Concept cars are always some of the most intriguing creations from car manufacturers. Very rarely do the concept cars ever look like what is actually made. Most of the time, the radical concepts we see before us are never even put into production, in any way, shape or form. Despite this, though, we do get some concept cars that are truly memorable. And there are some that are incredibly remarkable, yet time seems to have allowed them to fade from our memory. One of these is the rather insane Maserati Boomerang.

The Boomerang was a concept supercar from Maserati that was shown to the world at the 1971 Turin Motor Show. And it’s a car that many people might simply have never heard of before. But the car was built, and even more remarkably, the Boomerang still exists today. A few years ago, the car sold for $3.7 million at auction, highlighting how much of a collector's item this extraordinary car had become. This then is the story of this intriguing and radical looking car, a concept car that many of us may have never known existed.

The Design Of The Boomerang

1972_Maserati_Boomerang front quarter view
via Supercars

The Boomerang was the design of the legendary Giorgetto Giugiaro of Italdesign. Giugiaro had for a few years been the chief designer over at Fiat, but he was seeking greater freedom and then moved to join Carrozzeria Bertone to head its styling department. He would ultimately move again to found Italdesign, and the Boomerang would be a product of both Giugiaro and Italdesign. What was crafted was a wedge-shaped icon, a car that would characterize many of Giugiaro’s designs over the years. Traces of the car would appear in the Volkswagen Golf, the Lancia Delta and even the Fiat Panda.

Maserati Boomerang Top Down View
via Bonhams

The Boomerang had incredibly sharp angles, and its wedge shape would seen become even more popular on cars such as the Lamborghini Countach and the Lotus Esprit. Unlike those cars, however, Maserati never actually intended for the Boomerang to be put into production. Right from the word go, Maserati saw the Boomerang as a show car, to really showcase itself and say “this is the sort of thing that we can produce”. But don’t be fooled into thinking that this was just a mockup. Because the Boomerang was very much a road legal, fully functioning Maserati.

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Under The Hood Of The Boomerang

Maserati Boomerang Front View
via Wikipedia

Maserati gave the new car a 4.7-liter V8 engine that had been sourced from the recently introduced Maserati Bora coupe. The Bora was Maserati’s first mid-engined production car. It offered some 310 hp, which meant the Boomerang was a fast car. Its top speed of 186 mph puts it right up there with many cars from today, so for a pure show car, the performance was mighty impressive. Giugiaro had also styled the body of the Bora, so it was a nice touch for himself to have the engine from that car in this special creation.

Maserati Boomerang Interior
via Your Sydney Mate

If you thought the exterior was futuristic, though, then the interior offers something else entirely. The steering wheel rotated around the instrument cluster and switch gear in the car, making it look more like something from a space ship or fighter jet. The dash had a swooping like design, and the driving position was quite laid back. These features were considered quite advanced for the time, and the way the steering wheel rotates around the instruments is certainly something you don’t see on modern production cars. Maserati really went all out with the Boomerang, and it shows too.

The Boomerang’s Life After Turin

Maserati Boomerang Side Quarter View
via HobbyDB

Following on from its Turin debut, the car had a bit of a nomadic life. It appeared at the Geneva Auto Salon in March 1972, and then Maserati would take the car around the world and displayed it quite regularly. It was sold to a private collector in Spain during the 1970s, and was then sold again in 1980 to a German Maserati enthusiast who had the car restored in his ownership. Furthermore, it then made several concours appearances, such as at the Bagatelle Concours in Paris in 1990, where Giugiaro himself was a judge and he signed the back of the car. Its been all around the world, even appearing at Pebble beach, and underwent a refreshment of the previous restoration in the UK in 2002 after again changing hands.

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A Huge Sale At Auction

1972 Maserati Boomerang Auction
via Bonhams

Most remarkably, the Boomerang is still a road-legal car, and was sold by Bonhams back in 2015 for some $3.7 million. The car had prior to that been living in France and was re-registered for road usage. As auction pieces go, the Boomerang must have been the highlight that day as it is such an unusual car, and it is almost a miracle that the Boomerang still exists to this day. The car is still in France and road-registered, and long may it continue to be so. The world very much deserves to have the Boomerang still in existence, as it is a reminder of just how unbelievably crazy concept cars can be.

Sources: Bonhams, Supercars, HobbyDB, Your Sydney Mate, Wikipedia