[DeTomaso] Mangusta Designer?

[cengles at cox.net]

Dear Dick, Rob and Steve,

Thanks for the excellent short course on the Mangusta designer and the history of the Mangusta design.

Nicely done, Chuck Engles


---- dickruzzindesign <dickruzzindesign at aol.com> wrote:
>The  Mangusta was designed by  Georgetto Giugiaro.  He had left Ghia after designing the Fidia, a four door sedan for Bizzarrini and did the Mangusta exterior and interior design on his kitchen table at home as a free lance project.  He proposed it to Ghia as a companion car for the Fidia.  The idea was ultimately rejected but a full size fiberglass model was made.  This is what DeTomaso found when he bought Ghia. 
DeTomaso put it in the Turin Autoshow in 1966, along with a chassis, it was very well received by the press and the public.  He eventually made a deal with Ford for the engines. 401 were built, the engine deal started a relationship with Ford which eventually led to the Pantera. The Mangusta is lower and wider than the Pantera and the interior space is very different.  My car weighs 2964 pounds.
Giugiaro went on with an engineering friend to create a company, ItalDesign which has just recently been sold to Volkswagen for 66 million dollars.
He has designed hundreds of cars for many manufacturers worldwide.  He was declared Designer Of The Century by a European press organization in 2000.

Giorgetto is very skillful as an artist and designer.  He is very easy to talk to and is a genuine design enthusiast.  He has done many other products as well as cars, such as cameras, helicopter interiors, etc.  --
All the best,DICK RUZZIN_____________________________________________________________________dickruzzinDESIGN at aol.com / Home: 313-824-0539 / Cell: 313-300-9558