Hi, are there any information for when the first cars were delivered in the US? And, how was the sales network at the time?
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deniscCaretaker of 8MA1244 '70 Euro Mangusta DRIVE THEM, THEY WERE MEANT TO BE DRIVEN, IF YOU WANT TO LOOK AT ONE, BUY A POSTER!
Dino, The 1st US importer was Kjell Qvale I do no know any dates, Certainly Wally Wiss can fill those in, The Canadian distributor ( Stan McRoberts) got 8MA526 in January of 1969 for the 1st Canadian International Auto .
http://www.velocetoday.com/kjell-qvale-1919-2013/
http://www.velocetoday.com/kjell-qvale-1919-2013/
From Denis posting, an interesting not by Toly Arutunoff:
Quote:
"Dick Irish and I ordered 3 Mangustas in the autumn of ’68 for Automobiles of Italy, Inc. I had the extensive leather and paint sample “keyrings” until the movers lost ‘em on a 10 mile move across town–along with 7 boxes of brochures, entry forms, etc. I drove one from Tulsa to Dallas and back and got something near 20mpg. The engines had an unintentional rev limiter: the points spring was so soft that when you got near 5krpm the ignition would cut out. One car was mezzanotte metallica with pigskin upholstery, one was sorta sky blue, and one was pale jellybean green meallic. I can’t exactly remember the upholstery in those, but they were in light leather. Wunnerful cars, even if the front brakes would instantly lock up on a wet road."
Mezzanote Metallica I don´t know, but jellybean Green metalic is beautiful color !... Pigskin, I had nor Heard of that one....
Quote:
"Dick Irish and I ordered 3 Mangustas in the autumn of ’68 for Automobiles of Italy, Inc. I had the extensive leather and paint sample “keyrings” until the movers lost ‘em on a 10 mile move across town–along with 7 boxes of brochures, entry forms, etc. I drove one from Tulsa to Dallas and back and got something near 20mpg. The engines had an unintentional rev limiter: the points spring was so soft that when you got near 5krpm the ignition would cut out. One car was mezzanotte metallica with pigskin upholstery, one was sorta sky blue, and one was pale jellybean green meallic. I can’t exactly remember the upholstery in those, but they were in light leather. Wunnerful cars, even if the front brakes would instantly lock up on a wet road."
Mezzanote Metallica I don´t know, but jellybean Green metalic is beautiful color !... Pigskin, I had nor Heard of that one....
Thank you, both of you i was late to reply for some reason, don't get me wrong. So, the 3 cars were ordered in the autumn of 1968 that makes they were delivered say 2-3 months later? With an approximate estimation, when was the earliest for the first car to enter the country?
I had the pleasure of working on a '69 Euro model last year (VIN# 8MA618). The owner says he purchased it new and was the first Mangusta in Hawaii. I didn't ask when the date of purchase was.