The De Tomaso Longchamp was the Italian dream cruiser of the ’70s
For the 1970s, Alejandro De Tomaso came up with the Maserati-based Deauville four-door saloon, which then immediately spawned a two-door variant called the Longchamp. These cars were all based on the same chassis as the Maserati Quattroporte, and also shared a Ford powerplant and Tom Tjaarda styling with the iconic Pantera.
Despite being in production from 1972 all the way up to 1989, De Tomaso only built 395 coupés and 14 Longchamp Spyders, some twenty of which made it into the United States as grey market cars.
With the most potent, 330-hp version of the Cleveland V-8, the Longchamp was a 150-mph car, and came standard with a three-speed auto also sourced from Ford. Some seventeen of those 400+ cars were built with a ZF-sourced five-speed manual—but good luck hunting one of those down today. Still, at least all Longchamps came with great four-spoke, wooden steering wheels.
When this particular 1976 Longchamp found its way to the heart of its new Californian owner, this still very attractive Italian coupé needed extensive repair work to get back on the road. However, by the time MotorWeek got to see it in 1992, it was certainly one of the coolest 2+2s in town, thanks mostly to Ghia’s timeless lines:
