The De Tomaso Mangusta was one of those great ideas; take a big, thumping American V8, mid-mount it in a Lotus-type chassis with a ZF 5-speed, get Giorgetto Giugiaro to design the body and Viola! Instant success. And from a styling and packaging standpoint, it was a success - the Mangusta is achingly beautiful with plenty of Giugiaro's unique styling details. Most notably and memorable for most are the Gullwing doors over the engine compartment which are enough alone to spur on the dreams of countless 5 year old car designers. "Yes, everything should have Gullwing doors!" But the Mangusta was notoriously a bad handling car, with nearly 70% of the weight out back. Still, that doesn't stop us from loving to look at them:

Year: 1969
Model: Mangusta
Engine: 5.0 liter V8
Transmission: 5-speed manual
Mileage: 96,285 mi
Price: $219,000

CLICK FOR DETAILS:1969 De Tomaso Mangusta

VIN: US69640
Mileage: 96285
Rebuilt 302 engine
Rebuilt polished ZF transmission
Aluminum original Competion wheels
Repainted red (originally a red car)
Rebuilt halfshafts
Rust free
2 owner car
Optima red top battery
Great driver!!!
Strong paint and body!

This car is presented very well and overall looks lovely. The description probably hides some truths; this isn't a condition one car, as the nearly 100,000 miles covered would testify to. Nevertheless, it's a very clean example overall. The price, however, is well outside the realm of reasonably for a Mangusta; at $219,000, it's priced over $50,000 higher than a top condition car these days, and nearly $100,000 higher than where it likely should be. I guess we're not the only ones dreaming over this Mangusta.

-Carter