PIC: Something different #187 (10/22/2026)

From AmazingClassic Cars...

1967 De Tomaso Vallelunga (by Ghia)

New York’s Museum of Modern Art put a small fiberglass coupe from Modena on display in 1966, in an exhibition on how racing-car thinking could shape road cars. It fit the brief closely.

Fissore built the early aluminum-bodied prototypes. From 1965, Ghia built the fiberglass-bodied production cars and replaced the fully hinged tail section with a glass engine hatch.

Alejandro de Tomaso had arrived in Italy in 1955, after being implicated in a plot against Argentine President Juan Perón. Three years later, he shared a class-winning OSCA at Le Mans.

His first road car leaned on that experience. A pressed-steel backbone used the 1.5-liter Ford Kent four (the Cortina engine) as a stressed member, and the double-wishbone front and multilink rear suspension drew on De Tomaso’s racing cars.

With 105 hp and about 1,600 pounds (726 kg) to move, it reached 112 mph.

This example has been modified, with widened fenders and a supercharged Ford four-cylinder from a period Formula 3 car in place of the original engine.

Ghia built roughly 50 production cars before the V-8 Mangusta took over, riding on a strengthened version of the same backbone.