RE: De Tomaso Longchamp: You Know You Want To

[Finlandese]

B10 said:

Twincam16 said:

B10 said:

Your comment that the Deauville influenced the XJ40 is a little misplaced. The Deauville was very much influenced by the 1968 Jaguar.

It wasn't. The Ghia styling of the Deauville was actually finalised before the XJ6 S1 was released in 1968, and was itself an evolution of Giugiaro's De Tomaso Mangusta and Tom Tjaarda's 1966 Lancia Marica concept.

I can also assure any detractors that the gearbox in that car is perfectly suited to it and doesn't need ripping out and changing. The torque of the engine (which is a Ford Motorsport Australia-tuned unit) is so instant it pulls hard whenever you put your foot down. You don't even notice the changes, it acts like one massive variable ratio. Putting a ZF or a Tremec in would turn it into a jerky, awkward jack-of-all-trades when it is already one of the best GTs of its era - far superior to the contemporary Aston Martin V8, in fact.

Interesting. Not doubting your knowledge. Just the C pilar / hump and tapering tail is very similar to the XJ6, which in itself is an evolution of the MK10 / S type rear. Great minds etc....

Well, Tom Tjaarda himself said that the Deauville was designed on DeTomaso´s order to make an Italian Jaguar. Longchamp was a development of the Lancia Marica concept.

Funny thing is that when the press gave DeTomaso hard time for the Jag crib, he blamed Tjaarda... Not an easy man to work for, but on the whole at least Tjaarda seemed to enjoy it.

Edited by Finlandese on Thursday 7th March 17:58

[anything fast]

this is odd for me as i usually love this kind of thing, old skool, RWD, big engine etc, but this just looks like a badly bodykitted 2 door Cortina with fat tyres. Would buy it if it was £2000! but for real money.. no thanks not for me.

[Wills2]

I love that car, so cool.

[dinkel]

Phils beastie:

2007 Sunday Service


2008 Ace Caf Eve.

It's big, it's very stylish and it has that addictive FORD rumble.

[dinkel]

Note the updated Audi headlights on the 2008 snap.

[Paul M]

You Know You Want To

Yes I probably would!

The "practical" Pantera. Remembered from my childhood when such names were exotic and exciting.

[tali1]

F reg must be one of the last sold in UK

[quiraing]

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://3.bp....

Note - Mk1 Ford Granada headlights and indicators.

[Pesty]

Transmitter man has damn fine taste in cars.


Longchamp would be on my lottery win list.

[rohrl]

I nominated the Longchamp in a "Most Manly Cars" thread a while back.

I suspect it came from the factory with a chest-wig, medallion and stick-on moustache in the glovebox.

[f1ten]

Yes it would be in my top 50 carsbto buy. I just need some moneynow

astra la vista said:

+1

the fact you could drive it around and not see another appeals to me. only 20 de tomaso cars (not specified) on howmanyleft.

Yes

[Drums]

Always look at this in the classifieds, absolutely love it. One of those rare cars where despite its imperfections everything about it appeals to me.

[pSynrg]

365daytonafan said:

Looks like the dealer wants rid?

It's in Historics auction this weekend! http://www.historics.co.uk/buying/auctions/2013-03...

So let me get this straight. The car is in the PH classifieds and it's advertised elsewhere. Yes, I think you are right, the car is for sale.

[MonteV]

American power in a European chassis. This is a car for the ones who prefer the thrust and thump of American iron, and yet want a chassis that works better than the yank ones, a svelt looking body (although its 1800 kgs/4000 lbs) and a nicer interior. At least on the later models.

Rear suspension is claimed to be similar to Jaguar but with different seals. Here's a list with interchangeable parts: http://home.comcast.net/~parapantera/site/?/page/L...

The Longchamp has got one great advantage over the Kyalami - you can easily get 500+ horsepower cheaply out of the engine. For the equivalent of £4500 in parts you get a 524 hp, 480lb-ft engine:
http://www.mustangandfords.com/techarticles/engine...

About the price, even though this looks nicely kept it's too much. Haggle, haggle, haggle. If you look around you could probably find a manual version, or a convertible one.

Oh, yes, put in one of those Nardi wood rimmed steering wheels - it'll suit the interior. Have a look here: http://www.motorstown.com/images/de-tomaso-longcha...

Edited by MonteV on Thursday 7th March 21:27

Edited by MonteV on Thursday 7th March 21:29

Edited by MonteV on Thursday 7th March 21:32

[TrivsTom]

I've seen F98 SUU (on the internet) quite a lot, it was for sale for around the same price not to far from me (in Suffolk) a little while ago. The GTSE is one of six..pretty rare thing.

[Schnellmann]

Quite a coincidence but the day after reading this I met up with a friend after not seeing him for a few months...and he just bought a Longchamp! Dark blue with a manual gearbox. Apparently in unrestored (but not rotten) condition.

I was thinking that I couldn't recall ever seeing a Longchamp and now I should get a ride.

[Twincam16]

Finlandese said:

B10 said:

Twincam16 said:

B10 said:

Your comment that the Deauville influenced the XJ40 is a little misplaced. The Deauville was very much influenced by the 1968 Jaguar.

It wasn't. The Ghia styling of the Deauville was actually finalised before the XJ6 S1 was released in 1968, and was itself an evolution of Giugiaro's De Tomaso Mangusta and Tom Tjaarda's 1966 Lancia Marica concept.

I can also assure any detractors that the gearbox in that car is perfectly suited to it and doesn't need ripping out and changing. The torque of the engine (which is a Ford Motorsport Australia-tuned unit) is so instant it pulls hard whenever you put your foot down. You don't even notice the changes, it acts like one massive variable ratio. Putting a ZF or a Tremec in would turn it into a jerky, awkward jack-of-all-trades when it is already one of the best GTs of its era - far superior to the contemporary Aston Martin V8, in fact.

Interesting. Not doubting your knowledge. Just the C pilar / hump and tapering tail is very similar to the XJ6, which in itself is an evolution of the MK10 / S type rear. Great minds etc....

Well, Tom Tjaarda himself said that the Deauville was designed on DeTomaso´s order to make an Italian Jaguar. Longchamp was a development of the Lancia Marica concept.

Funny thing is that when the press gave DeTomaso hard time for the Jag crib, he blamed Tjaarda... Not an easy man to work for, but on the whole at least Tjaarda seemed to enjoy it.

Edited by Finlandese on Thursday 7th March 17:58

Just out of interest, when did he say that? Because I've asked him about it and he dismissed any notion of it being influenced by Jaguar. They were developed around about the same time, but you can see the way the XJ6 evolved out of the 420 shape, whereas there's a definite squareness to the Deauville that was way ahead of its time. The press did call it an 'overpriced mock-Jaguar', but in reality the styling had been finalised before the Jaguar had come out. Unfortunately they spent two years fine-tuning the ride, handling and NVH and it ended up looking like they'd just copied it. All rather unfortunate really.

The De Tomaso blaming Tjaarda thing (which may have happened in connection with this) sounds like something he told me regarding a sports car concept released in 1971. De Tomaso managed to get his hands on the design sketches for the Fiat X1/9 before Fiat had a chance to put a prototype into production for the motor shows, and really did ask Tjaarda to copy it to make it look like Fiat had nicked his idea. They appeared at the same Turin show and the press gave De Tomaso a bking - criticism he passed in the direction of Tjaarda, claiming he knew nothing about the Fiat plans. Tjaarda stressed that this was the first and last time he was ever asked to copy anything.

[thismonkeyhere]

First set eyes on the Longchamp (spyder) in about 1989, before I could even drive. Have wnated one ever since. Almost certain I never will, but it's nice to daydream......

[Rumblestripe]

I have to say that, aside from the exclusivity and the "what is that car?" thing it has going on, I'd rather have a Jensen Interceptor. Around the same money and rather nicer proportioned IMHO. The Longchamps has some very awkward angles (front 3/4) whilst looking striking from other (rear)

No thanks from me.

[barnshaw]

This cars better looking sisters rear end -