I have 39 connections

For some reason the maxconnections config option doesn't work. ghostlander...known?
I have 75 connections right now. 120 connections on the largest seed node.
What makes you think the maxconnections option doesn't work? The number of outbound connections is limited to 16, so maxconnections - 16 is the limit for inbound connections.
My connections should be no more than 28 then if I understand you correctly (16 out + 12 in).