Dream car of a talented race car driver

To combine the way, Italian design, race-oriented chassis and American Great Ideas series engines had followed alongside Alessandro de Tomaso, other: Renzo Rivolta, Peter Monteverdi or the company with the Facel Facel Vega.

The most successful total may apply but de Tomaso, because they not only produced cars for many years, the numbers are far above those of others. The 1967 to 1971 was not about the name "Mangusta", named after a cat-like animal that is immune against snake venom and, as an equal or even superior opponent of the Cobra Snake.

The inventor Alessandro de Tomaso

Alessandro de Tomaso had begun to be quite talented racing driver, he drove the end of the 50s on Osca many sports car races. Continued his interest in innovative technical solutions to the then as a designer of racing cars, various single-seaters and sports cars formed, until the first road sports car, the de Tomaso Vallelunga appeared, which was produced in at least 50 copies. From there it went more or less directly to the de Tomaso Mangusta, this time with an American eight-cylinder engine instead of the four-cylinder that had the Vallelunga. The design principles remained similar to previous model: mid-engine chassis with center beam, all-round independent suspension, four-wheel disc brakes.

Large-scale production technology in an elegant dress

Giugaro, back in service by Ghia, designed the most elegant dress of the de Tomaso Mangusta. The draft was shown for the first time in 1966 in Turin. Ghia because shortly thereafter fell into financial straits, could de Tomaso took over the company and expand its production capacity significantly. The shape of the Mangusta was purposeful and beautiful at the same time. Of course, the dimensions 4.265 x 1.845 x 1.030 helped meters in the process of designing a fast-acting, even when stationary vehicle. There are no superfluous details, such as retractable headlights was omitted (some U.S. versions did have pop-up lights). The only special feature was the butterfly doors that gave access to the engine room, but were from mechanics point of view no compelling solution, because the engine had to work for larger are always built from the bottom. The body of the production model was in contrast to the prototype shown at Turin largely made of steel sheet, only the doors and hood were made of aluminum. After all, the wheels, which at first were 7 and 7.5 inches wide, and later larger dimensions, made of magnesium.

The motor in the center

In the rear of the Mangusta performed an eight-cylinder American-style his work. The same Ford-289-unit he could in the small AC Cobra, Ford GT, available in 40, the TVR Griffith and Tuscan, and of course the Ford Mustang in different interpretations. In European Mangusta provided this 4.7-liter engine set 306 SAE hp at 6200 rpm / 542 Nm torque and delivered, not bad for a really primitive bumpers construction. American Mangustas he had a 302-liter engine with 5 and because of the detoxification lower power output. As power transmission was a ZF five-speed gearbox which was mounted under the engine.

At the height of the time

Paul's brother tested for the "Engine Review" in 1968 and a Mangusta was a extremely positive overall assessment. He had complained in pre-series or a stiff clutch and a shift inexact guide, these weaknesses were corrected in a later production specimen already stalled.

The performance of the European version had driven more than impressive. Had to sprint from 0 to 100 km / h is achieved in the test car for exactly 6 seconds, 200 km / h in 21.4 seconds and top speed was 242 km / h. As consumption brother listed 15 to about 25 liters per 100 km. The brakes found his approval, the driving behavior he described as typical for a street sports car - first neutral, then oversteer. He complained, however, the difficult controllability of the vehicle to slide more advisable with its wide tires. When empty weight was the "engine Revue" at 1330 kg. Minus points there were in Paul's brother for the confusing body with heavy usable limits, the very indirect steering (4.5 turns lock to lock), the too low-aligned controls, the lack of support for the stationary clutch pedal and the overall limited interior space, typically for a mid-engine sports car.

But overall summary brother was very positive, even the ride comfort and noise insulation found his approval. He was also happy about the factory-fitted air conditioning, as without them, the interior would have heated up too quickly. Critical expressed other, Road & Track, for example, criticized the poor visibility and the low seating position and spoke of "Safety by Gillette."

The magazine "hobby" compared the Mangusta in the summer of 1970 with the Maserati Ghibli, the Monterverdi High Speed ​​375 S and the Lamborghini Miura, and came to the conclusion that the Mangusta with the lowest price to 160 km / h at the best acceleration and also their driving behavior was at the forefront. Winner in a comparison test, he was but because of his uncompromising style and proximity to the "racing machine" not yet.

Only 401 vehicles built

That the de Tomaso Mangusta not encountered as frequently as the equally rare Pantera successor is that within four years, only just 401 cars were built, of which even went to a considerable amount over the Atlantic to the United States. 401 of these cars today are probably still around half alive, only 115 of which are in an online register (Mangustainternational.com) public.

Cheaper than Ferrari, but not cheap

Newly moved a Mangusta in similar or lower price regions like fast sports cars like Ferrari or Maserati. The 1968 Mangusta cost 54'800 francs, while a Maserati Ghibli with 65'500, a Lamborghini Miura P 400 67,000 francs and a Ferrari 275 GTB 4 cost 54,000 francs. In Italy Mangusta cost of 6.25 million lire whopping 2 million less than a Miura. Nowadays, one rarely gets into the Mangusta trade, good for 100,000 francs or € 80,000, he would then change the owner in good condition. And as long as no restoration is pending, remain the maintenance and upkeep costs down, large scale production technology, according to the American, at least in terms of the engine. Sheet metal parts, but are almost worth their weight in gold if they are available at all because, and interior components are difficult to find.

Source derbund.ch