Greenwich Concours Preview: 1974 De Tomaso Longchamp

long 1

If you haven’t seen a De Tomaso Longchamp on the streets of your town lately, there is a very good reason for this. A grand total of 409 Longchamps were made during eighteen years of production, a number small enough to make ZiL’s limousine production facility go Pff, and the Rolls-Royce Camargue high tech assembly line some bloke’s garage turn green with envy.

The Longchamp itself was based on the De Tomaso Deauville, another vehicle not known for its ubiquity in the US. First shown at the 1972 Turin Motor Show, the Longchamp was well received, though by 1973 things had turned quite sour for the supercar industry due to the oil crisis. Designed by Tom Tjaarda at Ghia, the Longchamp borrowed the basic platform and transmission from the Deauville, using the 351 Ford Cleveland V8 which was popular in hybrid supercars of the time. Let’s take a closer look at this coupe after the jump.

long 2

Remarkably, the design aged very little during the eighteen years of production, with the car receiving only a small freshening in the year 1980. But the Longchamp managed to live on a bit longer in a different way as well. After De Tomaso was acquired by Maserati, Maserati rebodied the Longchamp, replacing the Ford V8 with its own powerplant, and released the car as the Maserati Kyalami for the 1977 model year. Even though the two are visually similar, every single body panel is different.

long 3

This was an easy rebody for Maserati, who at the time was not exactly running short on offerings, but the Kyalami wasn’t able to set any sales records either. To sum up, De Tomaso could barely sell it with a De Tomaso badge, and when they were taken over by Maserati, Maserati could barely sell it with a Maserati badge. Of course, economics had a lot to do with that, and the car itself was never available in the US to begin with. Ironically (and I’m using the local TV news definition of irony here) the Kyalami ended up being more reliable than other Maserati models of the time due to its older running gear. But then again, a lot of cars were more reliable than the Maseratis of the 1980s, so the bar wasn’t set especially high.

long 4

The Longchamp Spyder was available starting in 1980, though very few examples were actually built. A GTS version was also unveiled that same year, which basically meant a horsepower bump and flared wheelarches. At some point production of the Cleveland V8 dried up stateside, and Maserati (and it was Maserati at this point in time) started getting their engines from Australia. The Longchamp aged much like other supercars of the 1970s, growing wings, spoilers, and flares. Eventually the top version gained the badge GTS/E, which meant the buyer got an extra helping of spoilers, arches, and horsepower.

This 1974 example made its second appearance at Greenwich in 2012, last appearing here in 2010. As you can see in the photos, I was the only person besides the staff and the judges there in 2012. They really need to advertise and try to get more visitors to come out every year, cause it’s just me, Kamil, and Kitman there every year. And the hot dog cart guy.

long 5

All kidding aside, this was one of the best treats of Greenwich 2012, because at the end of the day all red Ferraris (and they’re all red here) begin to invite yawns. And what concours is short on classic red Ferraris that are all called the 250? My point exactly. And that’s why you should put the Greenwich Concours on your calendar.

Full gallery from Greenwich Concours 2012 below:

[Images: Copyright 2013 Hooniverse/Jay Ramey]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The maximum upload file size: 64 MB. You can upload: image, audio, video. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop files here

19 responses to “Greenwich Concours Preview: 1974 De Tomaso Longchamp”

  1. Maxichamp Avatar

    Jay, this shall be my first automotive purchase when I win the Powerball tomorrow.

  2. boostedlegowgn Avatar
    boostedlegowgn

    Sigh. Another car I have to go post in NALVV.

    1. Maxichamp Avatar

      What's NALVV?

      1. Peter Tanshanomi Avatar
        Peter Tanshanomi

        National Archives of Las Vegas Vixens.

  3. zeus Avatar
    zeus

    I had two of them, when the time to sold them came, it was a nightmare!

    1. Maxichamp Avatar

      What?! Details please. When and how did you get them? What were they like to own, etc.?

      1. zeus Avatar
        zeus

        I sold them in 2003, after owning them for few years. Back then I was still living in italy. One went to Germany and the other one to Torino.
        The interior was great, super comfortable and great use of prime quality leather, the chassis was sturdy and very heavy. Solutions like inboard disc brakes made me laugh, as the whole car was excessively heavy. THe engine was good, enough power, 330 horses i believe, but the automatic transmission made it feeling like a truck.

  4. Dean Bigglesworth Avatar
    Dean Bigglesworth

    I really like these. So much in fact that I took a picture of one a couple of weeks ago, and even posted it on the forums(the what now? I hear most of you ask..). I did not know just how rare they are, however.
    <img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/74465213/CMS13/73980017.jpg&quot; </img>

    1. Maxichamp Avatar

      This is one of those cars that looks better in photos than in real life. I was really looking forward to seeing one and when I saw one at the Concorso Italiano in Monterey, it was sort of underwhelming. It just looked like an anonymous three-box coupe.

      1. Dean Bigglesworth Avatar
        Dean Bigglesworth

        It looks good, but it's certainly not a root-fizz inducing beauty.
        Still want one.

      2. Jay_Ramey Avatar
        Jay_Ramey

        I have to agree with you on that, the design definitely looks better in photos, and the color tends to play a big role.
        Can you imagine how bad one of these would look in Refrigerator White, or even just plain black?

        1. Maxichamp Avatar

          I think the one I saw was black.

  5. mdharrell Avatar

    "They really need to advertise and try to get more visitors…."
    On that note, tomorrow is the All British Field Meet in Vancouver, BC, at the stunningly beautiful VanDusen Botanical Garden:
    http://www.westerndriver.com/?page_id=5288
    Barring mechanical failure, I hope to be there with my Austin Maestro Vanden Plas in the catch-all "Post War Touring" class. Maybe I'll get to park next to the guy with the Sterling.

    1. Alff Avatar

      You get to bunk with the Princess.

      1. mdharrell Avatar

        The Vanden Plas Princess was in the "BMC Farina" class a few rows away. My car ended up between a Morris Oxford Mk VI and a DeLorean. The Sterling didn't make it this year.

    2. Jay_Ramey Avatar
      Jay_Ramey

      Oooohhh, very nice! I've been hearing good things about that show, sounds like it's grown quite a bit over the last few years. Speaking of Sterlings, just saw a black 827SL at Carlisle, coming up in the British Cars post in a few days.

  6. Vega Avatar
    Vega

    Let's play find out where they took the lights are from.
    My guess: Headlights Ford (Europe) Granada mk1, taillights Alfa Romeo 1750/2000.

    1. Jay_Ramey Avatar
      Jay_Ramey

      Yup, headlights are definitely Granada. The later GTS versions had some gawdawful quad-headlight setup like out of a Pontiac Parisienne or late 80s Caprice. So these aren't too bad in comparison. Still too big, but not too bad.

  7. Alff Avatar

    In a just world, these are more common than 450 SLCs. We do not live in a just world.