De Tomaso is famously known for cars like the Pantera and of course the mysterious P72 that was just recently created by the company. However, DeTomaso has made many cars that flew under the radar and are slowly but surely becoming super rare classics. This is one of those cars. The 1995 De Tomaso Guarà Coupé. Much like the F40 being the last car Enzo Ferrari himself was involved in, the Guarà was the last project from De Tomaso in which Founder Alejandro De Tomaso was personally involved in. The Guarà was based on the 1991 Maserati Barchetta Stradale prototype, but the Maserati was built to be a genuine racing car, whereas the Guarà was truly meant to be a road-going sports car. This specific Guarà is a bit more rare and special than the other 50 or so cars built. Early on in production, De Tomaso used the 4.0-litre BMW M60 V8 engine shared with the BMW 840Ci. The usage of this engine came from Ford’s inability to provide engines at the time. This specific car is one of only 18 coupes in the world fitted with that BMW engine, and one of just about 52 cars produced total from 1994-2004, with a barchetta, and a speedster variant both included as well. Other De Tomaso cars such as the Pantera are always discussed and idolized, but cars like the Guarà, in my opinion, should receive the same spotlight treatment as well! This particular example features a full blue leather interior, which is combined with a dark blue exterior paint finish.
How many made? It’s believed that just 52 cars were produced, 10 being open-top barchettas, 4 being soft top convertibles, 38 being Coupe variants. Only 18 of the 38 total coupes were fitted with the early BMW engine.
Engine: 4.0-litre BMW M60 V8 engine shared with the BMW 840Ci that produces 279 hp. Later variants used a 4.6-litre supercharged cast-iron block V8 that produced 316hp.
Debut: 1993 Geneva Motor Show
Top Speed: 170mph
0-60mph: 5.0 seconds
Photo credit: @parkedindutchstreets
Research: @rarecarsonly