De Tomaso Gems For Sale

By Christopher Raymond

Christopher Raymond

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1 1,400 views Apr 8, 2010

De Tomaso Guara on eBay

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Craigslist and eBay are the best places to look at cars you have no intention of buying. This is a good thing, because many of the cars are hiding more problems than you could ever afford to fix and some even have stolen VIN tags. Occasionally, there are some interesting finds, and today we are focusing on four cars representing the life of the De Tomaso brand.

De Tomaso Automobili SpA is an Italian car company founded in 1959 by Alejandro de Tomaso and is the product of another race car driver who wanted to build cars. Over the years, the company purchased the Ghia and Vignale design studios, the car makers Maserati and Innocenti, and the Benelli and Moto Guzzi motorcycle brands. De Tomaso also partnered with Ford to create the popular Pantera and Qvale for the Qvale Mangusta.

De Tomaso suffered from a long history of marriages that went bad and was responsible for more than its share of atrocious cars. A look back over the years will bring up embarrassments like the Biturbo, a car that almost ruined the Maserati name, Shamal and Ghibli II, which were desperate redos of the Biturbo, the obscene Chrysler TC Maserati and the hideous Dodge 024 de Tomaso.

Today, however, things are much better. Maserati is again producing cars that live up to its heritage and De Tomaso was recently purchased by a former Fiat executive with plans to bring back the marque. So, on that happy note here are my four picks of the week:

1969 De Tomaso Mangusta
Known more for its design than its quality, this Mangusta was made in a limited run of 401 cars and about 200 are left on the roads. A completely restored example fitted with a new 302 cubic-inch racing motor can be found for sale only for $55,000.

1972 De Tomaso Longchamp
Built as a coupe version of the Deauville, which was aimed at the Jaguar XJ series, it sports another Ford V-8 and is one of only 395 coupes produced from 1974 to 1989. It was a true Grand Touring car, rare but unpopular, and styled somewhere between a Mercedes-Benz and a Lancia.

1973 De Tomaso GTS Pantera
This was the George Clooney of the family. Anyone with money who wanted an Italian car with American muscle bought a Pantera, and for much less than a Ferrari or Lamborghini. Ford V-8 power, Ghia wedge design and sold through Ford, some six thousand examples were made up until 1993. Later examples started to lose their Italian looks, becoming more like Batman rejects and shark-nosed kit cars. This was the car of rock stars and rich delinquents and eBay is loaded with both good and bad examples.

1996 De Tomaso Guara
This is the car that replaced the Pantera and the last project of founder Alejandro de Tomaso. One of only 50 in the world and powered by a Cobra 4.6-liter V-8, this car is the last of the breed. Based on the Maserati Barchetta, it has a true formula one Indy car suspension, the looks of a squashed Mazda, and will set you back around $100,000.