After a disastrous racing relationship with Carroll Shelby, Alejandro de Tomaso created the Mangusta, his second production car. The Italian word “Mongoose” referred to Shelby’s Cobra. The automobile uses early racer parts. A Ford V-8 engine and a racing-inspired chassis made the Mangusta fun, but Giorgetto Giugiaro’s beautiful, flowing form made it a legend. Many of the 401 Mangustas that were built were changed to make them more useful because they were known to be small and hard to move around in. This one got a lot of work done in 2012. De Tomaso’s designs have always been dramatic, but the De Tomaso Mangusta is his most complicated one yet. It was called after someone ran into Carroll Shelby and was meant to get people’s attention. Rudyard Kipling said that people knew mongooses could hunt cobras. The Ford V-8 mid-engine Mangusta was a rough and noisy race car that was made to be driven on the road. Its design was more impressive than its speed, though. It still has the look of a dangerous animal ready to attack thanks to the beautiful lines by Giorgetto Giugiaro. People made fun of the Mangusta because it was more beautiful to look at than to drive. It didn’t kill the Cobra, but it made De Tomaso popular all over the world. Ford saw this and worked with the company to make the more famous and classy Pantera in 1971. Before that, 401 Mangustas were made, such as this 1969 type that is for sale on Bring a Trailer. It is owned by Hearst Autos and Invoice Pricing. Strangely, the Mangusta was De Tomaso’s first mass-produced car and only his second car in total. De Tomaso and his American wife, Isabelle Haskell, started De Tomaso Automobili in 1959 to make race cars. They were both famous racers. To get backers and business partners, they put the Ford Cortina-powered Vallelunga on the road in 1963. It worked out well. By 1964, De Tomaso was working on several projects, such as the P70 racer. Shelby made this car with help from Pete Brock for the United States Road Racing Championship. The frame of the Vallelunga and a 427-cubic-inch Ford 289-cubic-inch V-8 engine would be used. Shelby quit because he was angry that De Tomaso couldn’t finish the car in time for the 1965 race season and that Ford wouldn’t take its small-block engine that far. Having pain, Shelby went on to the GT40, while De Tomaso saved the P70 ideas for another road car. The Mangusta’s mechanical parts included a rear-mounted ZF five-speed gearbox, a Shelby-tuned 289 V-8 engine, and the P70’s basic chassis. The designer De Tomaso looked to Ghia and the famous designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, whom he had just hired, for ideas. The moment Giugiaro left Bertone, he was eager to try out new looks, which he duly did. Bertone’s Lamborghini Miura was the star of the show in Geneva in March 1966, but in Turin, the next October, the future Mangusta stole the show. Invoice Pricing called it “the most beautiful car in the world” because of its low-slung shape, dramatic gullwing-hinged hood pieces, and very clean lines. Shelby and de Tomaso stayed friends, but his name, Mangusta, showed how much he liked being the center of attention. His business needed the press badly, so he suggested a competition. Of course, the car had to be made and sold in the United States for it to be profitable. This is where Haskell’s political understanding and connections came into play. Family members gave her and de Tomaso the money they needed to buy Ghia and build bodies. In the US, cars had to have a 302-cubic-inch V-8 engine with 230 horsepower in order to meet pollution standards, but the Mangusta was able to get around safety rules until 1970. There were no seat belts in any of the cars. Mangustas made a big impact when they first appeared in 1968. They were much cheaper than a Ferrari, even though they cost $11,150. They looked great, too. Even though they were small, weak, and hard to control, they moved quickly. Even by the standards of the 1960s, Mangustas were very small, had bad driving positions, and had painful seats that couldn’t be adjusted. In the early days of supercars, comfort wasn’t always a priority. Since most of the car’s weight was in the back, the suspension had to be extensively tweaked, and better-than-stock tires had to be fitted so that it could handle well. The cabin was too bendy for the V-8’s strength, and the ride was bad; the clutch was heavy, and the shift linkage wasn’t working right. But those looks! It was also made by hand, which meant it could have been done better. Eugene Bordinat, Ford’s design vice president, bought a Mangusta, which got Dearborn interested. However, Ford executives were shocked by De Tomaso’s quality and wanted much higher standards for Pantera. The Mangusta became famous very quickly because of its graceful, rare, and hard-to-handle nature. With time, aftermarket parts, and new tires, most of Mangusta’s problems have been fixed, but it is still beautiful, scary, and fast. This car, which had 24,000 miles on it, got a full repair in 2012, which included a silver paint job and tan leather seats that were red over black at first. It’s ready to use after about 4,000 kilometers. Each drive will be an event that grabs the attention of everyone who sees it, even though it won’t be cheap. If you want to buy this snake charmer with four wheels, you have until May 24 to bid on it.
