08.02.2005 The famous Italian sportscar maker De Tomaso could shortly be returning to production with reports circulating that the firm has been sold to an English buyer

The famous Italian sportscar maker De Tomaso could shortly be returning to production with reports circulating that the firm has been sold to an English buyer.

De Tomaso was put into liquidation last summer by Isabel Haskell, wife of founder Alejandro De Tomaso the larger than life businessman who steered the tiny firm throughout its history.

Alejandro, who was born in Argentina in 1928, passed away on 31st May 2003. The De Tomaso family started building their own cars in 1959, and took control of another famous Italian carmaker, Maserati, for a period from 1975. The firm is probably best known for the long-running, Ford-engined Pantera model.

De Tomaso Automobili: brief history

In 1959 Alejandro De Tomaso established De Tomaso Automobili at Modena, concerned with the construction of racing cars. Having been born and brought up in Argentina, he had left (supposedly for political reasons), married an American lady and moved to Italy. The racing cars used his own chassis and were powered first by OSCA engines and then Ford units.

Road cars came later, starting with the mid-engined Vallelunga (powered by a 1.5-litre Cortina engine) in 1963, then the Mangusta, and then the classic Pantera. At a similar time the Deauville saloon and Longchamp 2+2 coupe were developed. All the cars used big Ford V8 engines and had bodies designed and built by Ghia, a coachbuilder purchased by De Tomaso (jointly with Ford) in 1967. Vignale was also acquired and used for production, as was a later relationship with Maggiora.

The Pantera got off to a good start with the blessing (and marketing) of Ford, a deal which, for the few years it lasted, saw high sales. After the oil crisis and the poor quality of the cars scuppered the deal with Ford, De Tomaso returned to the realms of low volume manufacturers where they continued until 1991 with a revised Pantera before introducing a new model, the Guara.

Outside investment saw the Bigua shown in 1996, but the relationship turned sour and the resulting company, Qvale, split off.

DE TOMASO - UAE JOINT VENTURE TO BUILD SIMBIR SUV IN CALABRIA

Approval has already been granted to start building the four wheel drive Simbir SUV in the Calabria region of Southern Italy. This recent joint venture between De Tomaso and giant Russian automobile manufacturer UAE, was not affected by the decision made last year to put De Tomaso into liquidation.

Major regional aid, from both the Italian government and the European Union, has been granted to the Simbir project which will, it is hoped, bring much-needed jobs to one of Italy's poorer regions, while the debts of De Tomaso have for the most part now been written off.

This leaves the firm, which has been able to successfully retain the core of its skilled engineering staff, with a relatively clean slate, and there are believed to be several exciting new projects in the pipeline as a possible new dawn, under new ownership, emerges.

TWO NEW SPORTSCARS IN THE PIPELINE

These will include two all-new sportscar models, which are expected to be, like the Simbir SUV, built as part of the joint venture between De Tomaso and UAE. A new Pantera and Vallelunga, two of the most famous cars from De Tomaso's history, will be constructed at the new Calabria located factory.
 

Approval has already been granted to start building the four wheel drive Simbir SUV in the Calabria region of Southern Italy

Approval has already been granted to start building the four wheel drive Simbir SUV in the Calabria region of Italy

De Tomaso Pantera
De Tomaso Vallelunga

The famous De Tomaso Pantera (top) and the Vallelunga (above) could both soon see all-new successors built, if ambitious plans to revive the marque come to fruition


It is widely believed that the design work on the first of these projects is already close to completion and awaiting the green light.


VALLELUNGA - THE FIRST PRODUCTION DE TOMASO

The Vallelunga was the first production road car from De Tomaso, a mid-engined (using a Ford 1500cc unit) two seater with a backbone chassis and a lightweight fibreglass bodyshell. First shown as a spider at the Turin Motorshow of 1963, this remained a one-off (although competing successfully in various races), while in 1964 at the same show the Vallelunga Coupé was shown.

The weight saving of the producution cars continued with perspex windows and an aluminium fuel tank. The suspension consisted on double wishbones at the front and an independent multi-link layout at the rear. Rose-joints were used throughout. Unassisted disc brakes (assistance was optional) on all four corners provide the stopping power, more than adequate for a car which weighed 700kg (47% front/53% rear) in road trim.

A total of 53 coupés were produced from 1965 to 1967 by Ghia, although the original prototype had been built by Fissore.

PANTERA - THE CLASSIC DE TOMASO MODEL

Meanwhile, the Pantera is the classic De Tomaso, probably due to its initial commercial success deriving from the deal with Ford. The replacement for the Mangusta, it was introduced at the New York Motorshow in 1970 and was marketed through Ford's Lincoln/Mercury dealer chain in the USA. This saw 6128 examples being produced by the end of 1973, a volume which was reduced to the more normal exotic car dribble in 1974 when Ford withdrew from the deal.

The Pantera used the same mechanical layout as the Mangusta, with a mid-mounted 5769cc V8 driving the rear wheels, but the chassis was much superior, being developed mainly by Dallara. Independent suspension and disc brakes were employed on all corners, while the body was of unitary construction, designed by Tom Tjaarda of Ghia.

The accomodation was also roomier, and had such luxuries as air conditioning as standard. During the extended production life of the Pantera various levels of engine were used, from 266bhp in the most emission strangled US unit to 500bhp in the GT4 version.

In 1990 a heavily revised version was released. The mechanicals remained effectively the same (although the engine was now a 4942cc unit with 305bhp and various changes were made to the brakes etc) whilst the external styling was facelifted by Marcello Gandini. A 450bhp twin turbo version was also offered. Only 38 of these final versions were built. Total production was 7260 cars until it stopped in 1991.

by Edd Ellison ( additional material: CarsFromItaly )
 

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01.06.2004

A meeting of the shareholders of historic Italian sportscar builder De Tomaso last week took the decision to put the company into liquidation

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