The fascination lives on 50 years later, and the radical shape has stood the test of time well. Its creator, Giorgetto Giugiaro, has also entered the pantheon of great car designers.
Celebrating the 50-year-old design, Maserati said this week that the concept was revolutionary and symbolic of a brand capable of creating iconic and avant-garde cars.
Of course, the unique, two-seater Boomerang looks nothing like the first VW Golf penned by the Italian maestro but it did leave left behind a stylistic legacy of sharply-drawn lines that lived on in Giugiaro's later creations.
By the way, the Boomerang was last offered for sale in 2015 by Bonham's auction house in France where it changed hands for a cool €3.33 million (RM15.4mil).
The Boomerang was designed along a horizontal line that divided the car in two, with a sloping windscreen and a panoramic sunroof. The retractable square headlamps stood out in the front, alongside the horizontal lights in the rear.
The ultra-modern interior featured a spokeless steering wheel at the end of a large cylinder emerging from the dashboard. It contained the main instruments and switches – a design that mainly aimed at protecting the driver in the event of an accident.
The show car had an eight-cylinder engine which could unleash 310hp, bringing it close to a top speed of nearly 300kph, although it looked even faster
The Boomerang mockup, of which only model was made, later disappeared into private ownership and did not re-emerge until 1980 when a German enthusiast discovered it in Spain.
At the 1990 Bagatelle Concours event, the wedge was reunited with its creator and Giugiaro left his autograph on the car’s rear panel.
