[DeTomaso] De Tomaso Paradise.....

Wolfgang Geisler wgeisler at gmx.de
Fri May 25 17:27:25 EDT 2012


Hi all, 

I made my introduction a few months ago.

Pls see: http://list.realbig.com/pipermail/detomaso/2011-October/137823.html

With the incredible help of Mike Drew, Jim Coyne, Julian Kift and a other members of the Pantera community I have found and bought #5891 in Palm Springs. In the meantime the car has reached my garage and I am perfectly happy with this nice and original example. 

But that´s not what I am writing about today. I would just to report about a magic visit in Modena / Italy......
I would call the place "De Tomaso Paradise":
During our annual tour to the Mille Miglia in Italy we did a stopover at the premises of RS Corse in Modena. RS Corse is the same company as RAF Modena which is well known to Pantera enthusiasts all over the world. The company is run by Raffaele Ludovico together with his sister Chiara and Mirko Guolo. The premises are situated in an industrial area of Modena and cover a large warehouse and several workshops. Raffele is in charge for the workshops, Mirko is doing the parts business. Raffaele was a De Tomaso employee until 12 years ago when he continued his career in the racing departments of Maserati and Ferrari. Around two years ago he took over the parts stock, documents and other assets of the old De Tomaso factory. Initially he kept the stock in a former De Tomaso warehouse but moved with all the inventory to new premises lately. Now he and his friends are facing the big challenge to put everything in place again. But I am sure that – with all their enthusiasm – they will surely do a great job in the end. They are building up homepage in the moment: www.rscorse.com
Next to the premises of RS Course you can find a small but extremely interesting private museum which is run by Santiago De Tomaso, the son of Alejandro. The museum diplays unique pieces of De Tomaso history like a Ghia coachwork prototipo with front wheel-drive, serial cars and De Tomaso race cars and prototypes. Moreover that you find historic photographs and highly interesting marketing material.
When we arrived (of course too late….) Raffaele gave us a very warm welcome and provided a tour through all his workshops and the warehouse. The workshop is clean and modern and you can easily see that the people working there know exactly what to do….. Then you enter the next room and you remain speechless: The golden Mangusta prototype!! In nice working order! Next to this piece of art are the monoposto of Mrs De Tomaso and a Formula 2 car, both waiting for their restoration.
As soon as you are ready to cope with this impression you go to the warehouse and you cannot believe your eyes. A huge stock of original De Tomaso parts! You can find original rims, moulds for the bodies and even the stickers which tell you to be cautious when running in your new De Tomaso… It’s all very very impressive!!!!
All De Tomaso owners can only be thankful that Raffaele, Mirko and Chiara are doing such a great job for the history of our beloved cars!!
For my photographic report pls see: 

https://picasaweb.google.com/116697449345226401052/RSCorseModena?authkey=Gv1sRgCImdm_7nj8-y3wE

Enjoy!

Wolfgang 






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