mangusta

Mangusta vs Corvette C8: The Drive

October 6, 2020 By pete

The Mangusta has a wonderful Italian driving spirit and the C8 Corvette is built with the force of American enthusiasm for performance.

By Dick Ruzzin

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THE MID-ENGINE CONCEPT AS ADDRESSED BY DE TOMASO AND CHEVROLET

The Mangusta platform potential was never realized, it came out before it was fully developed and production was stopped after 401 cars were built. That was done so that De Tomaso and Ford could start building the Pantera, mid-engine also but a totally different car. The Mangusta’s P-70 racing chassis was created by Alessandro de Tomaso and Carroll Shelby, but the iconic design by Giorgetto Giugiaro is so visually powerful that their contributions to the creation of the car have been forgotten. [Read more…] about Mangusta vs Corvette C8: The Drive

De Tomaso Mangusta vs Corvette C8

September 29, 2020 By pete

A half century separates the 1969 De Tomaso Mangusta and the 2020 Chevrolet C8 Corvette.

By Dick Ruzzin

What drives a company like De Tomaso or Chevrolet to demonstrate its soul by creating cars that will hopefully outperform those of its peers? To put its image on the line and be confident that it will win? To challenge what is considered the best in all the world and not be afraid?

This is really a story of two companies, one very small and one very big. Fifty years separate the two landmark mid-engine efforts, the Mangusta and the C8 Corvette. For Alessandro de Tomaso, it was very personal, as he wrote in the Mangusta Owners Manual. Fortunately, in the history and heritage of General Motors and Chevrolet, there remains a spark called Corvette, which still displays the very essence of what an automobile is about.

Herein, we examine both cars from an owner’s perspective. [Read more…] about De Tomaso Mangusta vs Corvette C8

Art and the Design of the Mangusta Part 3

July 12, 2016 By pete

A scale drawing of the production Mangusta.

Story and Photos by Dick Ruzzin

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Read Part 2

Be sure to watch this extremely interesting interview with Dick Ruzzin on Sean McElroy’s Autoline After Hours. The segment with Dick begins at about the 49 minute mark, right after the commercial. If you don’t know Dick’s background as a GM designer, you will be impressed.

Vehicle Architecture

The mid-engine architecture is very exciting to design around as it provides unique proportions that can be interpreted in profile with almost a single curving line. The Mangusta design is enhanced greatly by the architecture, the short overhangs, wide front and rear tread, the low front suspension, and the large wheels and tires encourage the design of a shape that is very idealistic. The architecture delivers proportions that are very dramatic and the idea that there is an inherent special high performance functionality included in the vehicle concept only enhances the simple, sporty and elegant design solution that was conceived and executed by Giorgetto Giugiaro. [Read more…] about Art and the Design of the Mangusta Part 3

Art and the Design of the Mangusta Part 2

April 12, 2016 By pete

Classic race car instruments and steering wheel design. Functional design with elegant execution to match the De Tomaso/Shelby P70 race car chassis. Photo by Dick Ruzzin.

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By Dick Ruzzin

De Tomaso’s Racing Vision

Included in the very small owner’s manual that accompanied all new Mangustas is a message from Alessandro de Tomaso himself. He makes a special statement to his customers, speaking to them very personally:

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Art and the Design of the Mangusta

March 1, 2016 By pete

I have written this article for the art and design enthusiast. As a car designer, I will explain the look of the Mangusta and how it is inexplicably tied to its function. My observations are based on my professional career experiences as an automobile designer for over forty years as well as my experiences with my own Mangusta 8MA-670, seen here. Photo Dick Ruzzin

Introduction

Much has been written about Alessandro deTomaso and his automotive trials and successes, including racing and production cars. One of those cars is the Mangusta, a car designed singularly by Giorgetto Giugiaro who did the prototype and the production version, interior and exterior.

I have written a small book using my design experience to give insight into the Mangusta design and why it is so special. Pete Vack and VeloceToday have graciously offered to present part of it on their site in three parts. Below is Part 1. My goal is to present the book at the fiftieth anniversary of the Mangusta at Concourso Italiano in 2016.

Dick Ruzzin, General Motors Design Staff, retired.

De Tomaso Book Review

January 5, 2016 By pete

DE TOMASO From Buenos Aires to Modena: The History of a Visionary in the Automobile Industry
By Dr. Daniele Pozzi
Translation from the Italian text by Andrea Cittadini and Alessandro Saettta Vinci
280mm x 310mm
240 pages
Over 200 images (drawings, historical photos, photos of car models)
Now Available!
Dalton Watson Fine Books 2015

Our Price: $79.00

Shipping Costs: FREE SHIPPING TO USA AND UK. Shipping to all other countries will be charged one flat rate for first item, additional books in the same order are shipped for no additional s/h charge.

Review by Pete Vack
All photos from the book and used with permission

This is a review of the latest book published about the De Tomaso legacy. There are only a few good books about De Tomaso and this is one of them; nicely packaged, well done and priced right at only $79.00 including shipping to U.S. and the U.K. And we can recommend it; there are a few mistakes, a couple of clumsy translated sentences but not anything to complain about aside from perhaps the unwieldy size of 11 by 12 inches and lack of notes, bibliography and index (all too common today). Anyone who owns any of the myriad of De Tomaso cars will want to add this book to their meager collection. So, there is no need to read the below review, just click here and get it while they last.

However, if you want to know why, despite this promising new book, we still know next to nothing about the successes and failures of one of the most enigmatic, dynamic, romantic motoring alliances in history, then continue. [Read more…] about De Tomaso Book Review

DeTomaso Mangusta: A Critical Look, Part II

October 6, 2010 By pete

The elusive Mangusta Spyder. The VIN is 8MA512, making it the 7th chassis made. Photo courtesy of Mike Drew.

By Wallace Wyss

Meanwhile what to do with the Mangustas? After Ford turned thumbs down on the ‘Goose, DeTomaso connected with Kjell Qvale (pronounced SHELL QUE-VOLLEY) a successful car importer in downtown San Francisco. [Read more…] about DeTomaso Mangusta: A Critical Look, Part II

Qvale’s Mangusta

July 15, 2009 By Wally

“And here’s another fine mess you’ve gotten me into…”

A tale of intrigue from the 1990s
By Wallace Alfred Wyss

Back in the 1960s, when mid-engined was becoming all the rage, Giorgetto Giugiaro, then a designer at Ghia, penned such a car for Iso Rivolta.

Not that Iso, a car builder making sports cars with Chevrolet and Ford V8s, wanted the car. The owner of Iso, Renzo Rivolta, liked front-engined cars. He had no intention of making a mid-engined car.

But his two top engineers, Dallara and Bizzarrini, did like mid-engined cars and hoped they would talk Renzo into it once he was knocked over by its beauty. It used styling elements from the Iso Fidia, a four seat, front-engined car that Giugiaro had already designed. But Rivolta said “no” in a way they could understand and Alejandro de Tomaso, at the time owner of Ghia Carrozzeria, picked up the design himself to use as a Ghia show car. He put it on a backbone chassis he had designed for a race car he was building with Carroll Shelby until Der Snakemeister dropped out of the project.

The car, if it was really styled by Gandini, will not be remembered as much as his Countach and other Lamborghinis.

The result was the mid-engined Mangusta, which soon went into production. While the 302-cu. in. Ford powered version that came to the US was anemic compared to the car’s potent looks, the car is still revered for its purity of design. Few production cars look so much like the prototype.

Flash forwards a few decades to 1996. De Tomaso rolls out the Bigua prototype, a front-engined car using more than a little Ford Mustang input including the engine and transmission. The chassis was a box section steel chassis and the suspension independent all the way around.

Independent rear suspension and a steel box section chassis made the Qvale handle.

The designer credited is Marcello Gandini, famous in Italy for doing the Miura (although Giugiaro hints he designed that at Bertone) the Countach, and many other Lamborghinis.
It is a blunt car, somewhat reminiscent in general shape of the Trumph TR7/TR8 and its only claim to uniqueness is a unique top that rolls up out of a well, similar to the top in a roll top desk.

The best thing about the DeTomaso/Qvale Mangusta is that you can obtain engine parts at any auto parts store in America–a similar advantage by those who own Jenson Interceptors, Isos, and Monteverdis.

The engine was a 4.6 liter Ford V8 a quad cam version also used in the Mustang Cobra. It was a lot more powerful, at 320 hp than the 230-hp the 302 used in the original mid-engined US spec Mangusta. (Another source lists the Ford 4-cam as having only 305 hp.) The Mustang engine had 314 ft-lbs. of torque. Transmission choices were a Borg Warner 5-speed manual or a computer controlled 4-speed automatic. Gas mileage was 17 mpg in the city and as high as 28 mpg on the highway.

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