Mini De Tomaso

They sold those little crap-boxes here for a while too, as Innocentis. With Daihatsu engines! As I recall they would rust before your eyes which is probably why you can't even find one in a wrecking yard now. THANK GOD!!!

You can buy one from France of you prefer...

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Mini-innocenti-de-Tomaso-Turbo-1987-...QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

FWIW Larry Stock has what is said to be the original N. American show car, apparently it was more than it was worth to ship it back to Italy!

quote:

Originally posted by Mark Charlton:
They sold those little crap-boxes here for a while too, as Innocentis. With Daihatsu engines! As I recall they would rust before your eyes which is probably why you can't even find one in a wrecking yard now. THANK GOD!!!

Mark... So harsh!

I was lucky enough to have one of these in college, 993cc, 3 cylinder, power windows (well, one worked!), 4 seater with room for luggage. The DeT versions had an IHI turbocharger with around 85HP! Everything a struggling university student needs. Quick too, 0-60 was around 8.5 sec unless you had other people in the car in which case it was double that.

I have fond memories of driving to Sylvan lake with 3 buddies and 2 cases of beer in the car, maxed out at 85 MPH down the hills, downshifting to make it up the hills! It was all fun until the shifter broke off in my hand one day and I was stuck in third. But that's another story...

Great car. Wish I still had it.