Maserati Merak SS on a Coca-Cola Crown Cap: A Relic of Japan's 1970s Supercar Boom
What This Item Is
This is a vintage metal crown cap — the same type of crimped bottle cap that sealed glass bottles of Coca-Cola — issued by Coca-Cola Japan as a promotional collectible, most likely in the late 1970s to early 1980s. The inside face of the cap carries a printed illustration of the Maserati Merak SS, a mid-engined Italian supercar, along with the word “Italia” identifying its country of origin. Items like this were distributed as a premium tied to beverage purchases, functioning as an early form of what collectors today would recognize as a bottlecap collection series. The cap is not a food toy (shokugan) or capsule vending item; it belongs firmly in the category of drink-promotion novelties produced by a major beverage brand.
The Merak SS appeared as part of what was almost certainly a multi-car series, though the official series name and the full roster of vehicles included have not been definitively confirmed. The surface of the cap indicates a design format that organized cars by nationality, pointing toward a structured set rather than a one-off release.
The Maserati Merak SS and Japan’s Supercar Boom
The Maserati Merak debuted in 1972, designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro’s Ital Design studio and positioned as a more accessible companion to the flagship Bora. The Merak SS (Super Sport), introduced in 1975, brought a revised 3.0-liter V6 engine with improved output and reduced weight, and remained in production until 1983. The name “Merak” follows Maserati’s longstanding tradition of naming cars after stars — in this case, a star in Ursa Major.
In Japan, the years between roughly 1975 and 1980 saw an extraordinary cultural phenomenon known as the Supercar Boom. Sparked by a 1975 event at Fuji Speedway where exotic foreign cars were displayed and driven, the boom swept through Japanese youth culture with remarkable speed. Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, and Maserati became household names among children who had little realistic prospect of ever seeing one in person. Magazines, model kits, trading cards, and novelty items of every description carried supercar imagery. Calbee’s Supercar Chips trading cards, supercar erasers, and promotional caps from beverage companies all fed the same enthusiasm. Coca-Cola Japan’s crown cap series was a direct product of that moment, timed to the peak of the boom and likely continuing into the early 1980s as the Merak SS’s production run wound down.
Why Collectors Find This Item Significant
This cap sits at the intersection of two well-established collecting fields: Coca-Cola memorabilia and vintage automobile collectibles. Coca-Cola bottlecaps form their own distinct category on the international collector market, and Japanese-market pieces carry an additional layer of specificity because they circulated only domestically. Items tied to the Supercar Boom rarely left Japan in large numbers, which limits what has become available internationally over the decades.
The choice of subject matter also distinguishes this cap. Promotional items featuring Ferrari or Lamborghini from the same era are comparatively easier to find; pieces specifically devoted to Maserati, and to the Merak SS in particular, are far less common. As a physical object, this is a piece of stamped metal from approximately fifty years ago, carrying period-accurate printing that documents both the graphic design sensibilities and the car culture enthusiasm of late-1970s Japan.
Price: $18.49 | View on eBay
