Last time around, I explained why the Miura is not the first mid-engine car, and also why the Auto Union and the Ford GT40 cannot be considered as production cars. So what is?
Well, it had a 104 hp engine from a Ford family saloon, the Cortina, and the basic gearbox from a Volkswagen Beetle. Some suspension bits were even shared with Triumph, a small British sports car manufacturer. Doesn't sound very exotic, does it? Well it wasn't. It was made by the famous Italian design and coach-building firm Ghia. (Ghia trivia: it was bought entirely by Ford, and became a variant for most of their European line-up. Talk about brand dilution!)
It was the De Tomaso Vallelunga. And I hadn't heard of it before I started researching for this piece either. De Tomaso is a small Italian company, which shares its hometown with Ferrari, in Modena! In the '60s, they were well known for their advanced designs and mid-engined -ness. The only De Tomaso I had heard of was the Pantera, which makes an appearance at the train heist in Fast Five.
The Vallelunga was De Tomaso's first production car. With its tubular aluminium (no, I'm not American, there is an extra 'i') chassis and fibreglass body, this little car could achieve a dizzying top-speed of 134 mph. What's that? Your mom's school bus is faster?
Perhaps the biggest reason why people do not know of the existence of this car is because they were rare. They were very rare. They were 'only 53 cars made' rare! No wonder when Lamborghini turned up with its eye-lined and mascara shod little bull, the whole world forgot about the other car company from Modena. This little fibreglass thing, with its Ford Cortina engine and Volkswagen Beetle transaxle was launched in 1963, and that was 3 years before the Lamborghini made its first public appearance. So there you go; next time someone on TV tells you about Lamborghini making the first mid-engined car, shout at the... erm... TV?
Well, it had a 104 hp engine from a Ford family saloon, the Cortina, and the basic gearbox from a Volkswagen Beetle. Some suspension bits were even shared with Triumph, a small British sports car manufacturer. Doesn't sound very exotic, does it? Well it wasn't. It was made by the famous Italian design and coach-building firm Ghia. (Ghia trivia: it was bought entirely by Ford, and became a variant for most of their European line-up. Talk about brand dilution!)
It was the De Tomaso Vallelunga. And I hadn't heard of it before I started researching for this piece either. De Tomaso is a small Italian company, which shares its hometown with Ferrari, in Modena! In the '60s, they were well known for their advanced designs and mid-engined -ness. The only De Tomaso I had heard of was the Pantera, which makes an appearance at the train heist in Fast Five.
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| The Vallelunga, styled by Ghia. De Tomaso's first production car. Picture Courtesy www.carstyling.ru |
The Vallelunga was De Tomaso's first production car. With its tubular aluminium (no, I'm not American, there is an extra 'i') chassis and fibreglass body, this little car could achieve a dizzying top-speed of 134 mph. What's that? Your mom's school bus is faster?
Perhaps the biggest reason why people do not know of the existence of this car is because they were rare. They were very rare. They were 'only 53 cars made' rare! No wonder when Lamborghini turned up with its eye-lined and mascara shod little bull, the whole world forgot about the other car company from Modena. This little fibreglass thing, with its Ford Cortina engine and Volkswagen Beetle transaxle was launched in 1963, and that was 3 years before the Lamborghini made its first public appearance. So there you go; next time someone on TV tells you about Lamborghini making the first mid-engined car, shout at the... erm... TV?
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