After fifteen years it’s becoming increasingly rare for a given car to not have had its fifteen minutes (seconds?) of fame here at CC. So let’s welcome this splendid example of a rare De Tomaso Longchamp coupe, thanks to my sister in law, who shot it on the streets near her home in San Mateo, CA. This is a superb design by American Tom Tjaarda, who penned so many other splendid cars in the golden Italian era, and quite ahead of its time for 1972. It’s also very rare, with only 409 built during its long run from 1972 to 1989. And it was of course fast, sharing the same Ford Cleveland 351 V8 as found in its sister car, the Pantera.
This is one of the finer examples of the Italo-American hybrid. Too bad De Tomaso eventually lost its way with the brand becoming rather sullied as a consequence. The Longchamp deserves better.
The Longchamp may look like just one of so many other somewhat similar designs in the early-mid 1970s that espoused this lean, tapered, angular and chiseled design language (think Ferrari 400, Fiat 130 coupe, Maserati Kyalami, Bitter SC and more), but its roots go back to 1969—before all of those—in the form of the Lancia Marica (above), also penned by Tjaarda during his Ghia years (De Tomaso bought Ghia in 1970). This is a truly pioneering design, one whose influence has not been widely enough credited.
It’s not perfect, being a wee bit too long for the short wheelbase Lancia Flamina chassis it sits on. And the grille is a bit fussy. But it is very much ahead of its time, and it contributed significantly to the new design language coming out of Italy at the time.
The Longchamp isn’t exactly perfect either, but then very few cars are. But it deserves to be recognized as one of the pioneers that revolutionized automotive design, almost ten years before that clean, wedgy shape finally took even the US and Japan by storm in the 1980s, finally ditching the baroque American-inspired fuselage designs that were so rampant in the ’70s.
The 1983 gen2 Honda Prelude is just one of many that come to mind. Think of its predecessor to appreciate what a huge leap this was stylistically. And this is just one of so many examples.
The Longchamp was heavily based on the De Tomaso Deauville, which arrived two years earlier in 1970. It too was penned by Tjaarda, and the stylistic influence of the Jaguar XJ is of course all-too obvious. It’s certainly handsome, but too derivative. Whether that was because of the influence of De Tomaso or not is hard to say, as Tjaarda was clearly at the height of his powers at the time. The Deauville obviously eschews the angled and edgy design language of the Marica to ape the XJ. Only some 244 were produced. It too was powered by the Ford 351 V8.
The Deauville did lend its underpinnings to the Maserati Quattroporte III, a design by Giugiaro. This is undoubtedly a much more familiar car than the rare De Tomasos with 2,155 units built. It was of course powered by the Maserati 4.2 and 4.9 L V8.
The Longchamp was essentially the sibling to the De Tomaso Pantera, a car that is as familiar as the Longchamp is not. It too was penned by Tjaarda, and they shared quite a few elements, especially those sourced from Ford, like the burly 330 hp Cleveland 351 V8 as well as a lot of interior switch gear and such. The Longchamp also had a Ford C6 automatic (17 were built with a ZF 5-speed manual), headlights from the Euro Ford Granada, and so on.
That Cleveland 351 V8s were tuned in Switzerland before being installed in Modena, and came in 170, 290 and 330 hp versions. That gave the Longchamp excellent performance and a near-150 mph top speed. Disc brakes borrowed from the racing version of the Pantera brought it back into earth orbit. Four wheel independent suspension gave it that classic blend of Italian surprisingly comfortable ride yet well controlled at high speed. Not quite as sophisticated as a Mercedes SL, but effective, more in the Ferrari tradition.
The gauges were also shared with the Pantera and the shifter is undoubtedly familiar to anyone who ever drove a Ford back then. The front seats were very comfortable; the back ones not so much so. It was strictly a 2+2.
In 1976, the Longchamp sired an offspring, the Maserati Kyalami. This was because De Tomas now owned Maserati too, and was eager to take advantage of his existing cars. The Kyalami was lightly redesigned by Peter Frua, making it a bit softer and less edgy than the Longchamp, a move that was not widely accepted. The Kyalami sold in even smaller numbers, just 210 between 1976 and 1983. It was given the Maserati DOHC 4.2 and 4.7 L V8s, making it more of a true Italian. performance was roughly comparable to the Longchamp.
This fine example was found on the streets of Cape Town and written up here by CC contributor pikesta.
Thanks to its forward looking design, the Longchamp had a long life. In 1980, still looking very contemporary, the Series II arrived with wider wheels and tires and larger fender flares to accommodate them.
An even more aggressive version, the GTS, also arrived around this time, with even bigger flares and wider wheels and tires. After the American source for the Ford 351 dried up, engines were sourced from Ford Australia, which kept building it for some time yet.
Like some other De Tomasos, the Longchamp somewhat overstayed its welcome. This is a 1988 version, now sporting four rectangular lights and the then-faddish blackout trim. Very few of these were made in their latter years, and some say that after 1986 the few that were made were assembled from leftover parts.
This is a Series I version of the Longchamp, which was the one most widely made, as its best sales years were the early ones. The owner told my SIL that it was very rare, one of eight, but if correct, presumably refers to the US as there are clearly more than that still in the world. In any case, it’s not a car one is likely to see on the streets, except maybe in Tokyo.
Related CC reading:
Italian Deadly Sins (Peninsular Peccadilloes, Part 3) – De Tomaso, The Serial Sinner by Tatra87
Curbside Classic: Maserati Kyalami – Time To Revisit My Teenage Dream Garage by pikesta
Curbside Classic: 1972-77 Fiat 130 Coupe – Bill Mitchell’s Regards by Don Andreina
Curbside Outtake: Early ‘70’s De Tomaso Pantera – Likely New Arrival in Tokyo byJim Brophy
I saw one in a garage of Miltown, NJ two summers ago, it was red one. If my memory is correct, it was an automatic car.
Few years ago, I met a guy from work, he was actively involved with De Tomaso Pantera racing in East Coast, he claimed he was once the president of US Pantera. He even said he could arrange me to try out a Pantera on the track. I didn’t brother because he was one of my company vendors.
When I was a kid, Pop used to take me to the NY Auto Show. After we finished walking the main show floor, we would head to the basement of the Colosseum, which was filled with limited-production marques like De Tomaso. But their display might have been next to something cheesy, like the Excalibur. Pop and I mostly wondered “who would buy these things?” Upstairs, you could see a big-block Monte Carlo that, aside from its baroque styling, could do much of what this Longchamp could do, at a quarter of the price. Some folks just wanted exclusivity, we concluded.
Curious, though. Was the Longchamp also sold at Lincoln-Mercury dealers, alongside the Pantera?
The car that the Longchamps sold against was the Mercedes SLC coupe, which sold many multiples of the Longchamps at stratospheric prices. The SLC wasn’t as couture house pretty as the Longchamps but the SLC looked like a million bucks on wheels and was backed up by the substance and reputation of Mercedes.
Teh interwebs says that the Longchamps and Deauville weren’t officially imported to the US.
Maseratis were officially imported to the US in the DeTomaso era. The Quattroporte III was based on the Deauville with a Maserati V8.
The ’88 has Monte Carlo vibes in the grill..
Seen a couple, “2-3” of these. Can’t say now if they were the lead in car or the “imitatator, Masarati” alluded to half way through the read.
The series one is so gorgeous, as was the early Pantera, one I should have bought 25 yrs ago when they were sorta affordable, while a Mangusta, my favorite, has always been so. Tjaarda was really talented, as was his Dutch/American father John long before him.
Last year there were 3 of series1 Longchamps for sale in Germany and Switzerland, priced quite reasonably, all below 100k. I was tempted indeed! In my eyes the design of the car is stunning. As a young lad I was given a ride in a late model that had been converted to manual. My impression was it sounded just like a Ford GT40. Great!
Joe
Nice write-up Paul on a car I knew nothing about. While familiar with the Pantera, I wasn’t aware of these. I love its lines, though. A nice touring 2+2.
Did anyone else notice that the curb at which this car is parked Curbside is the same color as the featured car?
I had only learned this car existed a month ago completely by accident, CC is normally my exposure to the esoteric cars of the world so it was indeed in my blind spot. Count me as a fan, with its chiseled styling and Ford powerplant it is like an ultra Fox notch Mustang. I will say I do prefer the flared series II version with the wider wheels but only with the original headlights. The quads really spoil it.
I think this may be the first time I’ve had a good look at a Longchamp. I knew of it but I can only recall seeing Mangustas and Panteras. It definitely looks the part of an Italian cruiser, even if it has the same shifter as a Mustang II and the drivetrain is a lot less temperamental than a Ferrari. I like sharp edged 70s cars so it wold be a good alternative to a Jensen Interceptor or an older ISO
I’ve a new-found criticism of the grille – I think Mr. Tjaarda used a straight line on the lower edge, which one must never do (even on those strictly rectilinear cars of the era) so it looks slightly pranged. Or was the car’s limoncella rather bitter?
They were a lovely design. But of course people got rather sniffy about its absence of pedigree. I think Iso suffered the same fate, too.
BTW – the Deauville was I understand Bertone recycling a rejected XJ40 proposal. Yes, development of the XJ40 started before the invention of the motor car and probably continues to this day. Probably.
“…development of the XJ40 started before the invention of the motor car and probably continues to this day. Probably.”
That would be desirable, sir. That would be desirable.
The Pantera has long been a dream car of mine. I’ve always loved the 351C – the engine that came out swinging only to have the race ended before it even hit its stride (sort of like the Damn Yankees, barely squeezing out a successful album before grunge took a wrecking ball to the rock scene). Include me in the group that had no idea this car ever existed. I like it a lot. I’m much more in favor of the early version with subtle fender flares. I’m guessing it needed the bigger flares to fit more tire, but it doesn’t help the looks. Then, the last gasp: to rehash the rock star analogy, it’s a little like Ringo in the 80s – trying to repackage the stuff that was red hot once, only making it worse, and for a market that wouldn’t buy it even if it was as good as ever.
I have never liked these. They look like a kit-car 450SLC. The Granada headlights and (possibly) Pug 604 tailights do not help, nor does the clipped-on look of the chrome upper trimmings. As an interpretation of the Marcia idiom, it’s a poor one. As for the wedge shape, I’ve never been wholly convinced it was much good (despite the crash safety extension of it into all modern shapes). I’m think of something as silly-looking as the Alfa Guilietta from the late ’70’s as an example.
Here’s some trivia. Post ’75, these were powered by Australian-made 351 V8’s as mentioned, but what I did not know is that the Longchamps that got here arrived engineless and suspensionless! These were fitted locally, in a business situated on what was well-known as a car-dealers strip of road (with all that might imply). So at least the old motor didn’t have to go on a European tour before returning, but my goodness, one’s new and very expensive exotic was really only partially Italian and quite substantially Geelong and the Paramatta Road. Mate.
Lovely, I don’t think I’ve heard of that one before. And a green car at a green curb, good catch!
The Marica looks like the sports car version of an Australian Leyland P76. Even the wheels look a bit like BL rostyle wheels.
The Longchamp is much more compact and muscular looking. I’ll take mine with the 5 speed please.