Engineering:De Tomaso Mangusta

Short description: Model of sports car

De Tomaso Mangusta
Overview
Manufacturer	De Tomaso
Production	1967–1971 (401 produced)
Designer	Giorgetto Giugiaro at Ghia
Body and chassis
Class	Sports car (S)
Body style	2-door coupé
Layout	Rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive
Powertrain
Engine	4.7 L (4,728 cc) Ford 289 V8 4.9 L (4,949 cc) Ford 302 V8
Transmission	ZF 5-speed manual
Dimensions
Wheelbase	2,500 mm (98.4 in)
Length	4,275 mm (168.3 in)
Width	1,834 mm (72.2 in)
Height	1,100 mm (43.3 in)
|uk|Kerb|Curb}} weight	1,300 kg (2,866.0 lb)
Chronology
Predecessor	De Tomaso Vallelunga
Successor	De Tomaso Pantera

The De Tomaso Mangusta is a sports car produced by Italian automobile manufacturer De Tomaso between 1967 and 1971. It was succeeded by the De Tomaso Pantera.

History

The Mangusta uses a modified version of the De Tomaso P70 chassis

The Mangusta replaced the Vallelunga model, on which its chassis was based. The word "mangusta" is Italian for "mongoose", an animal that can kill cobras. It was rumored that the car was so named in retaliation to a failed deal between De Tomaso and Carroll Shelby. Alejandro de Tomaso offered to help Carroll Shelby to build a new Can-Am race car at the end of 1964 when Shelby found that the Shelby Cobra would not be able to compete there. De Tomaso was planning to develop a new 7.0-litre V8 engine for racing so he saw this as a perfect opportunity. Shelby agreed to finance the project and also sent a SCCA approved design team headed by Pete Brock to Italy in order to handle the design work. De Tomaso had conflicts on the design of the car. He also failed to deliver the agreed 5 race cars within the deadline for the 1965 Can-Am season. This caused Shelby to eventually back out of the project and join the development team of the Ford GT40. Peter Brock and his team were able to finish the car according to their will. De Tomaso engaged Carrozzeria Ghia to finalise the design of the car which was being developed under the project name of P70. The single completed car was displayed at the 1965 Turin Motor Show as the Ghia De Tomaso Sport 5000. De Tomaso then modified the steel backbone chassis of the P70 and it became the basis for the Mangusta, which was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro at Ghia. The Mangusta entered production in 1967, at the same time De Tomaso had purchased Ghia.

Rear view

401 cars in total were built, about 150 were made for Europe, while the remainder were made for North America. The initial cars are claimed to have a more powerful Ford HiPo 289 engine; the later cars all had Ford 302 engines. The Mangusta was imported into the United States via a federal waiver which applied to the car due to its small production numbers. The waiver exempted the car from safety regulations which were in effect at the time. The Mangusta came without seat belts and had headlights far lower than what the federal regulations allowed. When this exemption expired, the front of the North American car was redesigned in order to accommodate two pop-up headlamps instead of the quad round headlamps present earlier. These new headlamps functioned through a crude lever-and-cable arrangement, which fed into the cabin. An estimated 50 cars were produced in this configuration starting in 1969, however European cars continued with the original quad headlight grille. One car was built as a roadster (8ma512). One car was built with a high performance Chevrolet 327 engine for General Motors-Vice President, Bill Mitchell but soon sold to a GM employee, designer, Dick Ruzzin who has owned the car since.

Specifications

The Mangusta was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, whose main highlight is a center-hinged, two-section hood that opened akin to gullwing doors. The early European versions were fitted with a mid-mounted 306 hp (228 kW) Ford 289 V8 engine, driven through a 5-speed ZF transaxle; but for almost all Mangustas for both Europe and North America an unmodified "J Code" 230 hp (170 kW) Ford 302 V8 was used. All round Girling disc brakes and independent suspension, rack and pinion steering, air conditioning, and power windows were fitted, ahead of other manufacturers at the time. Journalist Paul Frère claimed he achieved a top speed of 250 km/h (155 mph) in the Mangusta.

The Mangusta was relatively inexpensive for the time, but with a 44/56 front/rear weight distribution reportedly suffered from stability problems and poor handling. The car's cabin was also cramped and it had extremely low ground clearance.

Revival

The Mangusta name was revived in the early 2000s when the concept car De Tomaso Biguà became the Qvale Mangusta, after a dispute between De Tomaso and business partner Qvale. The Qvale sold only in limited numbers.

Media

In the 2004 movie Kill Bill: Volume 2, the character Bill (David Carradine) has a silver Mangusta. In the music video to the Kylie Minogue song "Can't Get You Out of My Head", a yellow Mangusta can be seen. A red Mangusta is seen and mentioned in conversation in the 1971 Disney movie The Barefoot Executive. The 1974 movie Gone in 60 Seconds featured a white Mangusta. It also appears in the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 racing game, Gran Turismo 7, as a playable vehicle, both in standard guise and in a special livery variant made in collaboration with Dior for the game.

Gallery

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  The De Tomaso Mangusta featured unique gull wing doors covering both the engine and luggage compartment

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  De Tomaso Mangusta Group 4 GT

• 

  Mangusta in racing livery

See also

• Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale
• Ferrari Daytona
• Iso Grifo
• Lamborghini Miura
• Maserati Ghibli

External links

• Pictures of a 1969 De Tomaso Mangusta
• The PROVAMO registry of De Tomaso Automobiles
• The Mangusta International Mangusta Registry
• The QV500 Registry of De Tomaso Automobiles
• A small De Tomaso registry in Excel format that can be downloaded. Includes a page dedicated to the Mangusta