De Tomaso returns with gorgeous P72 supercar

By: Alex Affat, Unique Cars magazine

Date: 05.07.2019

The reborn Italian car maker returns with manual supercar successor

Best known for the V8-powered Pantera and Mangusta sports cars of the 70s, the Italian car maker De Tomaso had suffered a tremendous fall from grace in recent times.

Various changes in ownership, liquidation, numerous unfounded rumours of resurgence, and even the arrest of a chairman – had all battered the brand in the last ten years.

It left us on a sore note, with its last concept car a stark and sad contrast to the burly brutes we remember.

But De Tomaso is back, and arguably better than ever – with the unveiling of their latest creation, the P72.

It’s underpinned by the unhinged Apollo Intensa Emozione’s carbon fibre monocoque, drawing inspiration off the back of the brand’s 60^th anniversary.

In 1964, Alejandro DeTomaso, Carroll Shelby and Peter Brock (the American one, not ours), "conspired to build a car they felt could defeat the best in the world". The result of the project was the De Tomaso P70 prototype race car (pictured below), featuring a Shelby 289 Cobra V8, with the tear-drop bodied penned by Brock himself. The three parted company before the project’s completion, with the ultimate body produced by Ghia for the 1965 Turin Motor Show.

The reborn De Tomaso P72 harks back to the curvaceous Le Mans protypes of the 60s, modernised and made for the road. It's designed to provoke a more classical driving experience – yes, it has a manual gearbox!

Engine and transmission details have yet to be revealed by the company, but they have announced that 72 cars will be produced, each for the price of €750,000 – or roughly AU$1.2 million.

Welcome back De Tomaso, we’ve missed you dearly.

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