Comparison between the front end of the De Tomaso Longchamp (top) and Maserati Kyalami (bottom).
The Longchamp was derived from the De Tomaso Deauville four-door saloon, using a shorter wheelbase chassis with the same suspension, engine and transmission. The same platform underpinned the Maserati Kyalami grand tourer and the Maserati Quattroporte III saloon as Maserati was owned by De Tomaso at the time. The Deauville and the Longchamp were the only front engine production cars produced by De Tomaso. The Longchamp was first exhibited at the 1972 Turin Motor Show[2] and was initially offered only as a 2-door 2+2coupé. It was designed by Tom Tjaarda of Ghia and was influenced by his previous Lancia Marica prototype. The taillights were the same units as were used for the Alfa Romeo 1750/2000 saloon.[3] The headlights and front indicators are from the Ford Consul/Granada. The name Longchamp is likely a reference to the Longchamp Racecourse in Paris and/or Longchamps, Buenos Aires, a city near de Tomaso company founder Alejandro de Tomaso's birthplace.
The Longchamp featured a long and wide hood to accommodate the American power train, i.e. the 351cubic inch (5,769cc) Ford Cleveland V8.[4] The 351 Cleveland, a popular and very potent engine in early 1970s Ford muscle cars, was the same unit used in the Pantera. It was rated at a power output of 335PS (246kW; 330hp) and gave the Longchamp an official top speed of 240km/h (149mph). After Ford stopped manufacturing the 351 Cleveland V8 in the US, De Tomaso sourced the engines from Ford Australia. The standard gearbox was a three-speed Ford C-6 Cruise-o-Maticautomatic transmission;[5] however around 17 cars were equipped with a five-speed ZFmanual transmission. The suspension was independent front and rear wishbone unit equipped with coil springs. Steering was power assisted rack and pinion and the car came with vented disc brakes all around with the rear brake discs being positioned inboard. The interior of the car was quite luxurious and it was almost fully upholstered in leather, although the use of Ford sourced parts (steering wheel, gear shift) somewhat diminished the luxurious impression.[6]
Development
Production of the Series 1 began in 1973. For the 1980 model year, the modernised Series 2 was introduced, with slight modifications occurring later as well.
A sporty GTS variant was introduced at the 1980 Turin Motor Show, featuring wider wheels and flared wheel arches.[2] and minor suspension setting differences to better utilise the wider Campagnolo wheels with Pirelli P7 tyres. A Longchamp cabriolet variant ("Spyder") was also introduced alongside the GTS.[7] It was made by Carrozzeria Pavesi of Milan, and a small number of cars were built to GTS specifications.[8] Pavesi also converted a number of older coupés to Spyders.
After supplies of American-built 351 V8s dried up, De Tomaso began sourcing their engines from Australia, to where the production line had been transferred. The engines were tuned in Switzerland before being installed, and were available with power outputs of 270, 300, or 330PS (199, 221, or 243kW).[9] In the eighties another version also appeared, the GTS/E. This was the top-of-the-line version, fitted with twin round headlights and extra spoilers, skirts, and a rear wing.[9]
A total of 409 cars were built (395 coupés and 14 spyders) between 1972 and 1989,[7] with only a couple of cars per year built during the last years. The vast majority are of Series 1 specifications. Some claim that production actually came to an end in 1986, with later cars being sold from stock.[8] From 1979 on, bodyshells for the Longchamp and the Kyalami were built by Embo S.p.A. The Longchamp was never officially sold in the United States, although a number of cars found their way into the US as gray-market imports.[8] The Maserati Kyalami and Maserati Quattroporte III were both developed using the Longchamp chassis and conceived just as Alejandro de Tomaso took over Maserati. The Kyalami was also superficially very similar to the Longchamp, although no body panels were actually shared. The Maserati derivatives used a Maserati V8, however, rather than the Ford unit favoured by De Tomaso.
Gallery
De Tomaso Longchamp
De Tomaso Longchamp (1975)
rear view of series 1 car (1979)
Longchamp Spyder (1983)
1988 GTS coupé
Interior of 1974 Longchamp, with Ford steering wheel and gearshift hardware clearly visible
Notes
↑ Graham Robson, A-Z of Cars of the 1970s, Haymarket Publishing Ltd, 1990, page 51
Maserati S.p.A. is an Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer. Established on 1 December 1914 in Bologna, Italy, the company's headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. The company has been owned by Stellantis since 2021. Maserati was initially associated with Ferrari. In May 2014, due to ambitious plans and product launches, Maserati sold a record of over 3,000 cars in one month. This caused them to increase production of the Quattroporte and Ghibli models. In addition to the Ghibli and Quattroporte, Maserati offers the Maserati GranTurismo and two SUV models, the Maserati Levante and the Maserati Grecale. Maserati has placed a yearly production output cap at 75,000 vehicles globally.
The Maserati Bora is a two-seat, rear mid-engine, rear-wheel drive sports car and grand tourer, manufactured by Maserati from 1971 to 1978. In common with other Maserati cars of the era, it is named after a wind, Bora being the wind of Trieste. The Bora was the company's first mid-engined street car and ended Maserati's reputation for producing fast but technologically out of date cars, also being the first Maserati with four wheel independent suspension. In contrast, competitor Lamborghini had first used full independent suspension in 1964. The Bora was the second-most expensive car of the 1970s following Lamborghini Countach.
De Tomaso Automobili Ltd. is an Italian car-manufacturing company. It was founded 1959 by Alejandro de Tomaso in Modena. It originally produced various sports prototypes and auto racing vehicles, including a Formula One car for Frank Williams Racing Cars in 1970. Most of the funding for the automaker came from Amory Haskell Jr.
A transaxle is a single mechanical device which combines the functions of an automobile's transmission, axle, and differential into one integrated assembly. It can be produced in both manual and automatic versions.
The Maserati Quattroporte is a four-door luxury sports sedan produced by Italian automobile manufacturer Maserati. The name translated from Italian means "fourdoors". The car is in its sixth generation, with the first generation introduced in 1963.
The De Tomaso Guarà is a sports car and the last project the founder and owner Alejandro de Tomaso put into the market. Presented at the 1993 Geneva Motor Show, the Guarà was initially available in coupé body-style. Later a roadster and an open-top barchetta bodystyle became available. The latter corresponds to the coupé but without roof and proper windscreen; a small air deflector protects the passenger and the driver from the passing wind and the car had to be driven while wearing a helmet.
The Maserati Shamal is a two-door grand touring coupé produced by Italian automobile manufacturer Maserati from 1990 to 1996. In keeping with an established Maserati tradition, it is named after a wind: shamal, a hot summer wind that blows in large areas of Mesopotamia, particularly in the large plain between the Tigris and Euphrates.
The De Tomaso Pantera is a mid-engine sports car produced by Italian automobile manufacturer De Tomaso from 1971 to 1992. Italian for "Panther", the Pantera was the automaker's most popular model, with over 7,000 manufactured over its twenty-year production run. More than three quarters of the production was sold by American Lincoln-Mercury dealers from 1972 to 1975; after this agreement ended De Tomaso kept manufacturing the car in ever smaller numbers into the early 1990s.
The De Tomaso Mangusta is a sports car produced by Italian automobile manufacturer De Tomaso between 1967 and 1971. It was succeeded by the De Tomaso Pantera.
The Maserati Merak is a mid-engined 2+2 sports car produced by Maserati between 1972 and 1983. The Merak was closely related to the Maserati Bora, sharing part of its structure and body panels, but was powered by a 3.0 L V6 in place of the latter's 4.7 L V8. The extra cabin space gained by fitting a smaller and more compact powertrain was used to carve out a second row of seats—suitable for children or very small adults—making the Merak not just a less expensive alternative to the Bora but also a 2+2.
The Maserati Khamsin is a grand tourer produced by Italian automobile manufacturer Maserati between 1974 and 1982. The Khamsin was sold alongside the DeTomaso-based Maserati Kyalami - also a V8 GT car - between 1976 and 1982.
The Maserati Kyalami is a four-seat GT coupé produced by Italian automobile manufacturer Maserati from 1976 to 1983. The car was named after the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit in South Africa, where a Maserati-powered Cooper T81 won the 1967 South African Grand Prix.
The Maserati Biturbo is a family of executive grand tourers produced by Italian automobile manufacturer Maserati between 1981 and 1994. The original Biturbo was a two-door, four-seater notchback coupé featuring, as the name implies, a two-litre V6 engine with two turbochargers and a luxurious interior.
The Qvale Mangusta is a sports car produced in limited numbers by the Italian automaker Qvale between 1999 and 2002. During development and very early production, it was developed from the De Tomaso Biguá concept car shown to the general public at the 1996 Geneva Motor Show. When the car started production, it was renamed De Tomaso Mangusta before De Tomaso became disassociated from the project and all subsequent cars received Qvale badging.
The Maserati GranTurismo and GranCabrio are a series of grand tourers produced by the Italian manufacturer Maserati, succeeding the Maserati Coupé and Spyder.
The De Tomaso Deauville is a luxury four-door saloon first exhibited at the 1970 Turin Motor Show. The Deauville was powered by the same 351 in³ (5,763 cc) Ford Cleveland V8 as the De Tomaso Pantera, rated at 330 hp. The car has a top speed of 230 km/h (143 mph) and featured styling similar to that of the Jaguar XJ.
The Maserati Ghibli is an executive car produced by Italian automobile manufacturer Maserati since 2013. The car was unveiled to the public at the 2013 Shanghai Motor Show.
The Maserati V8 engine family is a series of 90°, four-stroke, naturally-aspirated, V8 engines, designed, developed and built by Italian manufacturer Maserati for almost 45 consecutive years. A racing variant first appeared in 1939, with the V8RI, and a road-going version was later introduced with the Maserati 5000 GT in 1959, and later ending with the Maserati 3200 GT, in 2002. The engines ranged in displacement from 3.2–6.46 L (195–394 cu in), and production continued until 2002. It was later succeeded by the Ferrari-Maserati engine; a separate engine, completely designed, developed and produced by Ferrari, but used in several Maserati models.
EmboSpA in Caramagna Piemonte is a supplier to the European automotive industry and previously manufactured vehicles under its own brand name.
Carrozzeria Ernesto Pavesi was a coachbuilding company from Milan, Italy, that produced armored vehicles and also carried out further body conversions on customer request. Since the 1960s, Pavesi has produced a series of special bodies for the Maserati and De Tomaso brands belonging to Alejandro de Tomaso's group of companies.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
