De Tomaso Guarà Coupé

Vehicle Overview

The De Tomaso Guarà was based on the earlier Maserati Barchetta, a car created for racing that had been unveiled a couple of years earlier, and was designed by Carlo Gaino on behalf of the Synthesis Design studio. The similarity was not coincidental, since both cars were designed by Gaino himself and the Barchetta had been built when Maserati was under the control of Alejandro De Tomaso, before the Italian-Argentine businessman sold the former Modenese automaker to FIAT. The last example produced of the Guarà, which was ordered by an Australian customer in 2004, was delivered in 2011 soon after De Tomaso’s liquidation proceedings ended. Although it had passed European homologation tests, with associated crash-tests, the Guarà never underwent the homologation required to be marketed in the United States. The car’s body, which was made of fiberglass and Kevlar, was mounted on a central aluminum monocoque frame (like the Maserati Barchetta), which contained the fuel tank and was associated with a front frame (to which the suspension was attached) and a forged aluminum rear plate, which supported the engine and gearbox. Two other rear plates, one installed between the engine and gearbox (itself bolted to the one in front of the engine by means of two extrusions on either side of the cylinder block) and one behind the latter, provided anchor points for the rear suspension. This engine caging system provided a viable solution to the stiffness problems of the chassis/engine-carrier coupling that had plagued the De Tomaso Mangusta, which was notorious for unpredictable road behavior once taken to the limit. The suspension derived from the racing world. More specifically, solutions from Formula 1 and Formula Indy were applied. In addition, the Guarà initially did not have a trunk, since the voluminous suspension structure was housed under the front hood, but later it was carved out above the gearbox by mounting a special plastic box, which was accessed by opening the engine hood. The light alloy rims, on the other hand, were made by Marchesini. At the beginning of production, technology and some parts of the interior that were derived from some BMW models were used on the Guarà. Later, technology and components derived from Ford models were adopted on the Guarà. In fact, from 1993 to 1998, the Guarà was fitted with a BMW 32-valve V8 engine with a displacement of 4 liters and an output of between 286 hp and 304 hp (depending on the level of tuning), mated to a Getrag gearbox. Instead, from 1998 to 2004, a cheaper (but heavier) Ford 4.6-liter, 32-valve, 305/320-hp V8 coupled to a ZF gearbox was installed, an engine that cost De Tomaso a third of the German-made one, but whose installation in the car increased the Guarà’s total weight from 1,200 to 1,400 kg, worsening its power-to-weight ratio and, to some extent, its handling. A supercharged version of the latter, which was supposed to deliver between 375 and 430 hp, was announced but never built. Both the BMW and Ford engines were light alloy. The engine was centrally mounted, while the drive was rear-wheel drive. Both the Getrag gearbox and the ZF that replaced it were of the manual type and equipped with six gears.