De Tomaso Automobili
De Tomaso is an Italian car company. The founder is Argentine-born Alejandro De Tomaso. (1928–2003). The company is founded in Modena in 1959.
Alejandro De Tomaso was building prototypes and racing car in 1960's.
Logo of the company features blue and white stripes which represent the colors of Argentina flag. The T-like symbol on the logo the symbol of the Ceballos estate where Alejandro grew up.
After building a couple of Formula racing cars, the company started to manufacture luxury sports cars and De Tomasa was using Ford powered engines.
De Tomaso Vallelunga
Alejandro De Tomaso's first car was Vallelunga. Vallelunga was a nice-looking, mid-engined coupé. It was manufactured in small numbers between 1964-1968.
Vallelunga had a mid-mounted 1.5 liters, 4 cylinder engine, customized from Ford.
Vallelunga was named after the racing circuit introduced in 1963. This mid-engine sports car had a 104 hp (78 kW) and was able to reach a top speed of 215 km/h (134 mph).
De Tomaso Mangusta
The second car after Vallelunga was "Mangusta". Mangusta car was introduced in 1966 and it was the first De Tomaso car that was manufactured in good numbers.
The Mangusta was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro. The European version had a mid-mounted 306 hp Ford V8 engine, North American version had a 230 hp (170 kW) Ford engine.
The word "mangusta" meant "mongoose", an animal that can kill Cobras The rumor was that the car was named because of a failed deal between De Tomaso and Carroll Shelby.
Alejandro de Tomaso offered to help Carroll Shelby to build a new CanAm race car when Shelby found that the "Shelby Cobra" would not be able to compete.
There were a total of 401 Mangusta cars manufactured. Only 150 were made for Europe and others were sent to North America.
A silver Mangusta was featured in Kill Bill: Volume 2. Bill (David Carradine) had a silver Mangusta.
De Tomaso Pantera
Pantera was the successor of Mangusta. The De Tomaso Pantera was a mid-engine car by De Tomaso between 1971 and 1993.
"Pantera" was panther in Italian and it was the most popular model ever which was manufactured 7.000 units in 20 years.
In 1972, The "Lusso" (luxury) Pantera L was introduced. Pantera L was made for the US market and it featured a large black single front bumper that incorporated a built-in airfoil to reduce front end lift at high speeds. The engine was generating a power output of 266 hp.
In 1973, DeTomaso Pantera was "Road Test Magazine"s "Import car of the year" beating offerings from Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and Porsche.
The US version of the 1974 Pantera GTS featured optional GTS badging but not the higher compression, solid lifter engine of its European GTS "cousin".
De Tomaso Pantera GT5
In 1980, De Tomaso added GT5 to the lineup.
De Tomaso Pantera GT5 had fiberglass wheel arch extensions and GT5-S model had arches and a wide-body.
Pantera GT5 also equipped with better brakes, a more luxurious interior, much larger wheels and tires and the fiberglass body kit.
