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It was practically inescapable that the DeTomaso Vallelunga would be crafted in tiny numbers, given that it was a pricey and compromised machine from an unidentified model. By the time the final Vallelunga was made in 1965, just 50 experienced been created by Ghia alongside with 3 aluminum-bodied protoypes and 5 alloy-bodied levels of competition vehicles.
Just 1 of the Vallelungas produced was proper-hand drive and it was developed for Colonel Ronnie Hoare, Ferrari importer for the U.K. His system was to in shape a 148-hp Lotus twin-cam motor to build a true pocket-sized road rocket, but he discovered the Vallelunga just far too under-created to be feasible. He then sold the motor vehicle on in 1970, by which place DeTomaso was on the verge of unveiling his greatest-known auto, the Pantera.
Rare and obscure, Vallelungas are the most precious cars in the DeTomaso legacy. Though a museum-grade (#1 condition) Mangusta specced with the increased-output engine and crafted amongst 1967 and 1970 tops out at $325,000, a Vallelunga in such much better-than-manufacturing facility problem is really worth $390,000. For a driver-excellent example with a handful of scuffs and bruises, you are hunting at $245,000—more than $80K much more than the most useful Pantera (a 1988 GT model in #1 problem). The very first of the DeTomaso highway autos barely ever pop up for sale, either.
While imperfect at its debut, the Vallelunga recognized the formula of mid-motor Ford electric power beneath hanging Ghia human body operate that the later Mangusta and Pantera would render in increased size and manufacturing depend. Four yrs after the roadster debuted at Turin, DeTomaso would catch the attention of the eye of Lee Iacocca, then Ford’s executive vice president, and leverage its Lincoln-Mercury supplier network for considerably less sensitive, extra obtainable offerings. As a assertion of DeTomaso’s wild, authentic eyesight, nevertheless, the Vallelunga will constantly stand apart.
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