DeTomaso’s rare, forgotten Vallelunga was the Pantera’s rough draft — Petersen Automotive Museum

It was almost inevitable that the DeTomaso Vallelunga would be crafted in little figures, because it was a pricey and compromised machine from an unknown manufacturer. By the time the final Vallelunga was created in 1965, just 50 experienced been produced by Ghia alongside with three aluminum-bodied protoypes and 5 alloy-bodied level of competition vehicles.

Just a single of the Vallelungas manufactured was appropriate-hand generate and it was created for Colonel Ronnie Hoare, Ferrari importer for the U.K. His program was to match a 148-hp Lotus twin-cam motor to produce a correct pocket-sized road rocket, but he observed the Vallelunga only much too underneath-produced to be viable. He then bought the automobile on in 1970, by which place DeTomaso was on the verge of unveiling his ideal-known motor vehicle, the Pantera.

Scarce and obscure, Vallelungas are the most beneficial motor vehicles in the DeTomaso legacy. Though a museum-quality (#1 problem) Mangusta specced with the increased-output engine and developed involving 1967 and 1970 tops out at $325,000, a Vallelunga in these kinds of superior-than-manufacturing unit problem is well worth $390,000. For a driver-high quality example with a couple of scuffs and bruises, you are wanting at $245,000—more than $80K much more than the most useful Pantera (a 1988 GT design in #1 problem). The first of the DeTomaso street vehicles barely at any time pop up for sale, possibly.

Although imperfect at its debut, the Vallelunga proven the method of mid-motor Ford power beneath putting Ghia human body function that the afterwards Mangusta and Pantera would render in larger dimensions and manufacturing depend. 4 yrs right after the roadster debuted at Turin, DeTomaso would bring in the eye of Lee Iacocca, then Ford’s govt vice president, and leverage its Lincoln-Mercury dealer community for significantly less delicate, a lot more obtainable offerings. As a assertion of DeTomaso’s wild, unique vision, on the other hand, the Vallelunga will usually stand apart.

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