About De Tomaso
De Tomaso Modena SpA is an Italian car-manufacturing company. It was founded by the Argentinian-born Alejandro de Tomaso (1928–2003) in Modena in 1959. The company went into liquidation in 2004despite this, new cars were still being made by De Tomaso as of 2005. Originally, De Tomaso produced various prototypes and racing cars, including a Formula 1 car for Frank Williams's team in 1970.
De Tomaso sports cars
De Tomaso's first road-going production model was the Vallelunga, introduced in 1963. This striking mid-engined sports car was propelled with a 104 bhp (78 kW) Ford Cortina engine, and had a top speed of 215 km/h (134 mph). It featured an aluminium backbone chassis, which was to become De Tomaso's technological trademark, and fibreglass bodywork.
The first De Tomaso produced in anything like significant numbers, the Mangusta, introduced in 1966, was also the first to be developed in association with Ford, a firm which was to have a decisive influence on De Tomaso's early life. With the Mangusta De Tomaso moved from European to American Ford engines; powered by a 4.7-litre iron-block V8 engine and with steel and aluminium coupé bodywork from Ghia – an Italian coachbuilder also controlled by Alejandro de Tomaso – the Mangusta could more than compete with contemporary Ferraris and Lamborghinis on looks, if not on cachet. With its flowing panels and almost absurdly raked rear window, the Mangusta was a true Italian supercar. About 400 examples were built until production ended in 1971.
The Mangusta was succeeded by the Pantera, the car that was to put De Tomaso on the map – if only briefly. It appeared in 1971 with a 5.8-litre Ford V8 and a low, wedge-shaped body designed by Ghia's Tom Tjaarda. Though less visually arresting than the Mangusta, the Pantera looked set to vault De Tomaso into the ranks of the supercar giants. Through an agreement with Ford, De Tomaso sold Panteras in the USA through Ford's Lincoln and Mercury dealers. Between 1971 and 1973, 6,128 Panteras were produced in Modena, dwarfing the intensity of any De Tomaso production runs before or since. Sadly for the firm (and for American supercar fans), the the oil crisis of the early 1970s, and the dismal quality of the cars produced, caused Ford to pull out of the Pantera deal at the end of 1973. (Other supercars of the same era, such as the Pietro Frua-bodied AC Frua, were to cease production completely for the same reasons.)
