What's in a name? When it comes to Alejandro De Tomaso's first car, quite a lot actually. 'Mangusta' is Italian for mongoose, a fierce natural enemy of the cobra. A bitter rivalry from the animal world taken to the automotive; very, very cool.
Funnily enough, the Mangusta recipe wasn't too dissimilar to the Cobra's. Of course the De Tomaso was a new design but both cloaked big Ford V8s in impossibly pretty bodies. They both perfectly encapsulate the era too, where performance and style was king with little regard for anything else.
With the infamous Pantera perhaps De Tomaso's most famous model, to see a Mangusta is a rare privilege. This 1969 car is being sold by RM Auctions in its May Monaco sale; it says something of the calibre of the lots that this car resides in the catalogue with far more glamorous metal.
An early quad-light Mangusta, it has been restored to its glorious first Lime colour and is reputedly free from modifications to standard mechanical spec. It still has the original jack!
There isn't yet an estimate for the De Tomaso, but there was recently a Mangusta in the PH Classifieds for £149,995. This one even has a recent MOT, so what's stopping you? Register to bid at the RM site!
More info on the car here.