Maserati has regained its old racy reputation in America with fast, exciting cars in recent years. One of its best such autos was the 1971-80 Bora, which was its first mid-engine road car and let Maserati enter the new world of mid-engine production sports cars.

Maserati built a few successful mid-engine sports/racing cars in the early 1960s. None was suitable for road use, but they gave the automaker experience with designing fast mid-engine autos.

The Bora got its unusual name from a powerful transalpine wind blowing from the Italian inland toward the Adriatic. It was designed after French automaker Citroen bought a controlling interest in Maserati in 1968 -- mostly for its engines -- and gave it lots of development money. A new Maserati V-6 soon was put in Citroen's futuristic 1970-75 SM coupe.

The relatively short-lived Franco-Italian relationship was partially cut short by the 1973-74 energy crisis in America, which hurt the SM's market and prompted Citroen to leave America. But not before Citroen provided Maserati with the financial means to let it replace its aging front-engine Ghibli sports car with the Bora, which had the race-car-style mid-engine design that had become all the rage -- with the engine behind the driver but ahead of the rear wheels for optimum handling.

Maserati was late to the mid-engine market when the Bora debuted at the 1971 Geneva, Switzerland, auto show because Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche and Lotus mid-engine sports cars were already showing there was a viable market for them. But never mind. The Bora was a hands-down winner. It had a sleek, aggressively muscular body by Italian styling master Giorgio Giugiaro, who had styled the fabulous-looking Ghibli while at Ghia.

The Bora is one of those classic, exotic Italian sports cars that still turns heads. Its coupe body had flowing curves with a short pointy nose, concealed headlights, bulging bodysides, sloping fastback roofline, neatly upswept door windows, triangular rear windows and a sharply cut-off tail. The car had a squat, powerful stance and clearly featured a modern mid-engine design.

The comfortable Bora let occupants easily converse at 150 mph. It was remarkably refined and practical, with uncanny stability and serenity on roads. The roomy, high-quality interior's supportive seats were suitable for long, fast journeys. An up-front cargo area had room for at least one large suitcase and another smaller cargo area was under the rear hatch atop the engine cover. The large spare tire was in the tail behind the engine.

The Bora had Maserati's durable and docile dual-overhead-camshaft 4.7-liter, 310-horsepower V-8. It had a great racing heritage but was easy to assemble and maintain. It drove the rear wheels through a five-speed ZF manual transaxle (combination transmission and axle) similar to the one in Ford's GT40 winning sports/racing cars.

The quick rack-and-pinion steering needed no power assist because of the car's rear-weight bias. An all-independent suspension provided a smooth ride and superb handling. The two-seater wasn't especially light at 3,350-3,570 pounds, but it hit 60 mph in 6.5 seconds and could top 170 mph. Second gear was good for 80 mph.

Powerful four-wheel disc brakes were actuated by Citroen's unique high-pressure hydraulics system, which also actuated the standard power seats and then-unusual adjustable pedals. The adjustable seats, pedals and a tilt/telescopic steering wheel let drivers of all sizes get comfortable, which wasn't the case with some mid-engine cars.

The Bora went on sale in Europe shortly after after its Geneva premiere for $25,500, but new U.S. safety and emissions standards caused slow Bora sales here for several years. The 1973-74 Arab oil embargo hurt sales of all fast exotic foreign cars, and the Bora wasn't inexpensive, with a price that had risen to $26,900.

Maserati put a larger (4.9-liter) version of the Bora V-8 in the car from 1975 to 1980 to cope with power-robbing emissions standards. Horsepower was rated at 320, then dropped to a conservatively estimated 280. Still, the Bora could hit 60 mph in 7.2 seconds and top 160 mph.

Maserati ran into financial problems again in the mid-1970s after Citroen left it. But versatile Italian automaker Alejandro de Tomaso came to its rescue and kept Bora production going, although the car got no improvements. The price had risen to $39,900 by 1978, but production continued until 1980.

A total of 571 Boras were sold -- a solid number for a small, specialized automaker with recurrent financial problems.

A Bora is valued at $35,000 if in good condition and at $63,000 if in excellent shape. That's bargain money for a rare, exotic Italian thoroughbred in today's overpriced collector car market.