As there are quite a few Longchamp owners on this board, I´d like to enquire about their experiences with their cars. What has been your experince of maintaining the cars? Fuel consumption? Should I buy one?..
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First of all I happy to hear you got an answer from Mr Tjaarda. Any pics of the prototype that we haven't seen before? if so, feel free to share!
Should you buy one? of course. I own a Deauville but my dad had a Longchamp for 5 years as a daily driver. Fuel consumption is 5 km for 1 liter with normal driving. Generally it is reliable. The electrical system is Italian 70's style but most of that can be replaced with modern and reliable systems.
Rust is always an issue especially with North European cars. That is the biggest worry. On the other hand, by most that are left over should have had a complete or partial restoration. Then you need know how well it was done.
Have you found a Longchamp that you want to buy?
I know there is one for sale in Germany. It's a brown one from, propably, 1976.
Should you buy one? of course. I own a Deauville but my dad had a Longchamp for 5 years as a daily driver. Fuel consumption is 5 km for 1 liter with normal driving. Generally it is reliable. The electrical system is Italian 70's style but most of that can be replaced with modern and reliable systems.
Rust is always an issue especially with North European cars. That is the biggest worry. On the other hand, by most that are left over should have had a complete or partial restoration. Then you need know how well it was done.
Have you found a Longchamp that you want to buy?
I know there is one for sale in Germany. It's a brown one from, propably, 1976.
Dutchie,
The photo Mr. Tjaarda sent me is the same one that is on the tom-tjaarda.net web page, but in a very high resolution. It will be a great help in manufacturing new parts, if I will undertake this project. As far as finding a Longchamp.. Two weeks ago there were three for sale(with a reasonable price), but now it seems there is only two. The swiss one that looked pretty good, seem to have sold, the german one was just relisted( I haven´t been in contact with the owner yet) and the dutch one is missing parts. As you are from Holland, are you aware of the condition of this incomplete yellow Longchamp that is for sale at Americansportscars.net?
The photo Mr. Tjaarda sent me is the same one that is on the tom-tjaarda.net web page, but in a very high resolution. It will be a great help in manufacturing new parts, if I will undertake this project. As far as finding a Longchamp.. Two weeks ago there were three for sale(with a reasonable price), but now it seems there is only two. The swiss one that looked pretty good, seem to have sold, the german one was just relisted( I haven´t been in contact with the owner yet) and the dutch one is missing parts. As you are from Holland, are you aware of the condition of this incomplete yellow Longchamp that is for sale at Americansportscars.net?
The yellow Longchamp is a good basis. the most difficult part would be the bumpers which you have to make from scratch. They are impossible to find. I have seen it up close on 2 occasions and is in fair condition. It is an original Dutch car from 5-1975 chassis is 2089 and the original colour was Orometal. I imagine it was similar too the Swiss car in colour. We have the colour number on file if anyone ever wants it make it orginal again. The previous owner took several years to restore it but I don't know if it was an outstanding job he did.
The German Longchamp is also an ok basis. I have seen the car 3 weeks ago when some of us drove down there to buy it. Bumpers need new chrome badly ( touched up with a can of silverspray) Has had a respray paint is ok but the panels are slightly wobbly in some areas, such as the top of the front and rear wings. The velours inserts on the rear seat have been replaced but the stitching is wrong. The top of the dashboard ( the mouse hair) is gone almost everywere so it has now a smooth vinyl like look to it. We didn't hear it run. I think he is says its a 1972 but from the chassis number we believe it is from 1975 or 1976. It came from Sicilly and I know for shure that he bought it from a dealership in Northern Italy about 2 years ago because I looked at also back then.
If you need more info let me know. In two weeks I will be travelling to the North of Holland so if you need me to look at the yellow one, let me know. He lives about 15 minutes from my mother in law!
The German Longchamp is also an ok basis. I have seen the car 3 weeks ago when some of us drove down there to buy it. Bumpers need new chrome badly ( touched up with a can of silverspray) Has had a respray paint is ok but the panels are slightly wobbly in some areas, such as the top of the front and rear wings. The velours inserts on the rear seat have been replaced but the stitching is wrong. The top of the dashboard ( the mouse hair) is gone almost everywere so it has now a smooth vinyl like look to it. We didn't hear it run. I think he is says its a 1972 but from the chassis number we believe it is from 1975 or 1976. It came from Sicilly and I know for shure that he bought it from a dealership in Northern Italy about 2 years ago because I looked at also back then.
If you need more info let me know. In two weeks I will be travelling to the North of Holland so if you need me to look at the yellow one, let me know. He lives about 15 minutes from my mother in law!
With the yellow longchamp I´m also worried about the non-original wheels. I can´t imagine finding deauville/longchamp wheels can be easy.
But, your description of the German longchamp raises some question about it´s bodywork(Is it the same cars as: http://www.need4speed.at/bazar/detomaso/longchamp10.jpg ?), so I think the Dutch one is still the best bet at this point.
Which brings me to a point that I need to make before asking anything from you as far as inspections go. I need to sell my current classics, before I have the means to do anything about my longchamp obsession, and I can´t imagine it being done until early august the earliest.
If it´s no trouble for you, I´d appriciate it if you could check the car out. But until I´ve sold my collection I would feel guilty about it.
p.s. How is the availability of the chassis parts(bushings, u-joints, etc.) for deauville/longchamp?
But, your description of the German longchamp raises some question about it´s bodywork(Is it the same cars as: http://www.need4speed.at/bazar/detomaso/longchamp10.jpg ?), so I think the Dutch one is still the best bet at this point.
Which brings me to a point that I need to make before asking anything from you as far as inspections go. I need to sell my current classics, before I have the means to do anything about my longchamp obsession, and I can´t imagine it being done until early august the earliest.
If it´s no trouble for you, I´d appriciate it if you could check the car out. But until I´ve sold my collection I would feel guilty about it.
p.s. How is the availability of the chassis parts(bushings, u-joints, etc.) for deauville/longchamp?
Finlandese,
It is no bother for me to do some checking on the yellow Longchamp. I know the owner from previous meetings and he is an ok guy. I'd be happy to do it. Roland is right about wheels and other parts. The headlamps are Granada MK1 and easy to find, the taillights are from € 200 for decent used to € 450 n.o.s.
And yes, the brown one is the same as in neeed4speed.
I'm going either June 29 or 30 up north so I will look at the yellow one then. Shoot me a PM so I will have your e-mail to send pics and so.
P.S.
What kind of classics do you own now? And how did you get the Longchamp bug?
It is no bother for me to do some checking on the yellow Longchamp. I know the owner from previous meetings and he is an ok guy. I'd be happy to do it. Roland is right about wheels and other parts. The headlamps are Granada MK1 and easy to find, the taillights are from € 200 for decent used to € 450 n.o.s.
And yes, the brown one is the same as in neeed4speed.
I'm going either June 29 or 30 up north so I will look at the yellow one then. Shoot me a PM so I will have your e-mail to send pics and so.
P.S.
What kind of classics do you own now? And how did you get the Longchamp bug?
Roland , thanks for the info (how much for the wheels, btw?)
Dutchie,
I just sold my `71 Volvo 142 (Practicaly an one owner car with time warp interior), and my 1975 Alfa Spider( with Bobocor racing(Alfa´s factory competition representative in the states) mods) goes for sale within a month. In the past I´ve had a Porsche, Merc coupes(2), Alfa spiders(3), Lincoln continental ´66 and Pontiac Fiero GT.
After a few convertible sport cars, I started to feel it would be a right time for a proper grand turismo. As I started my options were:
Alfa Montreal
De Tomaso Longchamp
Ferrari 308gt/4
Iso Lele
Maserati Kyalami
Alfa is too complicated as far as the maintanance goes, Iso Lele has too little support. Maserati has all the expence of a Ferrari as far as the maintanace goes, but nowhere near as easy to sell if needs to be sold. Ferrari is a nice car, but I´ve noticed that thanks to F1 I´ve started to dislike the whole brand.
When I was in a classic car dealership in northern Italy, I asked their opinions about these cars. They dismissed the Longchamp as an impossible to find and muttered something about the american engine. I filed De Tomaso as not an option, and forgot about it. Until I saw a picture of the Turin show car in a French classic car magazine. As a result it´s my number one choice now.
Dutchie,
I just sold my `71 Volvo 142 (Practicaly an one owner car with time warp interior), and my 1975 Alfa Spider( with Bobocor racing(Alfa´s factory competition representative in the states) mods) goes for sale within a month. In the past I´ve had a Porsche, Merc coupes(2), Alfa spiders(3), Lincoln continental ´66 and Pontiac Fiero GT.
After a few convertible sport cars, I started to feel it would be a right time for a proper grand turismo. As I started my options were:
Alfa Montreal
De Tomaso Longchamp
Ferrari 308gt/4
Iso Lele
Maserati Kyalami
Alfa is too complicated as far as the maintanance goes, Iso Lele has too little support. Maserati has all the expence of a Ferrari as far as the maintanace goes, but nowhere near as easy to sell if needs to be sold. Ferrari is a nice car, but I´ve noticed that thanks to F1 I´ve started to dislike the whole brand.
When I was in a classic car dealership in northern Italy, I asked their opinions about these cars. They dismissed the Longchamp as an impossible to find and muttered something about the american engine. I filed De Tomaso as not an option, and forgot about it. Until I saw a picture of the Turin show car in a French classic car magazine. As a result it´s my number one choice now.
Finlandese,
You made the right decision:-)
You made the right decision:-)
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Transmitter man,
That colour works really well with a GTS, very sinister... What are your experiences as far as the maintanance, fuel, etc. go?
That colour works really well with a GTS, very sinister... What are your experiences as far as the maintanance, fuel, etc. go?
My wife and I own a 1981 Longchamp that we imported from Claude DuBois' dealership in Belgium. We have put over 80,000 miles on the car and had a wonderful experience the entire way. Our car is shown in the color section of the book, DeTomaso the Man and the Machines. I would highly recommend purchasing and owning a Longchamp if you have any interest at all. I would like to install a later model automatic transmission because the 3 speed C-6 is way too low for speeds over 70MPH. The brakes are very good, however, we rebuilt our rears and found that the Jaguar and Maserati parts were quite expensive. Like any Italian car of the period, rust is a concern. Our car was stripped and repainted over 20 years ago and all rust repaired, which was minor. Dave and Linda Adler
Dave,
Thank you for sharing your experiences with a Longchamp. What transmission have you thought to replace the C6 with? Ford AOD?
Thank you for sharing your experiences with a Longchamp. What transmission have you thought to replace the C6 with? Ford AOD?
Hi Finlandese,
When I first purchased my car in Belgium and drove back home to the UK my first job was to replace the bald tyres on the car.
I was told by it seems a not very knowledgable person to order 285/40/15's for the rear.
As you may already know these cars were originally fitted with 50 series. Suffice to say my fuel economy has gone AWOL.
However, the 40 series tyres work out around 1cm taller than the 225/50/15 fronts and make the car look dead right.
My car is an auto and I am at present looking around for a 2.73 or 2.88 differential to get back my economy and reduce the rev's. this weekend I will get the car up in the air and work out what gears I have on the car.
Maintainence is no problem. You're dealing with a prehistoric engine design and any American parts store can supply the run of the mill service parts while dealers such as Summit in the US can mail order your bank account dry.
My personal opinion of my car is that the old Jag steering rack is crap. It's OK at speed but around town it's far worse than my 200K mile Volvo 850. I'd be interested to know what other Longchamp owners think of the steering and if there's a more modern replacement we can switchover to.
The colour of my car is Aston Martin gunmetal grey. The colour is the bizz and indeed suits the car.
The electrics are not perfect. de Tomaso undoubtedly employed a school leaver to design them. I'm sorting these little problems out one by one.
Plenty of plans - no enough money.
I love this car but it is far from perfect.
Phil
London, UK
When I first purchased my car in Belgium and drove back home to the UK my first job was to replace the bald tyres on the car.
I was told by it seems a not very knowledgable person to order 285/40/15's for the rear.
As you may already know these cars were originally fitted with 50 series. Suffice to say my fuel economy has gone AWOL.
However, the 40 series tyres work out around 1cm taller than the 225/50/15 fronts and make the car look dead right.
My car is an auto and I am at present looking around for a 2.73 or 2.88 differential to get back my economy and reduce the rev's. this weekend I will get the car up in the air and work out what gears I have on the car.
Maintainence is no problem. You're dealing with a prehistoric engine design and any American parts store can supply the run of the mill service parts while dealers such as Summit in the US can mail order your bank account dry.
My personal opinion of my car is that the old Jag steering rack is crap. It's OK at speed but around town it's far worse than my 200K mile Volvo 850. I'd be interested to know what other Longchamp owners think of the steering and if there's a more modern replacement we can switchover to.
The colour of my car is Aston Martin gunmetal grey. The colour is the bizz and indeed suits the car.
The electrics are not perfect. de Tomaso undoubtedly employed a school leaver to design them. I'm sorting these little problems out one by one.
Plenty of plans - no enough money.
I love this car but it is far from perfect.
Phil
London, UK
Phil, I noticed that your car has 8/10" x 15 Campis with small flares. Do they all use that combination?
Hi Doug,
Only the GTS & GTSE models run the flares and wide wheels. I believe the basic model runs 7's all round.
Phil
79 Longchamp GTS 3061
Only the GTS & GTSE models run the flares and wide wheels. I believe the basic model runs 7's all round.
Phil
79 Longchamp GTS 3061
Well, now I´m about to find out, what´s it like to live with a Longchamp. Bought one last saturday. It´s a ´75, with a practically single owner history (he bought it 4 months old). Needs some work, but is quite nice.
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Jani,
congratulations. I'd like to own a 'Champ myself. Have fun with it, and keep us informed how ownership is going.
Start a photo journal in the DeTomaso photo gallery. show it off to the world.
George
congratulations. I'd like to own a 'Champ myself. Have fun with it, and keep us informed how ownership is going.
Start a photo journal in the DeTomaso photo gallery. show it off to the world.
George
Not to worry, George.
Just wait and you´ll see what I have planned for her...
Just wait and you´ll see what I have planned for her...