De Tomaso Zonda

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De Tomaso
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Zonda
Presentation year: 1971
Vehicle fair: Geneva Motor Show
Class : Sports car
Body shape : Coupe
Engine: Otto engine :
5.8 liters
Production model: none

The De Tomaso Zonda was a sports car made by the Italian car manufacturer de Tomaso , which was presented as a prototype in 1971. It was a proposal for a sports coupe located above the De Tomaso Pantera , which de Tomaso hoped to market with the support of the US company Ford . Series production did not materialize.

background

The Modena- based company Automobili De Tomaso, after initially designing racing cars for Formula 1, has been manufacturing road sports cars since the mid-1960s. The Vallelunga from 1963, which was produced in 55 copies, was followed three years later with the Mangusta De Tomasos, the first sports car, which was equipped with a large US eight-cylinder engine. 400 vehicles were built by him in four years. In search of a larger sales market, the company entered into a relationship with the Ford group in 1969 . In connection with a larger deal, which also included the takeover of the body manufacturer Ghia, which belongs to Alejandro de Tomaso , Ford was ready to sell a revised, everyday version of the Mangusta in large numbers on the US market. De Tomaso then further developed the Mangusta into the Pantera, which had an independent body and an improved chassis, but conceptually largely resembled its predecessor. Ford drove the Italian-built Pantera 1971 in the United States through the network of Lincoln - Mercury dealers. The project was initially a success; by 1974 Ford was able to sell more than 5000 Panteras.

At the beginning of the 1970s, de Tomaso tried to expand the model range. The company provided the Pantera with the four-door Deauville sedan , and the Longchamp notchback coupé derived from it appeared a year later . They also had a mass-produced Ford engine and a body designed by Tom Tjaarda . Unlike the Pantera, Ford did not sell the Deauville and Longchamp in the USA ; The limited marketing to Europe meant that both models only achieved average three-digit production figures in 15 years.

As part of the expansion efforts, De Tomaso also considered expanding the model range to include an exclusive front-engined sports coupé that would be located above the Pantera and would compete with the top models from Ferrari and Maserati .

The first designs for the body went back to the Milanese fashion designer Giulia Moselli , who was friends with Alejandro de Tomaso ; however, she only provided superficial sketches. Tom Tjaarda, who at the time was Head of Design at Carrozzeria Ghia, was responsible for the detailed design . Ghia also made a prototype that was shown publicly at the 1971 Geneva Motor Show. With this prototype, De Tomaso Maserati's tradition of naming car models after winds. The hatchback coupe was named Zonda , which referred to a strong wind in the Argentine Andes. Ford and De Tomaso did not agree on series production in the period that followed; Ford refused to import it into the US because the projected sales price of $ 14,000 did not suggest profitable sales. De Tomaso was not able to develop the Zonda to series production on his own. Therefore the project was not pursued any further. The whereabouts of the prototype is unclear.

Model description

The De Tomaso Zonda had an elongated hatchback body that was clearly reminiscent of the Maserati Ghibli designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro in terms of proportions and profile . It had a long, low bonnet, a passenger compartment set far back, and a sloping rear roofline. As with the Ghibli, there were only small side windows behind the doors. Pop-up headlights were installed in front . Technically, the Zonda was based on the front engine platform of the De Tomaso Deauville, which was, however, shortened. The drive was the 5.8 liter eight-cylinder V-engine from Ford known from the other De Tomaso models. According to Tom Tjaarda, the prototype was not ready to drive and had no engine.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Manuel Bordini: De Tomaso visto da vicino: intervista a Tom Tjaarda. www.vitadistile.com, November 10, 2015, accessed February 8, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Comparison of the Maserati Ghibli with other, similarly designed sports cars (accessed February 7, 2017).