1988 De Tomaso Longchamp GTS Coupe
Country of Origin: Italy
Design Info: One of only two front-engined production cars manufactured by De Tomaso, the Longchamp was based on the De Tomaso Deauville (the other front-engined De Tomaso) and was physically and mechanically similar, save for sporting a shorter wheelbase. The body was designed by Ghia’s prolific designer Tom Tjaarda, whose other works included the Deauville and Pantera, Ferrari 365 California, original Ford Maverick, and a slew of other vehicles. The chassis featured fully independent wishbone suspension and ventilated disc brakes (mounted inboard at the rear). Most Longchamps were two door, four seat coupes, though a small number of convertibles were also produced. The GTS trim, introduced along with the Series 2 release in 1980, featured wider wheels and flared wheel arches, as well as suspension adjustments for improved handling.
Engine Info: Also like the Deauville and Pantera, the Longchamp used the Ford 351 Cleveland V8 under the hood. When production of the engine in America ceased, De Tomaso began sourcing the engines from Ford Australia rather than change the design. In the Longchamp, the engine was tuned to produce up to 330 hp, a little less than the 345 hp available in the Pantera. In the Longchamp, the engine was good for a top speed of 149 mph.
Type: A V8-powered grand touring car, the Longchamp is comparable to a number of other European GT “muscle cars”, including the Aston Martin V8, Jensen Interceptor, Alfa Romeo Montreal, and the Longchamp’s sister car, the Maserati Kyalami.
History: When Alejandro de Tomaso began his race car manufacturing company in 1959, it was largely brother-in-law Amory Haskell Jr. who footed the bill. De Tomaso’s wife, Elizabeth, was also a racing driver, and while much of her family did not support her partnership with Alejandro, her brother’s high position in the family company, Rowan Industries, allowed him to bankroll de Tomaso’s efforts. Rowan later purchased coachbuilder and design firm Ghia, installing Alejandro as president of the company. Things were going fairly well for De Tomaso until, on March 19, 1970, Amory was killed in an airplane crash at the age of 42. With Amory’s death, Rowan looked to quickly divest itself of anything to do with de Tomaso. And there was one very clear interested party: with the partnership between Ford and Shelby ending in 1969, Lee Iacocca was looking for a replacement for Shelby’s involvement in high-performance cars, and opportunity was knocking.
Ford was already heavily involved with de Tomaso and the Pantera project, which was seen as a sort of successor to the GT40. The previous Mangusta had been powered with a Ford V8, a relationship which may well have been spawned through Rowan, as that company supplied components for Ford vehicles. Whatever the case, in 1971, Ford purchased an 84% stake in de Tomaso from Rowan, with the remainder owned by Alejandro himself.
Alejandro saw partnership with Ford as an opportunity to create an entire line of luxurious, sport-oriented vehicles. Aside from the Pantera, De Tomaso had already been working on a four-door luxury sedan called the Deauville, which was first shown at the 1970 Turin Motor Show and began production later that year. With a shortened chassis and a more powerful tune of the same engine, the Longchamp was first exhibited two years later, also at Turin. Both the Deauville and Longchamp were named after French hippodromes, or horse-racing courses, likely as a nod to the Haskell family or Amory Jr. in particular, as he was avidly involved in the sport.
Hand built in small numbers, Longchamp production was never abundant, and only slightly over 400 were produced across its entire 17-year run. Even so, the model evolved and improved over the years, including a major update in 1980 and the introduction of the GTS and top of the line GTSE trim levels. These sportier trims featured flared fenders, wider wheels, and other details which set them off from the base models.
The direct Ford partnership did not last long, in part because of the 1973 Oil Crisis, and by 1974 Alejandro had purchased Ford’s stake, taking full control of his company. He had acquired several motorcycle companies in that time, and in 1976 he would acquire (with assistance from the Italian government) a pair of ailing Italian automakers: Innocenti and Maserati. It was Maserati, in particular, that would be directly impacted by the Longchamp: The Kyalami, introduced in 1976 and produced through 1983, was largely a badge-engineered Longchamp, though powered by a Maserati engine rather than the Ford plant.
While the more successful (and far more famous) Pantera soldiered on into the early 90s, the Longchamp came to a slow close in the late 80s, the last being built in ‘89. Alejandro suffered from a stroke in 1993, and withdrew from control of most of the company’s operations, though he did remain somewhat involved in design. While an attempt was made at designing a new front-engined De Tomaso sports car, initially called the De Tomaso Biguá, that car would eventually be severed from ties with the company and sold as the Qvale Mangusta. No front-engined De Tomaso has been put into production since the discontinuation of the Longchamp.
Why it’s cool/unique/significant: The Longchamp is not the most exotic De Tomaso ever built, but it has handsome styling and solid performance, especially for its time and in its segment. It may not have a storied racing heritage, but the pedigree is certainly there. It is also somewhat unique in being, essentially, a European muscle car powered by an American engine. It is, in effect, to cars like the Aston Martin V8 as the Pantera was to the Lamborghini Countach.
But, the Longchamp represented something simpler and yet very important to De Tomaso: proving that the company was not a one-trick pony. Though it and its sibling, the Deauville, never sold in large numbers, it was a likable and desirable luxury car from a company that had previously only built fairly extreme sports and racing cars. And its unfortunate rarity ensures that most people will never see one, let alone get a chance to drive one. Bringing it to Forza could at least partially rectify that.
