http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2471557815&category=6472 Anyone ever DRIVEN one of these?
I have driven one. Imagine a fancy rebodied Mustang convertible, circa 1991, only without the stout chassis and refined handling. Who am I kidding? The Mustang convertible is as flexible as a sheet of cheese. This car is actually worse. If you want a car with Mustang bits, get a Panoz and forget all about this pile of automotive junk.
Get your name down at your local MG dealer. They have a reworked version which they're going to call the MG SV coming out. Think it's only a coupe at present, and is meant to be quite good (according to some). Styling is a fair bit better than the QVale monstrosity, but remember that you can't polish a turd.
styling is by Peter Stevens - McLaren F1. The Qvale was originally a DeTomaso project - taken over by QVale when they ran into financial problems AFAIK.
I heard DeTomaso and Qvale had a falling out, and DeTomaso pulled out because of this, requiring Qvale to remove the DeTomaso badging, but Qvale got to keep the Mangusta name. Thank God, this car is nothing like the beautiful original Mangusta.
I'll go along with you on that one, Matt. I have a '69 DeTomaso Mangusta, and I remember describing the car to a young lady who does interior design for me. I told her I felt it was one of the most beautifully proportioned mid-engined cars ever built. Then one day she came into my office after having been to the Chicago Auto Show. She said " I saw a Mangusta at the show and it was......uh......interesting....I guess", with a polite tone. After quizing her I determined that it was the Qvale she saw, and I showed her a photo of my 'Goose. "Oh, thank God." she said. "What a relief. I couldn't believe you could think that thing I saw was well proportioned. It looks like something from a Roger Rabbit cartoon!" That's the thing that really bothered me about Qvale using the Mangusta name. It will tarnish the image of the original. Hopefully Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill II" will help things out. Supposedly "Bill" drives a '69 Mangusta in the movie.