De Tomaso MANGUSTA MA1266: July 2007

MA1266 History

Out of the factory March 21st 1971, MA1266 is one of the very last Mangusta that left the Modena based De Tomaso factory where a total of 402 were produced .

Initially built for US export where 250+ were exported, MA1266 came with the Ford 302 (302cu/5.0 liters - 230 hp).

A wealthy German customer, Werner Henner paid a premium to get delivery in Germany.

He drove it very few, covering less than 3 000 miles in one year, then he stored the car in a garage in 1972 and never touched it again.

When Roland Jaeckel - Jaeckel & Partners GMBH, Hamburg, De Tomaso parts importer for the Germany and one of the most significant in Europe - heard about this car, he contacted the owner and after long discussions finally bought the car by the end of 1996 for his own use.

The car which has been driven very few and was complete, has been fully restored over a 2 years period to be finished by the end of 1998.

Details :

Version: Mangusta
Chassis: 8MA 1266
Engine: 302 Ford V8
Headlights: Four
Year built: 1971
Original exterior colour : Light Metallic Blue
Original interior colour : Black
First owner: Werner Henner, Germany

History:

Owned by Henner from 1971 to 1996
1996 sold to Roland Jaeckel, Germany with less than 3 000 miles on the odometer
1996-1998 : Restored by Roland Jeackel (De Tomaso parts importer for Germany), colour changed to orange/black during the restoration.
2000 : sold to Stefan Helm, Germany
2002 : sold to Stefan Kohler, Germany
2004 to date : sold to current owner, France

Specifics :

Factory fitted steering wheel (Ferrero ones sold out at that time),
Hand-brake right to passenger seat (late production cars),
Black exterior trim,
Ultra-rare rear windows defogger (late production cars).

STROKER ENGINE

Beginning of 2005, I decided to change the engine as I was feeling the Ford 302 was lazy (for road runners....) and had no historical interest being a real mass production engine.

After long investigations and the support of members of the De Tomaso community, I finally decided to get a 302 block from Ford Racing prepared by Roush Performance (Livonia, Mi), the 342R, a 302 block stroked to 342 ci.

The 342R engine only uses very best quality parts : forged crank, connecting rods & pistons, alloy cylinder heads fully CNC ported, ...

But integrating such an engine in a Mangusta was not an easy thing as we had to make sure we’ll be able to put the engine in the bay (dimensionwise) and that it would match up with the gearbox, A/C and other systems.

Clearly, the Roush Team did a great job, taking care of any detail that could interfere the engine integration and getting any part that could improve upon the final result.

Of course, they reused or fabricated and restored specific original parts such as the pulleys, shafts needed. They were able to work off my original engine which I shipped to Roush with all the auxilliary parts included.

The “specially designed by the amazing Steven Liebenow” oil pan (manufactured by Aviaid) was installed which has a larger oil capacity and is lowered compared to the original item.

My engine runs a specially built aluminium flywheel built on special order. The lightened unit revs up like a dentist on nitrous in any gear !

To cope with the ZF gearbox and the power and torque increase, Roush decided to integrate a competition clutch both parts were manufactured by McLeod.

To avoid overheating, a high volume water pump has replaced the original one. Roush made some modifications to the water pump to help efficiency by replacing a new impeller having some cutting of the housing for tighter impeller clearances and by a reinforcement sleeve on the new impeller to assure the press of the shaft is adequate and never loosens over its life.

By 100 F° if the temperatures is high I just rev the engine to 3000/4000 rpm and the temperature is lowered.

Radiator and fan having been already largely improved by Jaeckel’s restoration just needed to be reused all the hoses have been changes for new ones capable to bear high temperatures.

A MSD Blaster iginition kit, a new engine starter have been added to the package to ensure perfect working conditions.

By mid april 2005, the engine was finished and it was time to dyno test it. Two runs were done, the first using the Roush tests headers, a second ones using mine. The final dyno test showed 430 HP and 410 lb/ft. After the tests, the engine was opened for a check to make sure the 48 hours non stop tests have made no hurt to the engine, everything was fine. Before shipping, I requested a coating of my headers and custom valve covers. I designed myself a De Tomaso logo with the mention Powered by Roush on black painted covers.

RESTORATION

Overtaken from january 1997 to june 1998 the restoration done by Roland Jaeckel had two main objectives :

Having an original condition car, to do so, Roland used only stock parts from the factory for all the areas where improvements were not critical, he got some of the rarest parts from the US where the De Tomaso community is still very active.

Improving the original car's drawbacks, focused on chassis, electrical wiring and devices, air conditionning.

As it was for his personnal use and he could reach both the best parts and the know-how, Roland sacrificed nothing to reach his objectives.

BODY RESTORATION : The car has been fully dismantled, stripped to bare metal, welded in the weakest area and resprayed in period orange/yellow colour.

ELECTRICITY : All the wiring has been redone combining original and contemporary devices for reliability, the result is a Mangusta that has all his devices working perfectly including the clock !

AIR CONDITIONNING : The original air conditionning system has been replaced by a performant brand new one. It produces 43°F at the end of the hose that allows me to survive in summer when the temperature is really stuffy in the cabin due to the (very) large windscreen.

ZF-1 TRANSMISSION : The same that was abused on the GT40's at Le Mans, was fully restored, it allows diabolic cog-swapping.

CHASSIS : Traditionnally weak, the chassis has been fully rebuilt and strenghtened.

INTERIOR : Fully retrimmed with great talent, using the very best leather, alcantara and carpet. Headrests non original (Ferrari Dino inspired) were added by Mr Kohler, the 4th owner.

EXHAUST : a new exhaust has been fitted. Larger diameter and better drawing are considerable improvements compared to the original that was clearly poor. Produces a slightly noticeable noise allowing long trips without aspirin.

THE FINAL RESULT was a two tones Mangusta combining orange/black colours that (IMHO) suits better the Panteras than the Mangustas.

DOCUMENTATION

MA1266 comes with lot of documentation including car registration papers for the different owners allowing to track ownership history, lot of invoices to understand the constant level of attention it received.

Above all, I have a copy of MA1266 factory build sheet and a reprint of the owner’s manual.

When I got into the painful process of registering MA1266 in France from Germany with the assistance of Stephane Poux who strongly supported me, I received a copy of the factory importation sheet for Europe which is a rare find.

MAINTENANCE & IMPROVEMENTS

TYRES

When I bought MA1266, it came with "as new" following tyres : Front : BF Goodrich 205/60/15 V Rear : Pirelli Scorpion Zero 255/60/15 V These tyres are maybe very good but the rear ones were designed with big SUVs in mind, the front being not especially great. Combining tyres from a different manufacturer is never a good idea and I was tempted for a change one day or the other. When I experienced a thrilling slithering while gently cornering (I swear !) on a wet road, I jumped on the idea. My personnal objectives with new tyres were :

to fit the original wheels with their 15” dimensions while taking care of ground clearance,
to bear my stroker engine power & torque with a reasonnable lifetime,
to combine great traction on dry and wet roads, allowing me to make long trips across European roads without freaking out too much under the rain...,
of high speed cornering/agility abilities,
dimensions and design to match the Goose design without oversizing and modernizing it too much (not European taste),
V speed rating at least to allow high speed cruising safely.

All without combining different makers between front and rear as (IMHO) it perverts their performances. Combining all those objectives has been a painful process... Having defined those objectives, my first search was to keep the current dimensions of 225 front and 255 rear. The only supplier that matches all these requests is Avon Tyres, they produce the CR27 turbospeed, 255/65/15V for the rear. Issues began when I tried to find the front ones, 3 references are available :

Avon ZZ3 (225/60/15W) – great performances tyres but definitely too modern pattern for my Goose,
Avon ZV3 (225/60/15W) – poor performances rated at least on wet surfaces
Avon CR6ZZ (215/60/15V) – from the Avon racing portfolio – road legal (at least according EU regulations) – amazing performances on track and dry roads but poor on wet surfaces

For the rear tyres, although dimensions and speed rating seem good on the datasheet, those tyres were developed with the most heavy cars in mind like Aston Martins, Rolls-Royce, Bentleys, weighting out 2 tons or even more !, although certainly very good,they wouldn’t be the perfect match for our relatively light Geese. To this point, I’ve been back to history, our cars were (I believe) factory delivered with

front 185/70/15
rear 205/70/15 or 225/70/15 all being H rated (even if I found some documents showing factory delivery with 235 rear...),

Dunlop being the main tires supplier for the factory at that time beside some others. Some Mangustas (including the Bordinat Mangusta) were factory delivered with the famous Michelin XWX on customers special requests. The XWX was THE ultimate sport tyre in the late 60’s and in the 70’s, it fitted Lamborghini Miuras, Countach, Panteras , Ferrari Daytonas, Maserati Ghiblis, to name just a few, it was capable to reach the 155/180 mph bracket (VR or W speed rating). Michelin still produces this range that has a strong demand from the discerning collectors. It is produced with the original pattern with modern material and techniques and is an efficient tyre with great grip abilities, traction on dry and wet roads and is really safe and comfortable according to exotic classic owners I contacted to get their feedback. I selected the largest dimensions available :

Front : 205/70/15 90W
Rear : 225/70/15 92W

This choice might seem a little bit skinny for enthusiasts who grew up among Muscle Cars and I confess I’ll regret my current dimensions combination. But I’m confident this choice will be the best to cope with my personnal objectives, I keep in mind that these dimensions are still 20 mm larger than the original ones. Those new dimensions will bring me higher ground clearance (with all its upsides), more narrow tyres will bring better agility and better behaviour in any weather driving condition. I’m a GT lover and I’m sure they’ll allow me to make “Gran Turismo” trips across Europe with perfect behaviour in a total peace of mind even at high speeds. Mr Michelin, the founder said “The car is the tyre accessory”, it is in this state of mind I finally selected this solution.

EVENTS & TRIPS

MA1266 being a reliable and joyful toy is driven more than regularly eating between 5000 and 7000 miles yearly. Unfortunately, there aren’t not as many events as I’d like to join time being an issue at some point. On the top of that, travelling across Europe were B roads are of great quality and really rewarding for a performant GT and its driver remains my prefered fantasy.

June 2004 : Le Rallye du Cap Hornue, it is a small local event in the beautiful north of France I used to go every year. It was organized by an enthusiast collector who reunited multi-makes classic cars mostly Aston Martins, Ferraris and rarities oriented over a week-end.

April 2006 : Mortefontaine track – organized by a friend and great enthusiast, this yearly private event gathers only good friends who take their cars for the first run of the season. The Mortefontaine track owned by Pininfarina subsidiary Ceram is the longest around the Paris region with 3,23 miles.

June 2006 : Le Grand Prix de l’Age d’Or – Classic cars gathering around the Dijon/Prenoy track where races take place over the wee-end.

July 2006 : Le Mans Classic – We joined the Swedish De Tomaso club to Germany to go to the Nurburgring Track. From there we joined Le Mans Classic 3^rd edition, in my opinion the really best classic cars event European wide.

September 2006 : Le festival de l’Automobile, Saint Cloud – A small event located in the suburb of Paris, classic cars gathering, elegance concours, hillclimb.

A FUTURISTIC WATCH TO FIT THE GOOSE

In 1984, Seiko asked Giugiaro to design a range of futuristic watches based on their "Synchrotimer" launched in 1981 and powered by the infamous 7A28 Caliber.