Collectible Classic: 1967-71 De Tomaso Mangusta  A. J. Mueller
De Tomaso Mangusta is not the first answer most people give when
asked to name a late-1960s Italian GT. But in terms of street
presence and raw sex appeal, this lesser-known exotic gives away
nothing to its more widely recognized contemporaries from
Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Maserati. Seen today, this Giorgetto
Giugiaro masterpiece looks like a long-forgotten Hot Wheels car
sprung to life. Upon its debut at the Turin auto show in 1966,
its impact was even more dramatic.  "I remember the first time I
saw one," says Bob Tucker, a now-retired professor of
architecture who owned a Mangusta back in the day. "I thought it
was the biggest point of departure for automobile design up to
that time." Tucker had a keen eye for cars - he owned Alfa
Romeos and Ferraris as well. As it turned out, though, the
Mangusta, with its mid-mounted Ford V-8 and tricky handling, was
too much of a personal departure for Tucker, and he didn't hang
onto it for very long befo