My name is Mark, and I’m a De Tomaso-holic.
A month or so back I was scanning eBay and checking out a very nice looking ERA GT40 that was listed. In the fuzzy background of one of the images I spotted a De Tomaso Longchamp so I contacted the seller and asked if it was for sale. "Sort-of" was the reluctant answer. Turns out the seller had owned the car for over 20 years and it has been for sale on and off for a few years, but every time he drove the car again he decided to take it off the market. I imagine there wasn't exactly a FLOOD of interest either — after-all, most people haven't a clue what a Longchamp even is (except for the French horse-racing track, or the leather goods manufacturer of the same name.
I was piqued because I have always thought the Longchamp was a really great looking car and bit more "usable" than a Pantera in a bunch of ways. It has a good size trunk and space for some nieces and nephews in the back seats. Plus, it doesn't stand out from the crowd as much as a Pantera — which can occasionally be a good thing.
So I asked a bunch of the typical questions about the car and its history. Nothing I heard scared me away so I decided it was worth going to meet the seller and see the car. It turned out to be well worth it. The owner, George, was kind enough to pick me up at the airport and drive me a rather long distance the see the car — which was all tucked away in one of the nicest private collections I've seen. I passed not one, but TWO original Cobras (a 289 and a 427) as I made my way to the Longchamp. It was hard not to stop and inspect the ERA GT40 spyder that had been the cause of my initial distraction, and it was spectacular. Being parked beside a modern Ford GT, it was quite a contrast in size and detail. I still chose the older car in that pairing.
I spent an hour crawling in, over and under the Longchamp. It was one of only 10 (according to a letter from De Tomaso written in the early 1990’s) cars originally built with a 5-speed manual. The remaining cars all being automatics. The body and paint looked amazing. I was told that the car had been completely restored and converted to GTS specification by Steve Wilkinson at a rather considerable cost, much of which was in the paint and bodywork. Although originally black, the car is now a nice darker cherry red, a fairly striking color for the car. I usually do not like red cars, but this seemed to work. The interior is all black leather, and thankfully without the rather odd velour inserts that adorn many Longchamps. The underside of the car looked like new and George confirmed that the car was rarely driven in the wet since it had been restored. I couldn't find any evidence of rust, which is always my biggest concern. Everything checked out to my satisfaction and so I agreed to buy the car. More importantly, he agreed to sell it! The car hasn't made its way to my home yet, but given the abundance of snow and bitterly cold weather, I'm just as happy to wait a bit longer. Plus, I've embarked on restoring my Mangusta so I have more than enough to do until spring arrives.
Here are some pictures:
Mark