Maseratis were created "for spring breezes and laughing summer days," as the exotic Italian automaker delightfully put it. The 1972-83 Maserati Meraks certainly fit that description.

Maserati is regaining its reputation as a desirable exotic Italian sports cars since returning to the U.S. market in 2002 after a 12-year absence. Before leaving, financial and management problems led its cars to become decidedly inferior to the exciting ones it once sold and successfully raced, with victories over archrival Ferrari.

Maseratis looked so bland in the 1980s that one Chicago area Ferrari-Maserati dealer said people came to his dealership, stood alongside a Maserati, and asked, "Where are the Maseratis?"

Car buffs and collectors are happy about Maserati's comeback because an automaker's collectible cars generally are worth more if it's making current models.

One of the best-selling collectible Maseratis was the 1972-83 Merak. A low-slung, mid-engine sports car, it was the last racy Maserati sold here for a long time. It was followed by fast, but boxy and troublesome models. One was the $52,975 228 coupe I tested in 1989. It was sloppily assembled and I wrote that Maserati "must come up with sleeker styling and better quality control. Many might wonder if the 228 is worth the money." That car now is valued at $9,000.

If in very good shape, the 1971-76 Merak is worth $16,100, with the nearly identical 1977-83 "SS" version at $19,600. In short, you can almost steal a Merak at those prices because most Maserati collectors go after such models as the 1960s 3500GT, 1960s-70s Ghibli and 1970s Bora.

The 1971-80 Bora was Maserati's first production car with a race-style mid-engine layout. The Merak arrived a year after the Bora.

Maserati planned two versions of its first mid-engine road car when starting work on it in 1968. The Merak thus shared the Bora's basic styling, chassis, suspension, steering, hydraulic brakes and forward structure ahead of the roof pillars behind the doors. Major differences in and behind the Merak's cockpit gave the car its unique character.

For instance, the Bora's rear hatch and triangular glassed-in side windows were replaced in the Merak by a flat engine cover with decorative "flying buttress" that carried the roofline down to the tail to give it a fastback profile.

The costlier $26,900 Bora had a mighty 280-335 horsepower V-8, while the lighter $19,975 Merak had a smaller V-6 with 180-182 horsepower for the U.S. market. Both used a five-speed manual transmission.

Maserati was sold by Italy's Orsi family to France's Citroen automaker in 1968 -- a sale that gave often-cash-starved Maserati more money to create new models. Maserati developed the new 3-liter V-6 used in the Merak for Citroen's sporty SM coupe. The dual-overhead-camshaft V-6 was more compact than the Bora V-8 and thus allowed the Merak to have two small rear seats.

The Bora was much faster than the Merak, although the Merak had the same wheelbase as the Bora and shared a lot with it. Still, the Merak was less expensive than the Bora, when even a few thousand dollars was a big hunk of money. The Merak's acceleration was lively enough. It did 0-60 mph in 8.2 seconds and could hit 135 mph.

The Merak was more suited to speed-limited U.S. driving than the ferocious 163-mph Bora. It looked as racy and stopped as well as the Bora, and its lighter weight gave it nimbler handling.

A reminder of the unusual Citroen-Maserati affiliation was the Merak's initial use of the sporty Citroen SM's steering wheel and instrument panel with its offbeat oval gauges. When Citroen and Maserati split in the mid-1970s, the Merak got a proper four-spoke wheel and a new Italian exotic-car-style instrument panel with round gauges.

The Merak wasn't changed much through the end of 1975, but the modified SS version then arrived when Italian car builder Alejandro de Tomaso took control of Maserati that year. Citroen components were eliminated from the SS version, which got the Bora's superior transmission and conventional brakes. Handling was improved with wider wheels and tires, and a front spoiler provided improved high-speed stability.

The Bora vanished in 1980 after 571 were sold, but the Merak continued through 1983. The Merak put a Maserati within reach of more exotic sports car buyers here and was one of the automaker's best sellers. A total of 1,699 Meraks and 277 SS versions were sold, not counting 133 Meraks with a smaller 2-liter engine for Italian buyers only.

More SS versions probably could have been sold in America, but Maserati had a sporadic presence here for years after 1975. Also, surging fuel prices and inflation that helped lift the price of the SS to $40,550 in the early 1980s didn't help.