Mangusta fans(the mid-engined ones)story here

[Historybuff]

'bout third of the way down the page. Too long to run in this space. This is the mid-engiend Mangusta that was going to be the Shelby Mk. IV, not the front engined one made by first DeTomaso than Qvale in more recent times

http://cobra-ranch.blogspot.com/2011_03_01_archive.html

[TKing]

I owned a 1969 Mangusta in the mid-seventies in Germany. The car looked great, but wasn't a great car.

I don't have many good memories of the car because it was routinely needed repair. The Girling brake calibers were a soft aluminum and the steel backing plate of the disc pads would wear a notch in the caliber and would not move the pad to the rotor (causing little or no brakes). The frame was soft so when the car was jacked you couldn't open the door. The windshield was steeply raked which means your forehead would constantly hit the top of the windshield. The driving position was strange. The steering wheel was far away (arms straight out), but the pedals were close. The cabin was short from dash to behind the seat bulkhead, but the distance from door to door very wide. The ZF transmission was notchy and impossible to shift quickly. Although the body was aluminum, the car had many issues with rust.

Parts were not expensive because the Ford engine and Fiat electrical parts.

Sometimes it is more fun to dream of exotic cars than to own one.

TKing

[Historybuff]

On VeloceToday.com there's three articles on the Mangusta Here's one of them

http://www.velocetoday.com/archives/11736#more-11736 ...



. One owner, Dick Ruzzin of Detroit always responds saying how he has improved his (Chevy powered) Mangusta, but I say that it doesn't matter how much some later owner improve the car, as he did, but how the car was when it was first offered. That's the proof of the pudding. And what made the Mangusta frustrating its that it was beautiful but very flawed. A concours (the Steve McQueen themed one) is coming up in Chino Hills. If I remember to go, maybe I can ask Jonathan Williams who tested the original Mangusta prototype why the car ended up so screwed up. He is supposed to be a celebrity guest there.