The design was lovely, the execution awful. While on a parts-buying trip to England in the mid-eighties, I was offered Roger Water's Mangusta for 4,000 quid. I took it for a test drive in Norfolk, and then declined. This was a dangerous car, without balance, and twitchy in an alarmingly irregular manner... best be described as unnerving, to say the least. If 170 examples still survive (from 400 produced), I can only suspect that they are seldom driven, and never with enthusiasm.
| De Tomaso Mangusta - Past & Present |
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 The original De Tomaso Mangusta has long earned it's place in my "dream car garage," as a fine piece of automotive art and beaten only by Lamborghini's Miura and Countach LP400 as my personal favourite Italian sports car design.
The Mangusta (Italian for Mongoose) was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro with distinctive gull wing doors over the engine and luggage compartment. Powered by a Ford V8 engine that produced either 220hp (North America) or 306hp (Europe) and capable of a top speed of approximately 155mph. Despite seductive looks, the Mangusta had a reputation for poor handling and build quality, only 401 Mangusta's were built by the factory between 1967-1971, it's estimated that currently less than 170 survive. I'm not generally a fan of iconic car's brought back to life, and with modern day government crash and safety regulations to adhere too, today's designers certainly face more constraints and challenges than their predecessors.  The Ford GT, Detroit's reborn GT40 somehow left me cold when compared to the original design, in fact, in recent years, there have only been two retro inspired designs that I have truly liked and appreciated. Lamborghini's 2006 Miura Concept I found to be almost as captivating as the original classic, sadly though Lamborghini choose not to build this, not even in limited production form.2006 saw another exciting design inspired by the past take to the road, this was the Ferrari P4/5 by Pininfarina, a one-off road car commissioned by American collector James Glickenhaus and based on Ferrari's gorgeous 1960's 330 P3/4 sports prototype racing car. So, what does this have to do with the De Tomaso Mangusta I hear you say? Well, recently a series of designs surfaced of how a modern day Mangusta could look if it were built and I have to say, and much to my surprise, I love the new look. My only personal reservations center around the front air vents underneath the headlights and door designs which to me, seem more Lamborghini inspired.  There are two Mangusta variations contained in the illustrations, the Legacy Concept and a more extreme looking "Super Sport" that can be identified by the rear wing. The Legacy Concept is the work of design graduate and digital artist/illustrator Maxime de Kaiser, talking of his designs he says, "Like the original, it had to be spectacular and communicate an impression of wild ferocity and power while recalling the serenity of a feline at rest, and the elegance of the animal that doesn't need to fear anything." Much like the Miura Concept, the Mangusta Legacy Concept looks as though it will be consigned to the history books as a fascinating teaser of what could have been. The De Tomaso name was revived last year and at the Geneva Autoshow (see my original article here. The new company debuted a new Deauville luxury SUV planned for production along with a new Pantera and saloon/sedan (probably reviving the Longchamp name). Reports now though are indicating that De Tomaso may have sold the production license for the Deauville to a Chinese automotive group. I can't say that that dissapoints, even though the new Deauville was designed by Pininfarina, it appeared to me to have few distinctive features and simply a cash cow for the new company. I was however looking forward to seeing the new Pantera and saloon/sedan planned. If the reports are true then it would appear the plans to revive the De Tomaso name may once again have ended. At the time of writing this article I have not received a reply from the factory regarding conformation of these reports or their plans, should this change and further news be forthcoming I will update further. You can view Maxime de Kaiser's website here showing the full Mangusta design illustrations. By James Foreman Worth checking - Motorsport news - F1 news
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