De Tomaso was almost brought back to life multiple times. Not Alejandro, but the company the Argentinian driver founded. Luckily for the ones that love the Pantera and similar machines from the brand he created, the last attempt seems to be on track to succeed. The P72 homologation prototype pays tribute to a critical person in De Tomaso’s life and career: Isabelle De Tomaso, Isabelle Haskell before she met him.
Isabelle loves horses and cars. So much so that she still breeds them since getting back to the U.S. after De Tomaso died in 2003. But it was racing a car that led her to Europe and meeting Alejandro. They married, raced together, and founded De Tomaso as partners. According to the video, calling the prototype Isabelle would be a way for the company to bring romance back into cars.
Isabelle is the granddaughter of William Crapo Durant, who founded General Motors and Chevrolet with Louis Chevrolet. If her roots make you wonder why the Pantera did not get an engine from GM, her family reportedly owns shares both from that company and from Ford.
In the video below, Isabelle is “played” by Carmen Jordá, a development driver for Lotus and Renault Sport in F1. It is not clear if she is really helping De Tomaso Automobili develop the P72 or if that was just to show a woman in that role.
Just like the original Isabelle helped to create De Tomaso, the Isabelle prototype is one of the last steps before we can see a new De Tomaso for sale. The vehicle that will bring the brand back will also have a Ford engine: it will be a 5-liter V8 with a supercharger. Preliminary specs say it will get more than 700 hp (522 kW) and 600 lb-ft (813 Nm).
With Ford creating the Mustang Mach-E, we wonder if future De Tomaso machines will wonder about an electric powertrain. If the idea is for the brand not to die again, that must be on the company’s to-do list.
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