Fantastic De Tomaso in stunning condition with a wonderful provenance! Only 200 Mangustas remain!
Alejandro Detomaso was a racing driver and entrepreneur. Born in 1928 this Argentinian man dreamed of building a car. In 1959 he decided to set up Detomaso Automobili in Modena. In first instance he dedicated himself to building prototypes and race cars. He built Frank Williams first F1 car. It was a means to an end enabling him to achieve his ultimate goal of building his own sports car. In contrast to his town companion, Enzo Ferrari, Alejandro Detomaso built racing cars to fund his street cars. His first, the Vallelunga, came out in 1963 and was fitted with a small 4-cylinder engine.
In 1966 the Mangusta followed. The Mangusta has the Ford 302 V8 5 litre engine attached to a manual dogleg ZT transaxle transmission. The Giorgetto Giugiaro was responsible for the Mangusta design. The aerodynamic design takes the Mangusta to a top speed of nearly 250 km/hr. Despite the good ties and support of the Ford Motor Company only 401 Mangusta’s were built. Our car was supplied from new in California, the United States and exported to the United Kingdom in 2007.
This car is one of the later Mangusta versions with pop-up headlights and the Ford 302 engine. In 1992 the underwent a complete specialist restoration. Following its restoration the car was only use sparingly. All that change when the car arrived in England in 2007. The new owner was keen to enjoy driving the car a lot more. During that time the transmission was fully rebuilt by specialists in 2011. He used the car to travel to Le Mans on a number of occasions as well as visiting Modena on Detomaso’s 50th anniversary. He entered the car in the concourse d’elegance winning the Mangusta class trophy. To celebrate his victory he decided to take the scenic route home over over the prettiest Alpine roads. The car didn’t falter once and brought its owner home without fail.
Originally the Mangusta had an unreliable reputation, however with a top-class example as this one all those irritating little faults have been long taken care off, leaving you to enjoy the ride. That trophy cup still forms part of the car’s itinerary. In 2014 the car was sold on to a Greek collector who hardly used the car. The quality of the bodywork is thanks to the high standard of the restoration and good maintenance still in great shape. The good bodywork has fine, correctly aligned panelwork. Both all the brightwork and rims are in wonderful condition. The paintwork was properly resprayed and has stood the test of time fantastically well with only minor signs of use. Inside the replaced black leather trim and carpets are still in excellent order. The engine runs fantastically well and roars as only an America V8 can. The gear change is smooth and precise and the brakes respond wonderfully well (the brakes come out of a Pantera). The headlight mechanics were changed from cable to vacuum operated. The car comes with an impressive amount of documentation. The car has a Fiva id-card, the old American and British title deeds together with a large number of invoices. According to the connoisseurs only 200 Mangustas remain. This is not just a beautiful car, it is also quite a rare one!
Click here for further information
Report by gallery-aaldering.com
