978. A year after the Bora’s debut, Maserati introduced the Merak, another mid-engine car with Giugiaro-penned bodywork. While it had a V-6 instead of the Bora’s V-8, the Merak proved more successful, staying in production until the early 1980s. Maserati wouldn’t launch another mid-engine road car until the MC12 in 2005.

    The automaker is now trying again with the MC20, which sports butterfly doors, a carbon-fiber chassis and body panels, and a claimed top speed of 202 mph. The engine is Maserati’s new Nettuno 3.0-liter twin-turbo V-6, which uses Formula One technology to develop 621 hp and 538 pound-feet of torque. The MC20 will debut as a coupe, with spider and all-electric versions following later, Maserati said during the car’s unveiling last year.

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  • Jay Leno drops the top on a 1967 Hoffman Citroen 2CV convertible

    The Citroën 2CV (or Deux Chevaux) is France’s equivalent to the Ford Model T or Volkswagen Beetle—an iconic car built in massive numbers that helped mobilize an entire nation. Of the millions of 2CVs built between 1948 and 1990, this one stands out thanks to an aftermarket convertible, err, conversion. This episode of Jay Leno’s Garage has the full story on this unusual car.

    Jay Leno’s Garage fans wanted a video on this car after seeing it in the background of other videos. This 2CV was modified by Wolfgang Hoffman with a fiberglass body that attached to the existing chassis, not unlike Meyers Manx dune buggy conversions. The idea was to make the 2CV a little fancier, Jay says. The 2CV was developed before World War II, but the war delayed the start of production until 1948. The car is largely credited with mobilizing rural France during that postwar period.

    The bodywork may be different, but the Hoffman 2CV is mechanically stock, meaning it’s powered by an air-cooled 2-cylinder engine making as little as 26 hp. That tiny engine drives the front wheels. The 2CV also features long-travel suspension that, according to legend, was designed for driving through farmers’ fields.

    1967 Hoffman Citroën 2CV on Jay Leno's Garage

    1967 Hoffman Citroën 2CV on Jay Leno’s Garage

    Leno acquired this car from a United Nations ambassador, who had stored it in Southern California for about 20 years. While it didn’t require a full restoration, a lot of work still went into making this convertible roadworthy.

    The 2CV was mechanically sound, with good paint and bodywork, but had also become a home for mice, Leno explains. It had to be fumigated and cleaned, which seemed to be a more difficult process than the minor mechanical work needed to get it running again.

    Other iconic “people’s cars,” such as the VW Beetle, Fiat 500, and Mini Cooper, have gotten modern reinterpretations, but Citroën has said it won’t do a modern 2CV. The automaker is now part of the Stellantis conglomerate, but is unlikely to make a return to the U.S. anytime soon. Stellantis recently dropped plans to bring sibling brand Peugeot back to the U.S.

    Check out the full video for the complete story on this car, and to see Jay drive it in the streets of Los Angeles.

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  • Rare 2014 Falcon F7 supercar for sale

    From Vector to Saleen to SSC, many startups have tried to take on the European establishment with American supercars. One of the most recent was Detroit-based Falcon Motorsports. One of the handful of 2014 Falcon F7 supercars the company built is now up for auction on Cars and Bids.

    Falcon Motorsports started out with body kits and other modifications for the Dodge Viper, before attempting its own car. The F7 was unveiled at the 2012 Detroit auto Show with a $250,000 price tag.

    That price bought a mid-mounted LS7 7.0-liter V-8 tuned to produce 620 hp and 585 lb-ft of torque. The engine drove the rear wheels through a Ricardo 6-speed manual transaxle, while carbon-fiber bodywork and an aluminum interior tub kept the curb weight down to 2,785 pounds. The car also featured a hydroformed tube frame chassis, with Corvette-derived suspension components.

    2014 Falcon F7 (Photo by Cars and Bids)

    2014 Falcon F7 (Photo by Cars and Bids)

    The company quoted a 0-60 mph time of 3.3 seconds, with a top speed of 200 mph.

    Falcon Motorsports planned to build up to 20 cars annually, but ultimately only seven were made, with one subsequently destroyed, according to the seller. This is the third car. It was displayed at the 2014 Detroit auto show, and featured on a second-season episode of the television show “How It’s Made: Dream Cars,” the seller noted.

    The F7 is listed as having just 3,300 miles. The seller said the clutch and an axle shaft were recently replaced, and the engine was retuned. Given its ubiquity, that LS-series V-8 should be easier to maintain than the more exotic engines in other supercars, but you’re still unlikely to see another Falcon F7 at the local cars and coffee event.

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