DeTomaso race cars--Does Mecum have the chronology straight? | FerrariChat

DeTomaso race cars--Does Mecum have the chronology straight?

Discussion in 'Other Italian' started by bitzman, Dec 12, 2020.

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  1. bitzman

    bitzman F1 Rookie
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    Two DeTomaso race cars are coming up for sale at a Mecum auction Jan. 16th. As I read their press release alarm bells rang. My questions are in bold. Anybody know more?--Bitzman

    from Mecum Magazine

    By SCOTT MEAD

    Photography by SCOTT MEAD

    When most auto aficionados think of the Italian automaker DeTomaso, the image most remembered is that of the Pantera—the low-slung, Ford 351 Cleveland-powered, Tjaarda-designed two seater, imported through Lincoln-Mercury dealers from 1971 through 1974. Well before Tom Tjaarda put pencil to paper to create the iconic sports car, Alejandro DeTomaso was mostly known as a race car driver, designer and builder, and two of his earliest attempts at creating a race-winning auto are now slated to cross the Mecum auction block this January 7-16 in Kissimmee, Florida.

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    Born in Argentina, DeTomaso fled to Italy in 1955 after being implicated in a plot to overthrow Juan Peron,
    (never heard of a plot, I heard it was because as a student journalist, he criticized Peron--Bitzman)Argentina’s then president. After settling in Bologna, Alejandro started work for the Maserati brother’s Officine Specializzate Costruzione Automobili (otherwise known as OSCA) as a test driver. At his OSCA post, DeTomaso would meet his future wife, Elizabeth Haskell, a fellow racer and granddaughter of William C. Durant (one of GM’s founders), the two marrying in 1957. In 1959, DeTomaso bid OSCA ciao, and Alejandro and Isabelle (Elizabeth took the Italian version of her name) headed to Modena, where they established a prototype and race car company, DeTomaso Automobili SpA. It’s here that DeTomaso would design and produce cars for a variety of classes: the likes of sports cars, Formula Junior, Formula 3, Formula 2 and Formula 1, utilizing his own aluminum backbone chassis designs coupled with Ford, OSCA or Alfa powertrains.

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    By the early 1960s, an unlikely pairing of a small Italian prototyping shop and a former chicken farmer would come to pass. In early 1964, Carroll Shelby faced a dilemma: he had heard a rumor that Bruce McLaren was going to exploit the lenient regulations of USRRC and introduce a 7.0L-powered car. But Shelby first had to ensure his Cobra would still dominate the Corvettes in SCCA. Time being of the essence, Shelby enlisted DeTomaso to build a new car, one that could meet McLaren head on. With Shelby providing the financing and DeTomaso doing the engineering, Shelby Daytona Coupe designer Peter Brock dusted off the plans for the Lang Cooper and sent them to Italy’s Medardo Fantuzzi’s carrozzeria to create the body.
    (Brock told me decades ago that Ghia built the first one, he went to Italy and was so dis-satisfied he took the chassis down to Fantuzzis and done over--Bitzman)

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    A modified Ford 289 CI V-8 was fitted to the backbone chassis, the engine and transaxle being fully stressed members. Ford’s cast iron 427 big-block engine was significantly heavier than the small-block—due, in part, to the manufacturer’s unwillingness to produce it in aluminum—and being that it was physically impossible to bore/stroke the 289 mill to 427, the engine was opened to 414 CI, producing 526 HP.

    With the mockup completed in January of 1965, Shelby traveled to Modena to inspect the car and wasn’t impressed with Fantuzzi’s interpretation of the Brock design. As the story goes, Carroll picked up the phone, called Brock, and said something to the effect of “Pack your bags; you’re going to Italy … now,” instructing him to help redo the disappointing bodywork upon arrival. At Fantuzzi’s shop, Brock integrated the windscreen into the form of the body, keeping the airflow uninterrupted to the aft adjustable rear wing to increase downforce in the turns. Full doors allowed it to meet the GT requirements. The new design was dubbed the P70 (Prototype 7.0L), and Fantuzzi’s first attempt: the Sport 5000 (as it would carry a 5.0L V-8). Then, just as the finishing touches were being put on the P70, Brock received a phone call from Shelby: he had just been given the authority to revamp Ford’s GT40 program. Shelby was canceling the P70 program and needed Brock to come back to Los Angeles immediately. The directive was to get to the airport in Rome ASAP, there was a ticket home waiting for him at the counter. With the P70 stillborn, DeTomaso had it disassembled and placed in a darkened back corner of the Modena factory, where it was to sit in silence for some 40 years.

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    After Shelby withdrew his backing, de Tomaso needed another backer to keep the project alive and turned to coachbuilder Ghia as a sponsor. With a 5.0L V-8 sporting aluminum cylinder heads, special cam and a full house of Weber 48 IDA carburetors, the Sport 5000’s engine produced 475 HP and 7,300 RPM. The car was officially completed on September 3, 1965, and renamed the “Ghia DeTomaso,” just before its debut at the Turin Autoshow. Road & Track featured the car on the cover of its March 1966 edition, stating, “One of the most interesting of the new cars at the Turin show was the new Group 9 competition car, the Ghia-DeTomaso … The body shape is mostly convention from the engine forward and quite unusual from that point back. The tail section reflects some fresh thinking along aerodynamic lines, as have many of the new designs in the past two years or so … Unusual also is the skirting of the rear wheels with sheet metal. It has been almost a universal practice to leave the rear wheels open, probably for easy access and the hope of better brake cooling, but enclosing them as Brock has done promises to improve boundary layer control in that area and should thus reduce drag a little. As can be seen from the photographs, access to the rear wheels is gained by tilting the engine cover back.”

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    DeTomaso made a few more modifications and fielded the car as the “DeTomaso Sport 5000” in the 1966 Mugello 500 km race, with Roberto Bussinello taking on the driving duties. On the starting grid, it easily pulled away from a Ferrari 250LM as a result of its significantly lower weight and massive down force from the rear wing. Unfortunately, the car retired with a shorted battery on the first lap of the race. It would be the last time the car was seen by the public. Although it was entered for the 1967 12 hours of Sebring—and later at the 1,000 km Monza—the car never arrived for competition. The Sport 5000 was put into storage at the DeTomaso factory, where it collected dust over the next 40 years, only resurfacing publicly after Alejandro DeTomaso’s death in 2004.
    (I have seen pictures of the DeTomaso factory museum, It was well lit, and this May 02 photo looks like one of the cars was not hidden in a dark corner--Bitzman)

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    In 2005, with the factory under liquidation, the DeTomaso family sold the Sport 5000 to Belgian Collector Paul Grant, who ran the car in several historic races before it was sold to a USA-based enthusiast. Today, the Sport 5000 remains remarkably well preserved, sorted and completely functional. After nearly 50 years since its first public debut, the car’s paint and livery are relatively untouched, the original HiPo 475 HP, 5.0L engine remains fitted, mated to the original DeTomaso-designed, Collati-inspired 5-speed transaxle. As for the P70, the body panels and components were purchased from the de Tomaso estate and assembled into their original guise. Now fully rebuilt stem to stern—its refurbishment inspired by Peter Brock himself—the meticulous restoration was debuted at The Quail in 2015. The P70 graces the cover of Brock’s latest book, “The Road to Modena: Origins and History of the Shelby-DeTomaso P70 Can-Am Sports Racer.”

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    Together, these two one-of-a-kind DeTomaso autos represent a notable period of history for what has since become a celebrated, memorable and highly collectible Italian marque, and amazingly, both will be available for purchase at the upcoming return of the world’s largest collector car auction this January 7-16 in Kissimmee. It’s a moment that is certain to be as historic as the vehicles themselves.

    OFFERED JANUAR

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  2. bitzman

    bitzman F1 Rookie
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    That last picture by Charley McCall is from 2002 which shows the car was not sitting undiscovered in a dark corner. Meanwhile found picture of what I think was the first Ghia version which Brock told me he rejected and took the chassis to Fantuzzi,
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  3. Mang

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    Was there one on offer at vdvgrant not too long ago? I seem to remember one in their inventory for what seemed like years?
     
  4. bitzman

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    #4 bitzman, Dec 13, 2020
    Last edited: Dec 13, 2020
    That's the one. Somebody at Fchat said they couldn't get vdvGrant to vet the chassis. Seems to me if it ain't the chassis that was shown at the auto show it is not the P70, Since i posted this i found Bonhams had the car at the Quail auction 2019 and admits in their description only the body was found by Mr. Olyzyk and a new chassis built for it, which Mecum doesn't bother to mention in their description for the upcoming sale. Does anybody have Pete Brock's book on the car,

    Road to Modena: Origins & History of the Shelby - De Tomaso P70

    what does he say about any re-chassis job being done?
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  5. bitzman

    bitzman F1 Rookie
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    He doesn't mention it. He shows a photo of the two cars being built side by side but I say that could just be two bodies being built, that doesn't men there are chassis underneath.
     
  6. DenisC

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    My understanding is that the originally Pete was sponsored by Shelby but he was at the time not working for Shelby. This would have been the 1st BRE venture. The 1st car was sublet to another shop (Pete does not recall who, it was not Ghia), The proportions were wrong and the driver space between the steering and seat was too short - blamed on inch to metric conversions. No idea as to the original powertrain, it now lives in Germany with a Porsche engine. When Pete went to DeTomaso he was sent to Fantuzi with DeTomaso's blessing. Pete worked side by side with the Fantuzzi crew and hand build the original car at the time known as Ghia DeTomaso Sport 5000. The car's build was well documented by American Journalist Ron Wakefield who was at the time living in Italy (see Road & Track March 1966) . Shortly after last Wakefield meeting Pete was told the return to the USA as Shelby withdrew his funding and moved on to the GT40 project. There was no mention of P70 nomenclature. The second iterations was built at Ghia as certain FIA rules had changed and the original body was reworked. There are no pictures of the second body in the wild in any period magazine or from any vintage fan pictures. As stated, most the Fantuzzi panels were found ad re-assembled. No photo documentation has ever been available to show completeness of the car. Research show both cars were registered with the same certificate of origin, but in 2 different countries. Today these cars have been fully restored and undated and identifying the original component would be fairly difficult. DeTomaso had also invested time in building a special motor for this project. The engineers had recast the small block Ford in aluminum, build new Heron style aluminum heads, aluminum intake, created a flat crank and dry sump system and fed the whole thing with a Tecalemit injections pump. Power was claimed at 475HP
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    staatsof and Mang like this.

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