I found this while browsing ebay. I have never heard of the DeTomaso Vallelunga. It's a lovely design and weighs only 1500 lbs! Just as I was entertaining thoughts of ownership I saw the $98,000 price tag. Anyway, you FD historians be sure to read the Tom Matano interview as he talks about the design of the FD.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...528915100&rd=1

http://www.pim.net/PISpringp3235.pdf

 

I like how he says " when I whant to go fast I take the RX7" 1995 rx7 silver.

 

thats a great article. its interesting to see someone's influences to achieve the look they want.

 

That's really interesting! So, it makes SENSE that my car seems half British and half Italian...

The body design came from (like almost every other car on the road) a design firm in Southern California. They drew from inspirations of iconic cars such as the 60's E-type Jaguar (a lot of lines are inspired from that car... like the inward slope along the doors from top to bottom) and a few other British cars, which is why our car looks almost nothing like a Japanese car (until the '99 facelift).

It's interesting to see, but not at all surprising, that the mechanical layout and "feel" of the car itself, which was designed in Japan, was inspired by a 60's Ferrari. It feels like a street-legal race car, performs like one, and needs maintenance like one :-). Very cool article!

Take care,
Shad

 

Not to mention they were dead on looking at "timeless" cars - the FD will NEVER look dated or tired. It's a very gorgeous, timeless design.

Dale