DeTomaso’s rare, forgotten Vallelunga was the Pantera’s rough draft — Petersen Automotive Museum
It was just about inevitable that the DeTomaso Vallelunga would be developed in compact quantities, because it was a high-priced and compromised machine from an mysterious brand name. By the time the ultimate Vallelunga was built in 1965, just 50 experienced been created by Ghia along with a few aluminum-bodied protoypes and 5 alloy-bodied level of competition vehicles.
Just one particular of the Vallelungas produced was suitable-hand generate and it was produced for Colonel Ronnie Hoare, Ferrari importer for the U.K. His prepare was to match a 148-hp Lotus twin-cam engine to build a genuine pocket-sized street rocket, but he discovered the Vallelunga simply just as well beneath-developed to be practical. He then offered the motor vehicle on in 1970, by which place DeTomaso was on the verge of unveiling his finest-recognised car or truck, the Pantera.
Rare and obscure, Vallelungas are the most worthwhile autos in the DeTomaso legacy. Although a museum-quality (#1 issue) Mangusta specced with the increased-output motor and constructed among 1967 and 1970 tops out at $325,000, a Vallelunga in these much better-than-factory ailment is well worth $390,000. For a driver-high quality example with a several scuffs and bruises, you’re searching at $245,000—more than $80K extra than the most important Pantera (a 1988 GT product in #1 situation). The first of the DeTomaso highway automobiles hardly at any time pop up for sale, possibly.
Even though imperfect at its debut, the Vallelunga founded the method of mid-motor Ford power below hanging Ghia physique operate that the later on Mangusta and Pantera would render in better sizing and creation count. Four many years following the roadster debuted at Turin, DeTomaso would draw in the eye of Lee Iacocca, then Ford’s govt vice president, and leverage its Lincoln-Mercury seller network for considerably less fragile, more accessible choices. As a statement of DeTomaso’s wild, unique vision, on the other hand, the Vallelunga will generally stand apart.