1967 – De Tomaso Mangusta

The example in the collection dates from 1967 and was acquired as a significant testimony to one of Giorgetto Giugiaro’s most important transitions in sports car design.

The Mangusta was developed for Alejandro De Tomaso at a time when Giugiaro had taken over as chief designer at Ghia in Turin. Its name is traditionally linked to the mongoose, an animal capable of killing cobras, and to the story of the failed collaboration between De Tomaso and Carroll Shelby on a new racing car project.

For the Mangusta, Giugiaro adapted an earlier design of his to the De Tomaso chassis, creating an exceptionally low sports car, only 1,100 mm high, characterized by a dramatic windscreen and a distinctive split rear engine cover with gull-wing openings.

The design marked an important evolution in Giugiaro’s language. Moving away from the softer and more sinuous forms of his Bertone period, he developed a composition based on flatter surfaces, sharper geometric elements and a more architectural treatment of the front end. The projecting frame surrounding the grille and headlights anticipated a solution that would later be adopted by other manufacturers.

Production of the Mangusta began in 1967, in the same period in which De Tomaso acquired Ghia. Its presence in the collection reflects the importance of the model as a turning point in Giugiaro’s stylistic development and as one of the most distinctive expressions of the Italian mid-engined sports car.