Two cars, two different manufacturers, designed for the same era, but taken in two totally different routes. The De Tomaso Longchamp and Maserati Kyalami are rarely seen and virtually unknown outside of collector car circles, 409 Longchamps were built between 1972-1989 and 218 Kyalamis were built between 1977-1983, so there is no question about rarity. But these two cars, while sharing a platform and most of their design, couldn’t be more different. One is traditional Italian through and through, while the other follows a recipe that we here at BangShift tend to appreciate: Italian-American with a hit of Argentinian influence.
The Longchamp was meant to be the coupe form of the De Tomaso Deauville, a four-door sedan that went on sale in 1970. Appearing at the 1972 Turin Auto Show, it brought out the formula that most BangShifters know from the Pantera: A Ford 351 Cleveland cranking out “at least” 330 horsepower hooked to either a Ford C6 automatic or a ZF-sourced five-speed manual trans. It might look like a royally pissed-off Mercedes R107-series SL, but we can dig it.
The Kyalami stayed a bit truer to the idea of a custom Italian grand touring coupe. Most of the underpinnings remained the same from the Longchamp, but there were small styling differences and the interior was upgraded to Maserati standards. Effectively, the Kyalami was meant to be the two-door companion to the Quattroporte, which is kind of a letdown for a car named after the South African touring car race course. The engines weren’t anything worthy compared to the Longchamp either…early models used a 4.2L version of the DOHC Maserati V8, and in 1978 the 4.9L DOHC V8 came into play. Neither engine cracked the 300 horsepower mark, but they didn’t have to…Masers sold on style. When the Kyalami’s run ended, it was replaced with a coupe version of the Biturbo called the 228.
While we can predict the answers with a fair degree of confidence, which Italian coupe does it for you: the smoking jacket with the cammer motor, or the blunt-force weapon from the land of the Pantera?
You have to be kidding me, Longchamp came first and then Maserati (Owned by deTomaso Industries, Yes the same company) was looking for some additional models to fill out the lines while the biTurbo was being finished. The car bodies were from the same place, just some went to one side of Modena or the other.