One-off Shelby-De Tomaso P70 Prototipo

ONE-OFF Of the many automotive creations labeled De Tomaso, this car is perhaps the most extraordinary ever made in the 1960s. Why is that? Because this car was made by those who already have great reputation in the automotive world, such as Carroll Shelby, Peter Brock, Carrozzeria Fantuzzi and Ghia were also involved into it. Well, that's unique and exotic, those are probably the words that come to mind when you see this racing car for the first time.

The Shelby-De Tomaso P70 Prototipo is built to be competed and dominated the then-new United States Road Racing Championship (USRRC), which itself was channeled to the Can-Am series in 1968. (Picture from: Silodrome)

As quoted from Silodrome, this project was initiated in the 1960s to develop a race car later called the Shelby-De Tomaso P70 Prototipo capable of competing and dominating the then-new United States Road Racing Championship (USRRC), which itself was channeled to the Can-Am series in 1968.

The Shelby-De Tomaso P70 Prototipo built by Carroll Shelby in collaboration with Alejandro de Tomaso. (Picture from: Silodrome)

The story begins, when Carroll Shelby was experiencing many uncertainties back in 1964, at the time he had to ensure that his Cobra car remained dominant over the Corvette, should kept it competitive in front of McLaren's rumored 7-liter cars, and on the other hand he was faced with the uncertainty of whether he would given the trust to control the Ford GT40 race car program.

The Shelby-De Tomaso P70 Prototipo's revolutionary aerodynamic body designed by Peter Brock, then constructed by Carrozzeria Fantuzzi. (Picture from: Silodrome)

Shelby approached Alejandro de Tomaso to build a new car powered by a new engine as well to bring the fight to McLaren. In short, they reached an agreement and then started working on the project with Shelby at the helm, engineering by Alejandro de Tomaso, and a revolutionary aerodynamic body designed by Peter Brock and constructed by Carrozzeria Fantuzzi.

The Shelby-De Tomaso P70 Prototipo is an open-top single seater racing car with a movable rear wing and full doors. (Picture from: Bonham)

The initial Peter Brock-designed open-top racing car featured with an aluminum-bodywork, and was built on a unique slightly modified De Tomaso Vallelunga chassis, as the result then shown to Shelby, this car known as the De Tomaso Sports 5000.

The Shelby-De Tomaso P70 Prototipo featured with an aluminum-bodywork, and was built on a unique slightly modified De Tomaso Vallelunga chassis. (Picture from: Bonham)

After seen the result, Shelby was dissatisfied, and sent it to Carrozzeria Fantuzzi to be redeveloped. The final result was a racing car with a movable rear wing and full doors, and was christened as as the De Tomaso P70 Prototipo or the De Tomaso P70.

The Shelby-De Tomaso P70 Prototipo is powered by a Ford V8 engine coupled with 5-speed manual rear transmission system. (Picture from: Silodrome)

However, like most projects that involve many parties, sometimes problems arise to make disputes between them regarding many things which then affect the outcome. This also happened in the P70 racing car project which leds to separation with only one P70 ever completed. Before the end of 1965, Shelby withdrew from the project, then focused on another project of his with the Ford Motor Company which then given birth the legendary racing car named the Ford GT40.

The Shelby-De Tomaso P70 Prototipo was exhibited for the first time under striking red bodywork at the 1965 Turin Auto Show. (Picture from: Silodrome)

Meanwhile, the P70 exotic car project was continued personally by Alejandro de Tomaso, this time he collaborated with Carrozzeria Ghia. After completion, the race car was exhibited for the first time under striking red bodywork at the 1965 Turin Auto Show under the name of the Ghia De Tomaso. Furthermore, the car had appeared again at the Modena Racing Car Show in February 1966, then became the cover of Road & Track magazine a month later.

The Shelby-De Tomaso P70 Prototipo featured with its ultra low driving position and nearly smooth perspex windscreen is amazing, especially from the tail. (Picture from: Bonham)

Reportedly, prior to the car's racing debut, De Tomaso had modified the design and built a second car for use in European racing under the name Sport 5000. The car was raced up a hill alongside a Ferrari 250LM, but was unable to finish the race.

After entering the current modern era, it turns out that the figure of the P70 has again been used as an inspiration by the Italian manufacturer for its newest stunning supercar, the De Tomaso P72 and its sibling De Tomaso P900. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | DE TOMASO | SILODROME | BONHAM | ]

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