$30,000 – Santa Fe, NM:
“Hi, I love this car and I won’t feel too badly if it doesn’t sell, but I’m simply not using it enough, as it is carefully garaged in the winter, and in the summer I am usually on my bicycle or my motorcycle or my scooter. So I think it would be best if this classic, exotic, distinctive everyday driver was owned by somebody who used it more. Maybe a Florida or California or Arizona Buyer?
If you’re reading this you may already know about the Mangusta and its glorious history. Or maybe you just know a beautiful, one-of-a-kind Italian sports car when you see one. If you are a serious buyer, I can fill you in (I have several books and personal contacts to which I can refer you). This is the modern, comfortable, practical, and affordable successor to the legendary and exciting DeTomaso Mangusta — but eminently more practical and comfortable.
Qvale built 284 of these superlative cars, and maybe there are 130 left in the whole wide world. Another way to describe this car is to call it “An Italian Mustang,” but “Italian” must be emphasized, as these cars were hand-built in Italy by craftsmen using the finest materials and components in a purpose-built factory in “Ferrari Country,” Modena, Italy. They were so well-built that even at $80,000 (over 100K in today’s money) the company could not turn a profit on them…that is the build quality we’re talking about here.
For example, the RCM (resin composite material) body panels were made in France just for the Qvale, and shipped to Italy. The galvanized steel chassis was expertly hand built by local specialists Vaccari and Bosi. The 330 horsepower Ford Cobra 4.6-liter V-8 motor, shipped from the U.S.A. to Modena, and installed in the Qvale after changing out the badges. The interior is an ocean of top-grade Italian Leather — sourced from local Italian craftsmen — it is everywhere, even on the dashboard and glovebox door! The seats are completely adjustable and, in my opinion, the most comfortable I have ever sat in, on any other car, period.
The entire car was engineered around the excellent Cobra V-8 motor — the Mangusta was nothing, and I mean nothing, like a kit car. The Late Kjell Qvale, patriarch of the Qvale west coast sports car dynasty, pointed out that the Mangusta was very-well engineered, very well tested, and the bugs very well worked out. In fact — and this sums up the Qvale Mangusta story — he says that the car itself was very successful, and that only the business aspects of the project were a failure. That failure means you can buy an incredible amount of really terrific car for the money, and stand out in the crowd at the same time.
Styled by Marcello Gandini, who did the Lamborgeeni (deliberately misspelled) Countach and Diablo, the Ferrari Dino 308GT4, and the Maseratti Ghibli II. The chassis is the work of the Argentinian race car designer, technical director, and Formula 1 team racing boss Enrique Scalabroni — a class act altogether. The overall Qvale project was managed by Giordano Casarini, who was hired away from Masarati to do the Mangusta, and who later did the legendary BMW Z1, examples of which now go for over $100,000.00. Casarini’s signature appears on a plaque in the engine bay of this car.
The entire design/engineering/production effort for the Qvale Mangusta was like a “Greatest Hits” of the Italian automotive industry’s biggest talents. It began life as a “DeTomaso Bigua” and was designed to be an Italian answer to the TVR. Of course, it ended up being hugely superior to that vehicle. The Italians do an incredibly brilliant job when you hand them blank checks and tell them to have fun and excel themselves, a fact to which both Kjell Qvale and Terry Gilliam, among others, could testify.
I will tell you what is special about my particular car, compared to other Qvale Mangustas you may be considering, many of which are selling for as high as $40K. I’ve seen them go as high as 45K.
First of all, the condition — really excellent. There are no scratches or cracks in the windshield, the seats and the roof and everything is very good. The car has only 33K original miles and has been regularly serviced and tuned. The car has been lovingly maintained by the superb people at Executive Automotive here in Santa Fe, and I have all the receipts. They know the car well and will vouch for its condition — no surprises, no risk. The car has a new full DIN Kenwood $1000 super-radio CD Bluetooth thing with hands-free cell phone integration. It also has brand new tires all around.
One very appealing feature of this particular car is the paintwork — the car was completely disassembled and received a full, body-off, first-class respray, replacing the unappealing original Qvale “Corallo Red Pearlescent” paint (which had purple in it, and looked muddy as a result) with a gorgeous, traditional Ferrari Red. The paint job was $10K alone, and you can tell: it’s absolutely great and better-than-factory. The car is tight and weatherproof. Everything works just as it should — inside, out, and underneath. I have had the Tie-Rod Ends and Boots replaced, and a wheel alignment done, so she drives straight as an arrow. This is a 160 mile per hour car. Big Brembo disk brakes all around, of course.
Washed and Waxed, the car takes your breath away — and that of everyone who views it — be prepared to stop traffic and answer endless questions, from knowledgeable car buffs to the kids on the street. Believe it or not, I have NEVER gotten a speeding ticket in this car — cops love it so much they let you off with a warning after they’ve kept you ten minutes asking questions and admiring the thing. This car is watertight and weatherproof with the magical 3-way “Rototop” — it is the only car ever made with a retractable Targa Roof — who needs a Porsche? You have the choice of fully-open roadster, Targa Up on chilly nights, or fully-closed with the roof panel that stows away in the trunk. Neat!
The Mangusta’s fully-open roadster body was tested to have a torsional rigidity (stiffness) GREATER than a fully-closed Mercedes-Benz Sedan of the era — that is quality, and it translates into an incredible driving experience. There is no cowl shake, no chassis flex, no roadster handling compromises. With Beautiful Antera alloy wheels, brand new tires and expert wheel alignment, heavy-duty 5-Speed manual transmission, everything on the Mangusta is the best. The original owner’s manual is included with an embossed leather cover!!! Naturally, this great-handling, seriously-fast car is an attention-getter and is amazing fun to drive. You can cruise slowly around town, if you like, but when you really put your foot in it, the car shows the other side of its personality — acceleration and power bordering on the brutal.
Serious buyers can e-mail me using the Craigslist messaging system or text me. There are not many Mangustas nicer than this one, especially when you consider the excellent condition, the superb appealing paint job and color, the low mileage, the service history, and the super-duper radio. Serious buyers and serious offers will be seriously considered. Please don’t respond if you aren’t seriously interested in owning this car, and please, no lowball offers that are significantly below book value.
Informational Note: In fact, there are only two “bad” things about the Qvale Mangusta.
One, for people like myself who find themselves wanting or needing to sell (I don’t need to, I only want to), these cars attract tire-kickers like iron-filings to a magnet. People love to see them, test drive them, admire them, think and dream about them…but not buy them. They seem to simply enjoy the brief “free” recreational thrill of pretending they might buy one — a cheap thrill, an adrenaline rush, a hit of crack cocaine. This tendency, unfortunately, wastes a lot of the seller’s time and causes a lot of aggravation.
The second bad thing is that the car receives/received generally lukewarm reviews, and this is one case where the “experts” almost always missed the boat completely, and therefore, the smart buyer will need to take the red pill and turn off the auto-pilot and THINK FOR THEMSELVES. Google the Qvale Mangusta, and you’ll find a lot of half-assed reviews and way-off-base articles written by no-nothings who absolutely failed to miss the true excellence and uniqueness of this car. In fact, the only people who seem to have “gotten it” (besides a few hundred lucky owners like myself, who treasure this car) were the Top Gear people, who rated the Mangusta ABOVE another famous Italian vehicle which Craigslist will not let me mention, for fear that I am listing multiple cars for sale in a single ad, and and just below ANOTHER famous exotic German sports car, also unmentioned for the same reason — that’s not too bad, is it, for a car you can buy in excellent used condition for less than the price of any number of ordinary, inexpensive, banal family sedans!
So forget all those stupid articles, and watch the video (link below), it’s the closest you’ll get to the truth of the Mangusta. The only thing they got wrong is that the analog “carriage” clock is great, because a) it keeps PERFECT time, and b) is supremely easy to set and reset, without a paper clip or ballpoint pen, and c) is highly-visible in any and all kinds of lighting, even bright, glaring sunlight! Keep your digital clocks, dudes; I love this one.
Watch the Video:
Oh, ONE LAST THING: this car has been for sale for awhile, and occasionally I’ll get some moronic unwelcome e-mail, you know, something like this, “Dude! Why haven’t you sold this? Must be a lemon ha-ha LOL…” or some such thing. But in fact, the car is truly terrific, AND it is in truly terrific condition! The reason it hasn’t yet sold is simply because (read my lips) QVALES ARE DIFFICULT TO SELL. And the reason for THAT is because they are very rare, unusual, misunderstood, and exotic. People don’t get them, and being descended from apes, human beings tend to attack what they do not understand. Qvale Mangustas are beautiful and superb Italian-Built CULT cars. Some people know them and “get them,” but most do not.
WATCH THE TOP GEAR VIDEO AGAIN, see how two very smart automotive journalists prefer the Qvale Mangusta to the Maserati 3500GT! See how much fun they are having with it, how fast it is! They like the Porsche 911 better, sure, but by how much? And when you buy a 911, you are 1) setting yourself up for massive maintenance and service expenses, and 2) joining a very large fraternity of rich know-it-alls, in which many members will have cars pretty much like yours, only much better examples! Meaning you will get a nice car, maybe (god help you if you get a bad one), but you’ll get zero or near-zero bragging rights, because 911s are as common as owl poop. Whereas the Qvale is inexpensive to run (due to the Ford Cobra V-8 motor) and utterly distinctive. It is gorgeous and fun and even practical! Bring this car to a car show, and there will be six 911s, and only one Qvale Mangusta: YOURS.
KIRK OUT.
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2000 Qvale Mangusta
condition: excellent
cylinders: 8 cylinders
drive: rwd
fuel: gas
paint color: red
size: compact
title status: clean
transmission: manual “
Source: https://santafe.craigslist.org/cto/d/qvale-mangusta-sports-car/6537183435.html
