The De Tomaso Vallelunga is a mid-engine sports car produced by De Tomaso from 1964 until 1968. It was the first road going automobile manufactured by the company.
The Vallelunga was based on a roadster designed by Carrozzeria Fissore named after the Autodromo di Vallelunga racing circuit and first shown as a concept car at the Turin Motor Show in 1963. De Tomaso had hoped to sell the design of the concept to another company, but when there were no takers had the car produced by Ghia.
The engine was a 1.5 L straight-4 Kent engine from the Ford Cortina, tuned to a paper output of 104 hp (78 kW) at 6,200 rpm. A Volkswagen Beetle transaxle, fitted with Hewland gearsets, was used. The chassis was a pressed steel backbone with a tubular subframe at the rear. Suspension was double wishbone and coil springs at all four corners with front and rear anti-roll bars and with uprights sourced from Triumph. The small car weighed 726 kg (1,600 lb) with a fiberglass body and many drilled aluminium parts. Brakes were disc type all around.
The chassis was not torsionally sound for engines with higher torque, a problem made worse by faulty welding in the Italian-made backbone. Drivetrain vibration was a constant problem for those cars. 50 production cars were built, along with three aluminum-bodied prototypes and five aluminum-bodied racing cars, bringing the total to 58. The Vallelunga was replaced by the Mangusta. The Mangusta used the concept of the Vallelunga chassis, significantly re-engineered to take a Ford 302 engine, all packaged with a body by Giorgetto Giugiaro.
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