by Wallace Wyss –
The world found that out at the 2019 Goodwood Festival of Speed in the United Kingdom, where a car wearing the Isis badge and called the De Tomaso P72 was unveiled.
Now this new version looks nothing like the old De Tomaso Pantera designed by Tom Tjaarda. And don’t even think about those 1971 prices ($10,000).
This car looks more Ferrari P3/4 than anything else; and prices will be up there with Ferrari’s mid-engnie cars. Backer this time (a previous revival failed) is Ideal TeamVenture, the very same Hong Kong-based company that previously bought the German supercar marque Gumpert and re-named it Apollo. Apollo showed a very snazzy V-12 car a while back called the Intensa Emozione, so we can believe they have the capability to make a top end car.
What does the name mean? It’s an obscure reference to the Pete Brock-designed Fantuzzi-bodied P70 that was a joint project between Brock’s boss, Carroll Shelby, in 1965, before Shelby pulled out to use the money for three more Daytona coupes.
Unlike the Serenissima, a start up rival to Ferrari who built a rival car that raced against Ferraris at LeMans, and lasted something like 25 laps, the DeTomaso P70 raced only once and retired on the opening lap at the 1966 Mugello Grand Prix. But I can understand why they want to anchor its image on a former race car. Continuity, and all that…The builders reference Pete Brock as inspiration but say the man responsible for the shape was Jowyn Wong, of Wyn Design. They say his goal was to combine a modern, aerodynamically optimized body with retro cues.
Styling wise, it is much like the P4/5 designed by Pininfarina for an American collector. It also reminds me of the one off mid-engine design the late Tom Meade did on the cheap in Italy. You have to give Meade credit–he was already thinking Ferrari should be marketing a Le Mans prototype-styled street car way back then.
Where the rest of the car is tasteful they go overboard in the rear with circular taillights that are too big and an upswept rear under panel that comes up too high just as the deck lid panel comes too low. The top spoiler is way too high and dominating for aesthetics but maybe it’s needed for downforce. The gills on the right and left rear flanks are too superfluous, like they said “Hey, some Ferraris had gills–let’ throw those on.” Locating the exhaust aiming upward might not be a good idea, I can see a backfire throwin’ a ball of fire into someone’s face.
The interior of the P72 is much more beautiful than the old P70, a pure race car. The new car boasts goodies like polished copper and diamond pattern swatches of leather. A close up of the interior shows attention to detail exceeding Bentley’s latest concept cars.
In another nod toward retro, gauges are circular like they were in the ’60s.
Structurally, it’s based on a bespoke carbon fiber monocoque structure, designed to meet Le Mans prototype safety requirements. They aren’t releasing much info until the car completes what they call a “market homologation process.”
Apollo IE’s Ferrari sourced V12 is the engine in the show car, mated to a manual transmission. I think at the price they’re talking it has to have a V12 and it would be so much more retro if they sourced it from Ford. But last time I looked, Ford had no quad cam V12s which is what I expect at that price level. And can’t Ferrari cut them off from engine supply? (or maybe Ferrari will like selling them engines at a huge profit…)
The name “72” has another significance–that’s exactly how many they will make–72 cars. Build slots are still available, and I’m not surprised when the expected price tag is 750,000 euros (approximately $846,250). The only service point named is in one of Americas wealthiest suburbs– Miller Motorcars in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
THE AUTHOR: If the new car sells, Wallace Wyss is willing to revive and update DeTomaso: the Man and His Machines. Any publishers out there?
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Photos compliments of De Tomaso.
Wallace,
On the off chance you don’t already know this, most of the “Isis” references to the de Tomaso logo were based on a belief that it was a stylized “I” for Alejandro’s wife, Isabelle. I was lucky enough to meet her in 1995 at the factory in Modena and asked her about it. She said while very flattered by the thought, it wasn’t true, and explained the logo was actually a livestock brand belonging to the de Tomaso family. She believed, but wasn’t sure, that it was a stylized “T” for (obviously) Tomaso.
Richard
DeTomaso was from a wealthy family of cattle barons, but fled Argentina for Italy penniless when he made the mistake of publishing criticism of dictator Juan Peron, Fortunately he met Isabelle at a car parts counter and she was from an equally wealthy family. DeTomaso divorced his first wife and married her and they began to produce cars together. I read a recent report that Isabelle is no longer involved with cars but went back to her roots, horse racing, and is running a steed of Derby quality.
Here is a photo of the De Tomaso P72 from the 2019 Goodwood Festival of Speed – posted by https://www.motor1.com/news/358109/de-tomaso-p72-revealed/
It is a real driving super car and not just a demo design.
I confirm: the origin of De Tomaso brand logo, is the mark that with a hot iron, was printed on the skin of the cattle fields that the De Tomaso family had in Argentina., to determine who is the owner
Respect for the stylistic design, although there is an “accumulation” of details of previous car designs, I find it pleasant and harmonious … but in my opinion, the interior, not the condition with the softness of the exterior lines very overloaded ( surely destined to the sheikhs of Dubai …)
While I agree the interior is wee bit rococco or steampunk, Bentley has been doing this for years on their concept cars. I would rather see more innately beautiful materials than carbon fiber everywhere. What’s heaven for?
I love the interior – after all that is where the owner spends a lot of time. This De Tomaso interior reminds me a little bit of the Spyker interior.
The car will be at Concorso Italiano on Saturday of Car Week.