De Tomaso P72: Manual, screen-free supercar thumbs its nose at the modern age
Six years after the concept was revealed, De Tomaso has finally revealed the production-ready version of its new P72 supercar.
The P72 rides on a bespoke platform with carbon-fibre woven in a 4×4 twill weave to a form a single piece for the central monocoque, as well as the front and rear subframes.
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As for the exterior, its design is inspired by the P70 race car from the late 1960s. The body is also made from carbon-fibre, and can be finished in a choice of 'heritage-inspired' paint options or with exposed carbon weave.
Despite the long gestation period, the P72 is almost indistinguishable from the 2019 concept car. There are some subtle tweaks to the lower air intake, and lower aero package.
Perhaps the biggest change is to the car's wraparound glass canopy, which now includes now small roll down window section.
On the inside, the centre tunnel is wider and the area around the exposed gearbox shifter linkages is more open than before, but otherwise the cabin stays true to the concept's analogue ethos.
While the car's design, construction and engineering relies heavily on modern digital processes, the cabin is a throwback to an earlier analogue time as there are no screens, infotainment or otherwise, to be found.
An integrated mobile phone holder is the interior's one nod to modernity, but it's there primarily for navigation purposes because there's no audio system to connect to.
There's a huge array of dials ahead of the driver, and in the centre of the dashboard. Milled aluminium, either bead-blasted, hand-brushed, or hand-polished, is used extensively throughout for the dials, buttons, knobs, gear shifter, and other touch points.
Behind the passenger cell is the vehicle's sole soundtrack system, a 5.0-litre V8 — thought to be from Ford — that's fitted with new forged internals and a De Tomaso supercharger. It makes 522kW and 820Nm, and drives the rear wheels via a six-speed manual transmission.
De Tomaso hasn't provided any performance figures for the P72. The company says top speed wasn't the focus, but rather the car is tuned for 'exhilarating in-gear performance' and to be 'immediate, responsive, and emotionally rewarding'.
The car rides on a pushrod suspension system. Although there no selectable drive modes, the P72 does feature three-way manually adjustable dampers.
The car revealed here is an 'internal production specification unit', and isn't one of the 72 production vehicles that will be delivered to customers.
No pricing for the P72 has been publicly announced, but given the high levels of craftsmanship and extensive personalisation for each car, it will probably make Australian housing stock seem cheap and affordable.
Most remember De Tomaso for its Mangusta and Pantera supercars, but in the mid-70s it took over Maserati, and was responsible for its push into BMW territory with the Biturbo, and its offspring.
After selling off Maserati and Innocenti in 1993, the brand largely lay dormant until it was revived briefly to, once again, take on BMW. That effort died when Gian Mario Rossignolo, the company's owner, was arrested and sent to jail for misappropriating government funds taken to revive De Tomaso.
The current iteration of De Tomaso was purchased by Hong Kong businessman Norman Choi in 2014.
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