Tuesday, January 23, 2018

De Tomaso Deauville (1971-85)

The De Tomaso Deauville, designed by Tom Tjaarda (then in force at the Ghia), was a large four-door sedan first exhibited at Turin Motor Show 1970. The car was powered by the same 351 in³ (5763 cc) Ford Cleveland V8 as the De Tomaso Pantera, rated at 300 hp. The car had a top speed of 230 km/h (143 mph) and featured styling similar to that of the Jaguar XJ.

The Deauville had an independent rear suspension very similar to that used by Jaguar, and ventilated discs in all four wheels. It shares its chassis with the Maserati Quattroporte III.

Only a total of 244 Deauvilles were produced. The main reason was the price; at £8,992 in the UK, the exclusive Deauville not only cost around four times as much as a 4.2-Litre XJ6, it was more expensive than the contemporary Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow. The Deauville’s Italian heritage and relative rarity has only served to ensure its desirability in the eyes of collectors. There were three Deauville variants: the early series 1 (1971–1974), late series 1 (1975–1977) and the series 2 (1978–1985).

One Deauville station wagon was made for Mr. De Tomaso's wife. There were also two armoured Deauvilles produced, one for the Belgian Royal Family and the other for the Italian government. The latter is on display in the Museo delle Auto della Polizia di Stato in Rome. (revolvy.com & bonhams.com)



Series 2 (1978-85)









































Series 1 (1971-77)








(Photos from ruotevecchie.org, classicdriver.com, 
bonhams.com & powercars-br.blogspot.ca)