The #Wild Start of De Tomaso | The Bad Blonde Car History

To start the De Tomaso history, we must first dive into Alejandro De Tomaso

Alejandro was a racecar driver and Argentinian businessman. He was born in Buenos Aires buy was of Italian heritage. The entrepreneur had raced in two F1 World Championship grand prix driving a Ferrari Tipo 500 and a Cooper t43.

The history of Alejandro is not without intrigue. De Tomaso was linked to an attempt to topple the Argentinian president…  Two years before he founded De Tomaso Automobili, Alejandro was implicated in an attempted overthrow of Juan Peron president of Argentina at the time. From that scandal Alejandro left the country and fled back to Italy where he would find love.

Conveniently De Tomaso found an American heiress Isabell Haskell while visiting the Maserati factory… Now naturally I was intrigued by Isabelle. She hailed from horse racing money BUT she was a ground breaking female race car driver in the 1950s having even completed the 12 hours of Sebring! She was at Alejandro’s side as they founded the company. It was said they had a very competitive and playful relationship. They remained married until Alejandro’s passing in 2003.

After finding such a lively heiress, the pair formed the De Tomaso Modena in 1959 which would later become the name we know it as, De Tomaso Automobili. They went to quick work building race cars and prototypes.

In 1963, De Tomaso would begin building their high-performance sports cars, the Vallelunga, Mangusta, Pantera, and Guara. Along with those sports cars, they would also produce the luxury Deauville and Longchamp. Of which those names were after purebread horses of Isabell’s family.

Let’s dive into each of the sports cars.. The Vallelunga, named after the racing circuit north of Rome was a mid-engine car produced just a mere three years with only 59 ever created. Powered by a 1.5 L straight 4 Ford Kent from the Cortina.

The successor to the Vallelunga was the better known Mangusta. Whose design was created by the king of straight line designs, the prolific Giorgetto Giugiaro at Ghia. His other work includes: Iso Grifo, BMW M1, Lotus Esprit s1, Maserati Bora, DeLorean..

They would produce 401 of the Mangusta during 1967-1971 with power options of the Ford 289 V8 or 302 V8. There was no way I was going to talk about the Mangusta and not tell that it means Mongoose in Italian. WHICH WHAT DO MONGOOSES EAT?! Mongoose’s can kill Cobras…

It is rumored that Alejandro named it so in retaliation to a spoiled deal between himself and Carroll Shelby.

How to follow up the Mangusta? With a panther of course, the De Tomaso Pantera (Mentioned Camaro press stunts?). Aggressive looks and powerful Ford V8 made this De Tomaso’s most popular model producing over 7k. Engine options included Ford 302 V8, 351 Cleveland, and 351 Windsor.

In 1971 Ford began importing the Pantera to be sold through its Lincoln and Mercury dealerships. Back in those days Italian cars were joked to rust to the ground before they got off the boat. And yes many of the first year models were known to rust easily and had not so well fitting body panels.

There were some quality control issues and Ford didn’t like that… So they got more involved in production. At one point Ford did own a large (like A LOT) amount of De Tomaso shares 84%. They ended up being in charge of most of the production process that encompassed three factories in northern Italy.. They bought up those shares in 1971 and sold them back in 1974.

We’ve covered the AMX3 by AMC… And it is rumored that Ford put the kibosh on that so that it didn’t compete with the Pantera.

Design of the Pantera’s handsome metal was by American Tom Tjaarda while at Carrozzeria Ghia.

The Pantera was a righteous bad ass so you would assume they must succeed it with something comparable…. They followed it up with the Guara..

To me just the Guara didn’t hit the mark. The Guara kind of resembles a smushed down Acura NSX, or a robocopped out Miata.

Just 52 of the Guara were produced from 1994-2004 and also last project by Alejandro De Tomaso who would pass away in his home in Italy in 2003.

If you see a De Tomaso car you will immediately notice it’s emblem/logo.. A T in the middle of up an Argentinian flag on it’s side. An obvious nod to his Argentinian roots with the flag, but what is the T? Well, the De Tomaso’s had a history of cattle ranching and the T was his ancestral brand.

Some familiar names have come under the De Tomaso leadership over the years, these include Coachbuilders Ghia and Vignale, Motorcycle builder Moto Guzzi, and also Maserati.

Fast forward to 2014, after De Tomaso changed hands a few times, it was acquired by IdealVentures out of Hong Kong. They went to quick work breathing new life and excitement into the brand with the “Project P” which would turn out the P72.

Based on the P70, a historic De Tomaso racecar of the 1970s along with modern elements, the P72 looks like it could take you into outerspace. True to it’s De Tomaso heritage, the P72 is powered by a Ford, the 5 liter supercharged Ford Coyote V8.

Just 72 of the P72 are to be created.. Naturally I wanted to know how much a P72 cost. On the De Tomaso Automobile website it states “The base price for the P72 is determined at $1,450,000 USD and we are currently accepting Registrations of Interest.”