Tuesday, January 4, 2011

De Tomaso Mangusta

by Mike - 



The Mangusta is a mid-engine Ford powered beast that was based on the De Tomaso Vallelunga chassis. Giorgetto Giugiaro styled the car and it is easily recognized as one of his beautiful creations.

Approximately 400 Mangustas were produced between 1967 and 1971; 150 were the European version using the Ford V8 289 cid engine with 305 hp, and 250 were the US version, with the Ford 302 cid engine with 230 hp. There are thought to be fewer than 150 Mangustas left in existence.

Top speed is 130 mph and zero to 60 mph arrives in 6.3 seconds for the US version. The transmission is a manual ZF 5 speed. The front to rear weight distribution and chassis stability were problems for the Mangusta in addition to the tight, and low to the ground, cabin. It is not considered to be a great handling car but is definitely a great looking car with real presence and it sounds great as well.

The black beauty above and below was parked next to me at the Marin Sonoma Concours d'Elegance in May 2010.




The car below was sold at RM Auctions in Monterey in August 2009 for $68,750. I think it suffered from an unexciting color, although it was claimed to have mostly original paint.



This red 1970 model below was at the RM Auction in Monterey in August 2010 and sold for $110,000.



The car below is for sale at Motorcar Gallery in Florida. It is priced at $99,500 and has 14,995 miles.



The car below is also at Motorcar Gallery in Florida and is priced at $89,500 with 19,340 miles. There are two more Mangustas at this dealer, one of them looks very similar to the RM car above that I saw in Monterey in 2009.




There are a small number for sale in Europe also. A pre-purchase inspection and an understanding of the history of the car are important.

Click on the images for a larger view.





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