De TomasoMangusta

The Mangusta bodies were supplied by Ghia, which De Tomaso acquired from Rafael Trujillo, the same-named son of the dictator of the Dominican Republic. Even the story behind the acquisition is fascinating; Trujillo was incarcerated for alleged murder, and needed money for bail. With the help of his brother in-law, De Tomaso posted $650,000 and purchased the company from Trujillo.

Assembly of all 401 Mangustas was completed at De Tomaso Automobili in Modena. Easily the most distinctive feature of the Mangusta is the centre-hinged gullwing rear windows. Functionally, it was designed to allow access to storage and easier engine maintenance. Practicality, thankfully, isn’t a concern when creating art.

Its low-slung stance and corpulent posterior shares design cues with the original GT40 concept, but the Mangusta easily trumps the more utilitarian GT40 in elegance and sophistication from every angle. Where the GT40 radiated raw brutality, the Mangusta exuded pure class.

Racecar DNA underpins the Mangusta’s sophisticated appearance, though; the fully adjustable suspension, drivetrain and running gear are very similar to that of the race-bred GT40. Interestingly, the Mangusta was the first production car to use different sized tyres on the front and rear, which was another cue from the race cars of the time.

The Ford HiPo 289cu V8, which powered the Shelby Cobra and GT40, was also fitted to the initial batch of Mangustas, but later versions bound for the North American market used the slightly less potent 302 version. Both versions utilised the GT40’s ZF gearbox.

The Mangusta had to comply with local design laws in America in 1970, after a neat side step in 1969 thanks to the low volume exemption rule. Around 50 examples were made to comply featuring pop-up headlights and toggle switches on the dash.

The Martin Mangusta came to Australia by pure chance. South Australian collector, Peter Bell, was interested in purchasing a Maserati and received a photo of one he was considering. In the background of the photo, he noticed two Mangustas.

“I asked about purchasing a Mangusta, but the seller would only sell them as a lot of three including the Maserati,” says Peter. “So I bought two Mangustas and a Maserati 3500 GT.”

As it turns out, one of the Mangustas was previously owned by Ricci Martin, son of one of America’s most beloved 1950s icons, Dean Martin.

The car had resided with American Steve Schuler for about twenty years since he acquired it sometime in the 1980s, just after an accident had taken it off the road.

It’s believed that Dean Paul – or Dino – Martin, Ricci’s older brother, had crashed the car, resulting in significant damage to the front end. Dino had a history of totalling cars, and had also written off Ricci’s first car, a De Tomaso Vallelunga.

Schuler had gone to school with the Martin boys and he had seen the car when it was new – they were all boy racers kicking around together at the time.

Apparently, Dino had purchased new panels for the Mangusta, but it was never repaired; Dino, a keen aviator and National Air Guard pilot, was killed after crashing his F4 fighter in 1987.

Peter received the car with all the brand-new panels, and took it back to bare metal for a meticulous restoration. It took seven years, including some extensive research, to put the Mangusta back exactly to factory specifications.

Interestingly, during the restoration, a pocket knife belonging to Ricci Martin was found behind one of the seats.

The black Mangusta that came with that package, meanwhile, was totally unmolested, and was an excellent source for Peter to use as a template for the Martin Mangusta.

“I wanted to get it absolutely factory correct. I had five Mangustas at one stage just to make sure I could get every last piece I needed for it,” explains Peter.

Ricci contacted Peter through a Mangusta forum during the restoration process, and was keen to speak with him about buying the car if Peter ever decided to sell it.

There was some initial email correspondence, but unfortunately Ricci passed away in 2016, before he and Peter had a chance to speak over the phone.

“I had always intended to keep it as part of the collection, but unless I can use the car, it just sits there,” explains Peter. “I couldn’t get in it to drive it, so I did eventually move it on.”

Custom features of the gold bronze metallic Mangusta include a targa top with removable panels, a beautiful custom burled wood dash, Ferrari Dino bucket seats, as well as custom trim in a bespoke colour. Even the ashtray and eight-track equipped radio aren’t standard.

The semi-flat black 11-inch rear wheels with 285x50/15 tyres are the largest factory fitted wheels on any Mangusta. Interestingly, the tyre size listed on the Ghia studio Prototype drawing were 255x70/15 and the production cars came with 225x70/15s.

Custom work on the Mangusta is said to have been carried out by famed coach builder Fantuzzi, which makes sense, as the company had an affiliation with De Tomaso and Ferrari (cue the Dino bucket seats). This can’t be verified, though, and was contradicted by Ricci himself in a forum post, declaring the work was carried out over a three year period at Coach Craft, which is based in California.

In fact, there appears to be a number of conflicting accounts surrounding the providence of the Martin Mangusta that stem from Ricci himself. Unfortunately, a number of statements he made whilst searching for the car can’t be substantiated.

According to Ricci’s biography That’s Amore, Dino had crashed his De Tomaso Vallelunga, and the boys’ mother ordered a replacement for him direct from Milan. He states in the book he later sold that when he came into possession of the Mangusta.

Ricci again contradicts this on a post on the Ferrari Chat forum, stating ‘Just to set the record straight...my brother Dino did total my Vallelunga, and my mom did find one in Milan that was shipped to us in the US. Dino did NOT crash my Mangusta.’

It is widely accepted that his mother, Jeanne Biegger, ordered the car direct from the De Tomaso factory in Italy, but history shows it was ordered for Dino and not Ricci. Prior to Ricci’s search, it was often referred to as the ‘Dean Martin Jnr’ car.

Some of the Martin Mangusta story, though, came to life via the offspring of another American cultural icon. Chad McQueen – son of legendary actor and racer Steve McQueen - was a guest speaker at Motorclassica’s 2016 event in Melbourne, where the restored Martin Mangusta was on display.

He mentioned to Mark Jansen, owner of car reseller Old Timer Australia in Queensland, that he knew the car from his days hanging out with the Martin boys, and had in fact driven it on occasion. He confirmed it was in its current form, complete with targa top. Unfortunately, he did not tell Mark who was its actual owner.

The chassis numbers are not necessarily sequential, either – the title deed for the Mangusta states it’s a 1969, but the history books say it’s a 1967. This adds to the mystery of this Mangusta, and gives further weight to the theory that it was an original prototype.