Shortly after Citroën took a controlling interest in Maserati in 1968, the concept of a mid-engined two-seat sports car was proposed. Lamborghini and De Tomaso already had the Miura and Mangusta whilst Ferrari were known to be developing their own mid-engined contender. Maserati took a two pronged approach, initially offering the Bora in 1971 and a year later the Merak, which used the same bodyshell front as the Bora but in a 2+2 configuration.
Bora
Merak
On the Merak the roof body line was continued to the rear with open flying buttresses instead of the glass-enclosed and heavier rear of the Bora.
Merak
The Bora was powered by a Maserati V8 while the Merak substituted an all new Maserati designed quad-cam V-6 motor (also shared with the Citroën SM) for the Bora’s larger V-8, resulting not only in a lower cost, but room for a small backseat and better handling due to lower weight and a better front/rear weight distribution.
While only 564 Boras were produced, Maserati built 1817 Meraks between 1972-1982. There were 3 types of dashboards that were fitted; The SM’s dashboard was only used in the Merak from 1972 to 1975, when the company was under control of Citroën.
1st version “SM” Merak dash
The 2nd version, the “Square dashboard”, came with the Merak SS after Maserati was under the control of De Tomaso in 1975. This dashboard was also used in the Merak 2000 in two variants; one with Jaeger dials and the other with Veglia dials.
2nd version Merak dash
The 3rd type of dashboard that appeared in the Merak was from the Bora.
3rd version “Bora” Merak dash
For more info on the Merak see: https://www.merak-registry.com/faq/
And for the Bora: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maserati_Bora