[DeTomaso] P72

[jderyke at aol.com]

Convoluted story. Ten V-8 sports-racers were supposed to run a series in Europe & the U.S. DeTomaso had Brock's blueprints but when his shop tried to build one, they mis-translated the SAE dimensions into metric, so the cockpit literally had no room for a human being. Everyone called it the "Manoletto'- able to be driven only by a legless mannequin. DeTomaso was embarrassed & scrapped the car. It was eventually reclaimed by some local shop into what looked like a Gr-C coupe with a Porsche engine/trans- which left enough room for a human driver. It still exists today. Photos and a brief description are in Olczyck's 'DeTomaso Racing' book, pgs 53-101.

 A few weeks after DeTomaso had thrown Brock and his Shelby project out of his shop, he saw one being finished up personally by Brock at Carrozzeria Fantuzzi  just a few doors down the street. It looked so good, DeTomaso began building another one himself, with more attention being paid to dimensions. About that time, Shelby/Ford refused to pay for the ''Manoletto", using the Ford money instead to win the World Championship for the Cobras, further aggravating DeTomaso who was stuck for the bill. Fantuzzi was likely stuck for the cost of the 'Sport 5000'.

To one-up Shelby/Brock's abandoned Fantuzzi- built car with a 5-L Ford, DeTomaso claimed his would have a 427 (7-liter) in it. In fact, neither car ever ran a 7 liter engine but it was a catchy name. The chassis (with a 5-L Ford) was shown at the Geneva Auto show but no one bought so DeTomaso used the chassis with a prototype Ghia coupe body to create the Mangusta (a Cobra killer- to worry Shelby), so he finally made his expenses. Brock's "Sport 5000" (for its 5-L Ford engine) only ran once in actual competition, DNF-ing on lap 3 at Mugello in'66 while DeTomaso's second one apparently never ran in a race.
 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Matt Wells <nwpantera at gmail.com>
To: DeTomaso Mail List <detomaso at server.detomasolist.com>
Sent: Fri, Jul 12, 2019 9:40 am
Subject: [DeTomaso] P72

  Hagerty gushing over the P72. Anybody know why they call it that?
  [1]https://tinyurl.com/y2wk2hd3A A


References

  1. https://tinyurl.com/y2wk2hd3
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-------------- next part --------------
   Convoluted story. Ten V-8 sports-racers were supposed to run a series
   in Europe & the U.S. DeTomaso had Brock's blueprints but when his shop
   tried to build one, they mis-translated the SAE dimensions into metric,
   so the cockpit literally had no room for a human being. Everyone called
   it the "Manoletto'- able to be driven only by a legless mannequin.
   DeTomaso was embarrassed & scrapped the car. It was eventually
   reclaimed by some local shop into what looked like a Gr-C coupe with a
   Porsche engine/trans- which left enough room for a human driver. It
   still exists today. Photos and a brief description are in Olczyck's
   'DeTomaso Racing' book, pgs 53-101.
    A few weeks after DeTomaso had thrown Brock and his Shelby project out
   of his shop, he saw one being finished up personally by Brock at
   Carrozzeria Fantuzzi  just a few doors down the street. It looked so
   good, DeTomaso began building another one himself, with more attention
   being paid to dimensions. About that time, Shelby/Ford refused to pay
   for the ''Manoletto", using the Ford money instead to win the World
   Championship for the Cobras, further aggravating DeTomaso who was stuck
   for the bill. Fantuzzi was likely stuck for the cost of the 'Sport
   5000'.
   To one-up Shelby/Brock's abandoned Fantuzzi- built car with a 5-L Ford,
   DeTomaso claimed his would have a 427 (7-liter) in it. In fact, neither
   car ever ran a 7 liter engine but it was a catchy name. The chassis
   (with a 5-L Ford) was shown at the Geneva Auto show but no one bought
   so DeTomaso used the chassis with a prototype Ghia coupe body to create
   the Mangusta (a Cobra killer- to worry Shelby), so he finally made his
   expenses. Brock's "Sport 5000" (for its 5-L Ford engine) only ran once
   in actual competition, DNF-ing on lap 3 at Mugello in'66 while
   DeTomaso's second one apparently never ran in a race.
   -----Original Message-----
   From: Matt Wells <nwpantera at gmail.com>
   To: DeTomaso Mail List <detomaso at server.detomasolist.com>
   Sent: Fri, Jul 12, 2019 9:40 am
   Subject: [DeTomaso] P72
     Hagerty gushing over the P72. Anybody know why they call it that?
     [1][1]https://tinyurl.com/y2wk2hd3A A
   References
     1. [2]https://tinyurl.com/y2wk2hd3
   _______________________________________________
   Detomaso Email List is not managed by POCA
   Posted emails must not exceed 1.5 Megabytes
   DeTomaso mailing list
   [3]DeTomaso at server.detomasolist.com
   [4]http://server.detomasolist.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso
   To manage your subscription (change email address, unsubscribe, etc.)
   use the links above.
   Members who post to this list grant license to the list to forward any
   message posted here to all past, current, or future members of the
   list. They also grant the list owner permission to maintain an archive
   or approve the archiving of list messages.

References

   1. https://tinyurl.com/y2wk2hd3A
   2. https://tinyurl.com/y2wk2hd3
   3. mailto:DeTomaso at server.detomasolist.com
   4. http://server.detomasolist.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso