Manufacturers  /  De Tomaso

De Tomaso

Modena, Italy · est. 1959

Ford muscle in Ghia tailoring — Modena's Argentine outsider.

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Period
1959–
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The house

Ford muscle in Ghia tailoring — Modena's Argentine outsider.

Founded
1959
Alejandro de Tomaso, Argentine-born racing driver, established the company in Modena in October 1959 — racing cars first, road cars from 1963.
The badge
A cattle brand
The T-shaped mark is the brand of de Tomaso's Argentine ranching family, set on the Argentine flag turned on its side.
Mangusta
401 built
1967–1971, Giugiaro-drawn at Ghia over a backbone chassis; factory tallies say 401 or 402. Mangusta is Italian for mongoose — the animal that kills cobras.
Pantera
≈7,260 over 21 years
Tom Tjaarda's steel monocoque with the Ford 351 Cleveland amidships, sold 1971–1992; Ford moved 5,000-plus through Lincoln-Mercury before pulling out after 1974.
The empire years
Maserati 1976–1993
De Tomaso also owned Ghia, Vignale, Innocenti and Moto Guzzi at various points — an industrial patron as much as a constructor.

Selected milestones

A bloodline, not a list.

  1. 1959

    Modena, via Buenos Aires

    De Tomaso Automobili is founded to build racing cars; the badge carries the family's Argentine cattle brand.

  2. 1967

    The Mangusta

    Giugiaro's mid-engined coupé with centre-hinged gullwing engine covers debuts on the modified P70 backbone — Ford V8 behind the seats.

  3. 1971

    Pantera through Lincoln-Mercury

    The Tjaarda-styled Pantera reaches American showrooms; the L of 1972 adds the black safety bumpers and the build quality Road Test names Import Car of the Year for 1973.

  4. 1974

    Ford steps out

    The US programme ends after roughly six thousand cars; Modena keeps building the Pantera in small series for another eighteen years.

  5. 1976

    Maserati joins the house

    De Tomaso takes control of Maserati and runs it until the 1993 sale to Fiat — the outsider now a Modenese institution.

  6. 2004

    The founder's era closes

    After Alejandro de Tomaso's death in 2003 the original company is liquidated; later revivals carry the name under new ownership.

What defines De Tomaso

Pragmatic exotica

Italian design and chassis craft over proven American V8s — supercar theatre without supercar fragility.

The dealer network matters

Selling the Pantera through Lincoln-Mercury put a mid-engined Italian in reach of Main Street — and built the volume no rival matched.

A racer's restlessness

From Formula 1 constructors' entries to buying Maserati outright, de Tomaso treated the industry itself as his racetrack.