Rare Rides: The 1982 De Tomaso Deauville - Quattroporte Meets XJ?

Rare Rides has shown several vehicles which owe their creation to retired racing driver Alejandro de Tomaso. Among those were two which wore his logo: the Guarà Barchetta and the Longchamp.

Today’s car is the only four-door De Tomaso ever produced: the Deauville.

Much like the hefty Longchamp linked to above, Deauville was a luxury grand touring car that intended to compete with Europe’s finest fast sedans. De Tomaso established his brand in the early Sixties with the mid-engine Vallelunga, following that creation up with the Mangusta. Accompanying the introduction of the Deauville was De Tomaso’s most famous and successful model, the Pantera. In addition to the company’s first foray into four doors, it was also the first time they’d put an engine at the front of the car.

Deauville debuted at the Turin Motor Show in 1970, entering production in 1971. The design was penned by the ever-skilled Tom Tjaarda when he worked at Ghia. The large sedan rode on a 109-inch wheelbase, and had an overall length of 191 inches. Though it had a similar wheelbase, length, and appearance as a Jaguar XJ6, it was five inches wider.

Powering the 4,277-pound car was some American iron, in the form of a 351 Cleveland V8 (5.8L) borrowed from Ford. An impressive 330 horses were routed to the rear wheels via a five-speed ZF manual, or the three-speed automatic Lincoln used between 1966 and 1979. Underneath, the Deauville employed an independent suspension at the rear and ventilated disc brakes all around. Those brakes were very necessary to haul the Deauville down from its 143 mph top speed.

The Deauville was a hand-built and custom-order sort of car. Though it remained in production between 1971 and 1985, only 244 were produced. There were three slightly different versions of the car, divided up into early and late Series I, and Series II. Early Series I cars were made between 1970 and 1974, and the later version was from 1975 to 1977. From 1978 through 1985, all cars were Series II.

The Deauville chassis put in some additional work in other cars. It was chopped down for the Longchamp coupe mentioned above, and also underpinned the Maserati Quattroporte III (which entered production in 1979 and lived through 1990). One sedan was enough for De Tomaso, as the brand continued on with just the Longchamp and Pantera post-’85.

Today’s Rare Ride is in excellent condition in Robino Rosso, boasting a creamy ruched leather interior — check those door panels! With the additional power options offered on later cars and an automatic transmission, it asks $76,000.

[Images: seller]