If you’ve got Italian sports car tastes on a toast-for-dinner budget, check this out. We have uncovered the cheapest De Tomaso, or the hottest hatch, ever.
The name De Tomaso is synonymous with some gorgeous Italian sports cars and beautiful designs from legendary designers Marcello Gandini and Giorgetto Giugiaro.
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Who could ever forget the sharp and voluptuous angles of the Pantera or the timeless looks of the Vallelunga? Regardless of what you associate with the name De Tomaso, the brand was an interesting and niche creation that had its fingers in many pies.
Perhaps one of the weirdest choices for a brand known for building some of the most gorgeous sports cars of all time was to collaborate with the Japanese compact car company, Daihatsu.
This is the story of how and why the De Tomaso Daihatsu Charade – the most affordable De Tomaso ever – came to exist.
Why did De Tomaso build a car with Daihatsu?
De Tomaso was started in Italy in 1959 by Alejandro de Tomaso, an Argentinian-born Italian. He was just 31 when he started his automotive venture.
Alejandro was an interesting fellow to say the least. His family was politically involved, with his Italian father serving as Minister of Agriculture Agustín Pedro Justo’s socialist government in Argentina. And the reason De Tomaso is not an Argentinian company is because in 1955 Alejandro was involved in a plot to overthrow the Argentine President Juan Peron. He subsequently fled to Italy and settled down in Modena.
De Tomaso took off with a handful of very special supercars before absorbing the Innocenti brand, best known for building small commuter cars.
One of the brand’s biggest sellers was the Innocenti Mini. But, because the Innocenti was built on the same platform as the British Motor Co (BMC) Mini, it was powered by a very dated and sluggish 998cc English-built engine.
Alejandro de Tomaso, ever the innovator, went in search of a new platform for the Innocenti Mini. The Italian brand’s lack of funds meant that a ground-up, brand-new vehicle was out of the question; that’s when a Japanese micro-car brand named Daihatsu came knocking.
Daihatsu had endured a hard time globalising its brand by branching out into the European market. This was due to a political push from governments to protect local manufacturing in the 1970s and ’80s, with France even banning the importation of Japanese vehicles.
The solution was simple: package a Japanese car with a familiar European badge and face. This would slowly expose the local market to Asian manufacturing while supporting small local businesses.
By 1981, De Tomaso was building the Innocenti Mini on a Daihatsu Charade platform, powered by a three-cylinder turbo engine developed jointly by the Japanese and Italians.
As a sign of appreciation to De Tomaso, Daihatsu handed the paint brush to Alejandro and his team to design a special edition of the second-generation Daihatsu Charade for the Japanese market.
This special edition Charade was first unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show in 1981. The Japanese crowd had never seen anything quite like it before, it was dressed in all the finest Italian components, like a Momo steering wheel, Pirelli sport tyres, those beautiful Campagnolo magnesium wheels, and a two-tone paint job bearing the name ‘De Tomaso’.
Again, with De Tomaso building the Innocenti Mini on the same platform as this generation of Charade, the special edition featured the same turbo three-cylinder which was tuned to 59kW. While that doesn’t sound like a lot for modern standards, the little hatch weighed less than 700kg.
The Group B De Tomaso-Daihatsu prototype
To make matters even wilder for the De Tomaso-Daihatsu joint venture, the two brands launched their Group B rally assault. Still using the production engine as a basis, but with a larger capacity, a dual-cam head and a massive bump in power, Daihatsu and De Tomaso mounted the engine in the middle of the second-generation Charade, put a gorgeous body kit on it and called it the 926R.
Unfortunately, the 926R rally project was cancelled after Group B was banned due to significant safety concerns. It wasn’t all wasted time, however, a Daihatsu 926 Turbo in front-wheel drive configuration did make it to market with a special edition De Tomaso tuned engine engine. And the head built for the Group B car was an important part of the development for the third-generation Charade GTi.
De Tomaso later sold the Innocenti car company to Fiat, which continued to use the three-cylinder turbo engine and other sub-1000cc powerplants built by the Japanese company.
Continuing the tradition of Daihatsu and De Tomaso
The foundation for Japanese and European car collaborations was laid, but just a few years later, in 1993, Alejandro de Tomaso suffered a stroke, handing the reigns to his son Santiago.
Not being one to sit around and accept retirement, Alejandro remained on good terms with Daihatsu and stayed around to design cars in his spare time. This is what birthed the more well-known fourth-generation De Tomaso Charade.
Instead of being a joint venture between two brands, the De Tomaso Charade was a homage to Alejandro himself and a thank you for his trust in the Daihatsu brand.
The fourth-generation De Tomaso Charade sported a body kit designed by Alejandro, Recaro seats, a Nardi Torino steering wheel, Pirelli sport tyres, and special badges and decals sporting the De Tomaso name.
Better still, the Japanese domestic market received a race-specification camshaft and a modified head design that boosted the power of the SOHC, naturally-aspirated, 1.6-litre four-cylinder from 77kW to 91kW. International markets did not get the racing cam but did receive everything else sold under the “GTi” badge.
How much is the Daihatsu De Tomaso Charade?
Unfortunately, Australia did not get the De Tomaso edition, but it has been a popular choice for importers and mock-ups using the De Tomaso kit on Australian-delivered models.
They were, and still are, quite a surprisingly affordable car; 1,298,000 yen ($AU13,000) new and when they do come up for sale in Australia, they can range anywhere from $8000 to $20,000, depending on condition.
So, if you’ve been dreaming of that De Tomaso Pantera but have a champagne taste on a beer budget, then maybe you should keep an eye out for the De Tomaso Charade and you can tell people you have a sporty Italian car in the garage.
The post The hottest hatch ever? A supercar badged Daihatsu appeared first on Drive.
