Alejandro de Tomaso never got as far as building his own engines, but for a while in the 1960s and '70s he ranked right up there with Ferrucio Lamborghini.
The 1967 Mangusta, styled by the immortal Giorgetto Giugiaro (then a young designer at Ghia in Turin) and powered by a variety of Ford V8 engines, was arguably his masterpiece, although not as well known as the cheaper-to-build Pantera that succeeded it in 1071.
The De Tomaso brand was revived at the 2011 Geneva auto show with the Deauville showcar - which drew mixed reviews - but that prompted design graduate and digital artist Maxime de Keiser to sketch a modern interpretation of the original Mangusta,
The stunning result retains Giugiaro's low-slung headlights and signature sharp-edged design language, but adds Countach-style scissor doors to dramatic effect.
Keiser says: "Like the original, it had to be spectacular, communicating an impression of wild ferocity and power, while recalling the elegance of an animal that doesn't need to fear anything."
And the name? Mangusta is the Italian word for mongoose - you know, a slinky, low-slung, incredibly fast-moving and agile little animal that eats Cobras.