Maserati Bora and Iso Grifo - Why The Big Difference In Value?

by Mike - 

At the Palo Alto Concours d'Elegance recently a beautiful green 1973 Maserati Bora was parked next to a beautiful red 1974 Iso Grifo Series 2.

It started me thinking about why there is such a large gap in valuations between these two cars.

A 1973 Bora is valued in the mid-$60,000 range (for the 4.9 liter engine, the largest they offered) and a Series 2 Grifo is valued around the mid-$170,000 range (for the Corvette 327 cid engine) according to the Hagerty Price Guide. Both of these values are for condition one cars.

Also, a recent auction result and private sales suggests that the Grifo is significantly higher in value than the price guide number.

If you compare the specifications for these two cars they are very similar. The numbers below for the Grifo are for the standard 327 cid Corvette engine and not the Ford 351 engine that is in this particular Grifo, which is rare. I wanted to be fair and compare the Bora to most Grifos.

They are both exotic Italian, styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro; he did the Grifo at Bertone and the Bora at his own firm, Italdesign Giugiaro.

They both have powerful V8 engines, the Grifo has a Chevrolet Corvette and the Bora has a Maserati engine.

They both produce mid-300 hp and accelerate from zero to 60 MPH in about the same time of 6.5 seconds with a top speed of 160 MPH for the Bora and 163 MPH for the Grifo.

One difference is that the Grifo is front engine and the Bora is a mid-engine layout. Another difference is the size; the Bora is 170.4 inches long compared to the Grifo at 174.7 inches long, a difference of 4.3 inches. The Bora is 44.6 inches high and the Grifo is 47 inches high for a difference of 2.4 inches.

So, for the same performance the Grifo is likely a more comfortable ride.

There were 571 Boras made between 1971 and 1980 and 413 Grifos produced, including Series 1 and Series 2, between 1965 and 1974. It seems to me that this is not a big enough difference to cause such a large valuation difference.

The valuation difference cannot be seen in the numbers. Maybe the complexity of the Maserati alloy 4-cam engine compared to the relative simplicity of the Corvette engine has an affect.

But I think it just comes down to desirability and maybe the wedge like shape of the Bora is not as desirable as the Grifo style even though they were penned by the same brilliant designer.

They were designed on different days.

I have written about Maserati Bora For Sale and I have written several articles about Iso Grifo for sale here, here, here, here and here.

Click on the images for a larger view.

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