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60-594: Guy Ligier and racing teammate, business partner and close friend Jo Schlesser talked about together building a car that overcame the shortcomings of the cars they were driving. Following Schlesser's death Ligier retired from racing and established Automobiles Ligier in 1968. The JS2 was the company's second product, the first having been the JS1 . That car was built on an aluminum chassis designed by Chief Engineer Michel Têtu with fibreglass bodywork by Frua . Four different engines were used at different times - two versions of

120-405: A 356 and then a 904 Carrera GTS , in which he placed 7th with Robert Buchet at the 1964 24 Hours of Le Mans . That same year Ford France signed Ligier to drive one of two Formula 2 Brabham BT6 cars. These were year-old models, but one would be replaced by a newer Brabham BT10 during the season. Ligier's teammate was Jo Schlesser . Ligier finished fifth in his debut at Enna-Pergusa. So at

180-597: A Ligier JS P2 prototype running in FIA World Endurance Championship and 24 Hours of Le Mans with Nicolet and Jean-Marc Merlin driving. Ligier's son had also become a constructor of Formula 3 cars. Following his death on 23 August 2015 in Nevers his funeral took place at the church of St. Blaise de Vichy on 28 August 2015. Ligier was survived by his wife and their two children, son Philippe and daughter Pascale. Member/Chevalier of

240-470: A Ford Escort TC in the 1969 Coupes de l'ACIF, but he returned to regular competition in 1970 for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a car bearing his own name, the Ligier JS1 , and continued to participate in various endurance races with his own cars until 1974. In total Ligier participated in thirteen Grand Prix Formula 1 races, getting one point in the drivers' world championship with an eighth-place finish in

300-427: A V10 engined option. De Tomaso made a handful of Formula One appearances from 1961 to 1963, with their own chassis and a mix of engines. During 1962 the "De Tomaso 801" appeared, with an original 135-degree 1498 cc V8 with a claimed 200 CV (147 kW) at 9500 rpm, and a six-speed De Tomaso transmission (although presumably developed by Valerio Colotti ). The stubby and somewhat unaerodynamic design of

360-767: A butcher to fund his aspirations. In 1960, he rented a backhoe and, a short time later, bought a bulldozer of his own and went into the construction business. With help from Pierre Coulon, Vichy's Mayor, he founded the public works company "Ligier Travaux Publics". With motorway construction booming in France, Ligier was able to rapidly expand his business. By 1961, he had 1200 employees and 500 machines and had also diversified into bridges, dams and development. During this period, his business contacts allowed him to make important friends in (then) local politicians François Mitterrand and Pierre Bérégovoy . When his rugby career ended, he switched to racing but on motorcycles. He would win

420-526: A butcher's assistant in his home town of Vichy . Athletic and competitive, he became a French rowing champion in 1947. He also had a passion for rugby and was good enough to play for the French Army during National Service earning a place on the French national B team. His rugby career was cut short due to injuries. Determined to become successful, Ligier saved all of the money he earned working as

480-641: A buyer was being sought for the De Tomaso factory and trademarks, per the court-appointed liquidators. In 2009, Gian Mario Rossignolo bought the De Tomaso trademark and founded a new company named "De Tomaso Automobili SpA". Rossignolo planned to assemble chassis and bodies in one of Delphi Automotive 's old production facilities in Livorno and to fit bodywork, paint and finish its cars in the former Pininfarina factory in Grugliasco . In May 2012 De Tomaso

540-479: A class of microcar in France that may be driven without an operator's license, with the release of the Ligier JS4 . The two-door JS4 has a nearly cubic steel monococque and a glass rear door, and was originally equipped with a 49 cc Motobécane engine. It was short and quite wide, reflecting recent legal changes allowing "voitures sans permis" to seat two rather than just one. In 1992 Ligier realized that

600-735: A coupé based on the Deauville with a slightly shortened Deauville chassis and the same Ford V8 engine, called the Longchamp . Its body design, however, was substantially different, and influenced by the Lancia Marica prototype, also designed by Tom Tjaarda. A total of 409 cars of all variations were built by the time the production ended in 1989. With the assistance of the Italian government, De Tomaso took over Maserati in 1976 after its owner, Citroën, declared that it would no longer support

660-466: A few months before the introduction. This mid-engine sports car had a 104 hp (78 kW) 4 cylinder engine shared with the Ford Cortina , and was able to attain a top speed of 215 km/h (134 mph). It had a fabricated steel backbone chassis , which was to become a common feature of De Tomaso cars. The aluminium coupé body was designed and several built by Fissore before production

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720-439: A modern outlook with opulent instrumentation. The chassis built to LMP1 standards is shared with the sister company Apollo Automobil 's Intensa Emozione. Although De Tomaso is principally known as a maker of high-performance sports cars, the firm also produced luxury coupés and saloons in tiny number throughout the 1970s and 1980s. The 1971 Deauville was an effort to rival contemporary Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz saloons. With

780-535: A museum before the Pantera was finally phased out in 1993 to make way for the radical, carbon-fibre -bodied Guarà . The Guarà succeeded the Pantera and began production in 1993. The Guarà was designed by Carlo Gaino of Synthesis design, an Italian design house; Gaino also designed the Maserati Barchetta . Based on a Maserati competition car from 1991, using Ford and BMW parts in a composite body,

840-588: A new factory in Calabria in partnership with the Russian company UAZ , but this too floundered. The deal projected a production rate of 10,000 cars a year by 2006: however, no cars were built and De Tomaso went into voluntary liquidation in June 2004 after the death of Alejandro de Tomaso in 2003. The Guarà remained available in some markets in 2005 and 2006, but it appears that no cars were built after 2004. The P72

900-401: A usable trunk. The road-car was built on a backbone chassis made of a layer of polyurethane foam sandwiched between sheets of steel. Suspension was by wishbones and coil springs on all four corners. Braking was by power-assisted discs. Anti-roll bars were mounted front and rear. Minor components like door-handles and tail-lights were sourced from major brands like Peugeot and Citroën . Weight

960-516: Is a retro-styled sports car introduced at the 2019 Goodwood Festival of Speed under the newly reformed DeTomaso brand. Designed by Jowyn Wong, the car is a homage to the P70, a race car built by Carroll Shelby and styled by Peter Brock for De Tomaso, introduced in the late 1960s. The design of the car is meant to be hailing back to the LeMans race cars of the 1960s. The interior of the car is meant to have

1020-553: Is variously given as 980 or 1030 kg. The JS2's first public showing was at the 1970 Salon de l'Auto in Paris. This car was powered by a 2.6 litre Ford V6. Ford was planning on using this engine in their own GT70 , a mid-engined sports coupé being developed as a smaller companion to their successful GT40 . Ford declined to supply engines to Ligier for the JS2. A deal was struck with Raymond Ravenel , Managing Director of Citroën, to use

1080-774: The Cosworth FVA DOHC inline four-cylinder engine and two versions of the Ford Cologne OHV V6 engine. The Cosworths were mated to Hewland transaxles while the Fords were bolted to a modified transaxle from the Citroën SM . Due to there only ever being three JS1s built it was limited to racing in the Prototype class. To qualify to race in the GT class, 500 copies of a car had to have been built. Ligier's plan

1140-849: The De Tomaso P72 . The company went on to develop and produce both sports cars and luxury vehicles , most notably the Ford -powered Italian-bodied Mangusta and Pantera . From 1976 to 1993, De Tomaso owned Italian sports car maker Maserati , and was responsible for producing cars including the Biturbo , the Kyalami , Quattroporte III , Karif and the Chrysler TC . De Tomaso also owned motorcycle company Moto Guzzi from 1973 to 1993. De Tomaso went into liquidation in 2004, although production of new cars continued after this date. By 2008,

1200-516: The Legion of Honour . ( key ) ( key ) ( key ) De Tomaso De Tomaso Automobili Ltd. (previously known as De Tomaso Modena SpA ) is an Italian car -manufacturing company. It was founded 1959 by Alejandro de Tomaso in Modena . It originally produced various sports prototypes and auto racing vehicles, including a Formula One car for Frank Williams Racing Cars in 1970. Most of

1260-531: The Maserati C114 V6 from the SM in the JS2. This engine was designed by Giulio Alfieri of Maserati , which company Citroën had purchased in 1968. Alfieri produced a 90-degree DOHC V6 with hemispherical combustion chambers and 12 valves. Built from light alloy the engine displaced 2675 cc and weighed 140 kg (308.6 lb), but produced 170 CV (125 kW). Têtu redesigned the rear cradle of

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1320-491: The 1970s and 1980s. From then on, the cars were largely hand-built, even more than before. Incorporating a Marcello Gandini facelift, suspension redesign, partial chassis redesign and a new, smaller Ford engine, the Pantera 90 Si model (the i standing for iniezione —Italian for fuel injection ) was introduced in 1990. There were 41 90 Si models manufactured with 2 crash tested, 38 sold, and 1 example going directly into

1380-475: The 1996 Grand Prix of Monaco driver Olivier Panis won the ninth and final Formula 1 victory for Ligier. Equipe Ligier managed to contest 326 Grand Prix races, make 50 podiums appearances, notch 9 victories, claim second place in the 1980 World Championship and build over 20 Formula 1 cars. It was also home to an illustrious list of drivers over the eighteen years that it competed under the Ligier name. Following

1440-619: The Coupes de Vitesse. That was the same year that Ford France was winding down its motorsports involvement, so Ligier partnered with Schlesser and José Behra to launch Ecurie InterSport with a pair of McLaren Formula 2 cars. Schlesser was killed that year in his Formula One debut at the French Grand Prix while at the wheel of the magnesium-bodied air-cooled Honda RA302 Formula One car. The shocking loss of his friend prompts Ligier to retire from racing. Ligier had one outing in

1500-410: The De Tomaso trademark was bought by Former Fiat executive Gian Mario Rossignolo who founded a new company named "De Tomaso Automobili SpA". A new business plan for the company called for producing three models for a total of 8,000 vehicles: 3,000 crossovers, 3,000 limousines, and 2,000 two-seater sports cars. At the 2011 Geneva Motor Show , De Tomaso presented a new model. The new De Tomaso Deauville

1560-607: The French Motorbike Championship in the 500cc class riding a Norton Manx "LA" in 1959 and in 1960. Ligier made an early foray into auto racing with a Simca 1300 at the 1957 Parisian Salon Cups in Montlhéry , but it was in 1960 that he first tried his hand at single-seater racing with a Formula Junior Elva - DKW , which he drove at Monaco and Montlhéry. By 1964 Ligier was racing Porsche sportscars as part of Auguste Veuillet's team, starting with

1620-468: The German Grand Prix in 1966 due to the two finishers in front of him being F2 cars, and so ineligible for F1 points. In 1968 Ligier established " Ligier Cars " to build his own sports-racing cars in fulfillment of the dream that he and former teammate, business partner and close friend, the late Jo Schlesser had shared to build a "good car". Ligier hired Michel Têtu to design the cars, and

1680-753: The Ghibli and the Shamal. All of the latter cars other than the Quattroporte III were based on the Biturbo while the Quattroporte was based on the Kyalami platform. De Tomaso introduced this concept of platform sharing to save development costs on new models. In 1993, De Tomaso sold Maserati to Fiat S.p.A. due to slumping sales and low profitability. In 1976 Innocenti passed to Alejandro de Tomaso and

1740-524: The Guarà was available in coupé and barchetta versions. As with all De Tomasos except the Pantera, production was both limited and sporadic. In the early 2000s two other cars were planned by De Tomaso, but both proved abortive. A two-seat Gandini -styled convertible, the Biguà , was developed from a 1996 Geneva concept in partnership with Qvale , an American firm which had long imported European sports cars into

1800-505: The JS2 received a larger C114 engine shared with the Maserati Merak . Displacement was now up to 2965 cc, power up 25 CV to 195 CV (143 kW), and the price up 500 francs to 74,500. 80 cars were built this year. In 1974 Ligier entered into an agreement to sell their cars through Citroën's dealership network, which would also provide after-sales service. By the end of this year Citroën had also transferred assembly of

1860-457: The JS2, like the JS1, used a chassis made of aluminum instead of steel. Other French racing drivers who piloted Ligier JS2s include Guy Ligier himself, as well as Michel Leclère , Henri Pescarolo , François Migault , Jean-Pierre Beltoise , and Jean-Pierre Jarier . Guy Ligier Guy Camille Ligier ( French pronunciation: [ɡi ka.mij li.ʒje] ; 12 July 1930 – 23 August 2015)

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1920-410: The Pantera deal at the end of 1973, a few months after buying all of De Tomaso's shares and getting control of the entire production process in the three factories that shared the workload in northern Italy. But De Tomaso retained from Ford the right to produce the car for the "rest of the world" market, so he continued Pantera production at a greatly reduced scale of fewer than 100 cars per year during

1980-555: The SM to Ligier's factory in Abrest. 114 copies of the JS2 were built in 1974. In 1975 a revised "Series 2" JS2 debuted. The nose had been redesigned with hidden headlamps and the car received five-lug wheels. The price had risen to 80,000 francs. At the same time the 1973 Oil Crisis had caused the market for specialty vehicles to shrink dramatically. Only 7 of the Series 2 JS2s were built. Citroën, facing severe financial difficulties,

2040-768: The USA. But as production of the Biguà—renamed the Mangusta—began, the relationship between De Tomaso and Qvale soured; Qvale took over the car and rebadged it as the Qvale Mangusta . Production was short-lived, and Qvale's Italian factory was bought in 2003 by MG Rover and the Mangusta's mechanicals were then used as the basis of the MG XPower SV . In April 2002, De Tomaso began a project to build off-road vehicles in

2100-412: The car raised some questions among period writers, as did the claimed max power. The De Tomaso 801 was entered in a number of races but only appeared at the 1962 Italian Grand Prix , where it failed to qualify. De Tomaso then built a Formula One chassis (designed by Giampaolo Dallara ) for Frank Williams Racing Cars to use in the 1970 Formula One season . The car was uncompetitive, failing to finish

2160-593: The car will be sold. In November 2022 De Tomaso announced a track-only hypercar named the P900 . The new vehicle will have a 900 hp (670 kW) 6.2-liter naturally aspirated V12 engine designed to run on carbon-neutral synthetic fuels. De Tomaso only plans to produce 18 P900s and sell them for a starting price of US$ 3 million . At the time of the announcement, the V12 engine was still in development and would not be fully ready until late 2024, leading De Tomaso to also offer

2220-551: The chassis to accommodate the Maserati engine, stretching the car by 50 mm. At the same time Ligier had coachbuilders Pichon-Parat made some final revisions to the car's appearance. This revised JS2 with its new Italian motor debuted at the 1971 Salon de l'Auto. The car was priced at 74,000 francs (roughly US$ 13,350.00 at the time). The first cars were delivered in November 1972. 48 copies were built in 1972. In February 1973

2280-526: The company to supply the team, which used Renault engines from 1984 to 1986 and from 1992 to 1994. The Ligier-Mitterrand-Bérégovoy alliance reached its peak in the early 1990s with the reconstruction of the Magny-Cours racing circuit as a new headquarters for Ligier and as a racing circuit to host the French Grand Prix. President Mitterrand and Prime Minister Bérégovoy backed the idea. At

2340-571: The demise of the Monica car company in 1975, Ligier purchased the French assets and remaining unassembled vehicles. Ligier did not resume production of the Monica. Having built a variety of sports-racing and Formula 1 cars, Ligier began to diversify his automobile company in the 1980s. Beginning with tractor cabs, the Ligier Group later began production of "voitures sans permis" or "voiturettes",

2400-705: The experienced team, including designer Gerard Ducarouge and the Matra V12 engine Ligier formed Équipe Ligier in 1976. The team became successful in the early 1980s with drivers Jacques Laffite , Patrick Depailler and Didier Pironi . In 1981 Ligier's old friend François Mitterrand became President of France. When Ligier ran into trouble in 1983 the President ordered that government-owned companies such as Elf , Gitanes and Loto should supply sponsorship. Ligier also had preferential treatment when it came to engines, political pressure being applied to Renault to force

2460-486: The first car produced was the JS1 prototype, the "JS" in this and all subsequent names being a tribute to Schlesser. Only three JS1s were built before production switched to its successor, the JS2 . The JS3 racing prototype was actually built in the time between the JS1 and JS2. Following limited success in the sports-racing field Ligier turned his attention to Formula 1 when he bought the assets of Equipe Matra Sports . With

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2520-425: The funding for the automaker came from Amory Haskell Jr . In 1971 Ford Motor Company acquired an 84 percent stake in De Tomaso with Alejandro de Tomaso himself holding the balance. Ford sold back their stake in the automaker in 1974. The De Tomaso brand was acquired in 2014 by Hong Kong–based Ideal Team Ventures and in 2019 the newly formed company presented their first product, a retro-styled sports car called

2580-590: The loss-making company. The first Maserati De Tomaso introduced, the Kyalami, was a Longchamp redesigned by Frua , with the Ford engine replaced by Maserati's own 4.2-litre V8. The Kyalami remained in production until 1983, when it was superseded by the Biturbo, introduced two years earlier. Other cars Introduced under the De Tomaso ownership included the Quattroporte III/Royale and IV, the Barchetta,

2640-751: The old Formula 1 team in an ambassadorial role until it was sold yet again, this time to Alain Prost in February 1997 and renamed Prost Grand Prix . In 2004, Ligier acquired a majority shareholding in Automobiles Martini , adding his "Ligier JS" naming to new models such as the Ligier JS49, JS51 and JS53. The name Ligier returned to the motor racing spotlight in 2014 when Jacques Nicolet's Onroak Automotive began building cars. Some were campaigned by Nicolet's own OAK Racing , which fielded

2700-551: The points. That year he and Schlesser also joined forces to become the exclusive importer of Ford-Shelby products to France. Teaming with Schlesser in a Ford France GT40 again that year produced good results – a fifth-place finish at the Nürburgring 1000 km . Although his year was ended by a knee broken while practicing for the German GP, things could have been worse. Following the crash doctors had wanted to amputate and it

2760-494: The relatively late age of 34 Ligier began his "real" career as a driver. In 1965 he won the 24th Grand Prix de Albi Sports in a GT40 for Ford. In 1966 he drove Shelby Mustang GT350 chassis 5R209 rented to Martial Delalande to a second-place finish in the 14th "Rallye des Routes du Nord". Ligier broke into Formula One as a privateer , entering his own Cooper - Maserati T81 in the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix . In five starts with this car he either ran unclassified or out of

2820-514: The sale of the company to Hong Kong–based Consolidated Ideal Team Ventures, for € 1,050,000. Per that sale report "A lawyer for the buyer announced that Ideal Team Venture plans to produce cars in China bearing the De Tomaso name." De Tomaso's first road-going production model was the Vallelunga (named after the racing circuit ) introduced in 1963; a spider competition version was being raced

2880-523: The same engine as the Pantera mounted in the front, the Deauville was clothed in an angular Tjaarda/ Ghia four-door body. The Deauville did not compete with its rivals, especially those from Germany, on the perspective of build quality. Despite remaining on De Tomaso's offerings until 1985, only 244 were ever made. A single example of an estate was built for Alejandro de Tomaso's wife, the American racing driver Isabelle Haskell. In 1972 De Tomaso introduced

2940-456: The socialist government would not last forever and sold his team to Cyril de Rouvre (The team was sold again in 1994 to Flavio Briatore ). Ligier used the money from the sale to corner the market in natural fertilizer in central France and set about building another fortune. Within a few months Mitterrand's Socialist Party experienced a major loss in the elections and Bérégovoy committed suicide on 1 May 1993. Ligier remained involved with

3000-631: The task of reviving the brand. Five years later, the company unveiled its first product, the P72 retro-styled sports car at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, at the time of 60th anniversary of the De Tomaso brand. The car had been in development under the code name of "Project P". The new car is based on the Apollo Intensa Emozione 's monocoque chassis, a car manufactured by De Tomaso's sister company Apollo Automobil and 72 units of

3060-434: Was a French racing driver and team owner. He maintained many varied and successful careers over the course of his life, including rugby player, butcher, racing driver and Formula One team owner. He is the father of Philippe and Pascale Ligier and the grand father of Etienne Ligier former French motorsport hopeful. The son of a farmer, Ligier was orphaned at 7 years of age. He left school in his mid-teens and went to work as

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3120-502: Was again for sale after their business plan failed to gather sufficient financial backing. In July 2012, Rossignolo was arrested following allegations that he misused 7.5 million Euro worth of government funds. In September 2012, speculation emerged that BMW might be interested in the brand factory to produce new BMW models. In 2014 the original workshop in Modena was in abandonment. In April 2015 an Italian bankruptcy court approved

3180-456: Was arrested in 2012 on account of misappropriation of funds taken from the Italian government to revive the De Tomaso brand. As a result, 900 employees of the company were made redundant. Rossignolo was sentenced to five and a half years of imprisonment on the charges of fraud and embezzlement in 2018. The rights to the De Tomaso brand were acquired by Norman Choi of Ideal Team Ventures in 2014. The new management under Choi's leadership undertook

3240-483: Was eventually forced to merge with Peugeot . One of the casualties of the merger was to be the SM. On May 22, 1975 Citroën issued an announcement saying that Maserati had been put into receivership. Control of the company eventually passed to De Tomaso , who would end production of the C114 V6, leaving Ligier without an engine for the JS2 and bringing production of the road-going model to an end. The racing version of

3300-533: Was moved to Ghia in 1965 where they were assembled with fibreglass bodies. In all, approximately 60 were produced. The Mangusta , introduced in 1966 was the first De Tomaso produced in significant numbers. With the Mangusta, De Tomaso moved from European to American Ford engines. The car had a 4.7-litre iron-block V8 engine and steel and aluminium coupé bodywork from Ghia —an Italian coachbuilder also controlled by Alejandro de Tomaso . About 400 Mangustas were built before production ended in 1971. The Mangusta

3360-529: Was only through the intervention of Schlesser that the leg was saved. In 1967 Ligier fielded another car of his own, a Brabham - Repco BT20 , in the British Grand Prix . His (effective) sixth-place finish in Germany produced the only championship point of his F1 career. Ligier also won the 12 Hours of Reims when sharing a GT40 Mk IIB with Schlesser. In 1968 Ligier drove a Ford Escort TC in

3420-594: Was reorganised by the De Tomaso Group under the name Nuova Innocenti . From 1976 to 1987 the top of the range Innocenti was the Innocenti Mini de Tomaso, a sport version of the Innocenti Mini developed by De Tomaso, initially equipped with the BLMC 1275 cc engine, and from 1982 to 1987 with a 1.0-litre 3-cylinder turbocharged Daihatsu engine. De Tomaso sold Innocenti to Fiat S.p.A. in 1993. In 2009

3480-445: Was succeeded by the Pantera . It appeared in 1971 with a 351 Cleveland Ford V8 and a low, wedge-shaped body designed by Ghia 's Tom Tjaarda . Through an agreement with Ford, De Tomaso sold Panteras in the USA through Ford's Lincoln and Mercury dealers. Between 1971 and 1973, 6,128 Panteras were produced in Modena , the largest number of cars De Tomaso produced. The 1973 oil crisis and other factors compelled Ford to pull out of

3540-407: Was to have been a five-door hatchback /crossover vehicle with all-wheel drive, which, in the details of its styling, quotes models from BMW and Mercedes-Benz . The proposed range included two gasoline engines with 300 PS and 500 PS as well as a diesel from VM Motori with 250 PS. The Deauville remained a prototype, as the new company never started production and the company chairman, Rossignolo,

3600-464: Was to reach that goal with the JS2. The letters in the name of the car, like the JS1 before it, are a tribute to Schlesser. The new car's appearance was similar to that of the JS1. Bodywork was again by Frua, but Guy Ligier insisted that the proportions of the cabin be adjusted so that the car was not too wide and had a low centre of gravity and good outward visibility. His requirement that it also be practical necessitated wide doors for ease of access and

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