Vehicle Description
The De Tomaso presented is stored in our Aiken, SC climate
controlled warehouse. We do not consign vehicles. The inventory is
100% owned, maintained, and driven by us here at Car Cave.Mangusta
is the Italian word for mongoose, an animal that can kill cobras.
The car was reportedly named after a failed deal between De Tomaso
and Carroll Shelby. Alejandro de Tomaso had volunteered to help
Carroll Shelby develop a new Can-Am race car in late 1964 when it
turned out that the Shelby Cobra wouldn't be able to compete there.
Disagreements over the car's design and De Tomaso's failure to
deliver the agreed-upon five race cars by the deadline for the 1965
Can-Am season caused Shelby to drop out of the project. With the
help of Carrosseria Ghia, De Tomaso further finished the car under
the project name P70. The sole prototype was presented at the 1965
Turin Motor Show as the De Tomaso Sport 5000.The Mangusta used a
modified version of the De Tomaso P70 chassis. De Tomaso then
modified the steel chassis of the P70 and this became the basis for
the Mangusta, whose bodywork was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro of
Ghia. The Mangusta went into production in 1967, at the same time
that De Tomaso bought Ghia.A total of 401 cars were built, of which
about 150 were destined for the European market. The rest was
shipped to North America. The first copies got a more powerful
4.7-liter Ford HiPo 289 engine, the later cars had a 4.9-liter Ford
302 engine.The Mangusta was imported into the United States through
a federal exemption that applied to the car due to its small
production numbers. As a result, the car did not have to comply
with a number of safety regulations and the Mangusta could be sold
without seat belts and with headlamps mounted much lower than the
federal regulations allowed. When this exemption expired, the front
of the car was redesigned to accommodate two pop-up headlamps that
replaced the previously existing quadruple round headlamps. An
estimated 50 cars were produced in this configuration.The Mangusta
we are presenting here today is a fully original and matching
number and color that is not listed on ?De Tomaso? registry. This
European spec in rare yellow paint featuring the high output 289 V8
good for 302 horsepower, 72 more than the North American spec.
Finding an unknown example and presenting it to the world is very
exciting for us. Please contact us for more information as this
Mangusta is currently undergoing a full technical review and a
reconditioning of the interior and exterior.
