In 2001 my brother and I came across an advertisement of a 1981 de Tomaso Deauville right here in Holland. An original Dutch car delivered by de Tomaso importer Hessing de Bilt. We did not hesitate for a moment and called for an appointment. As true-hearted de Tomaso enhusiasts, we were sold the minute we saw the car and bought it.

The purchase of our Deauville ignited my love for this beautiful type of cars: the Quattro-Porte. A breed of cars with the perfect mix between speed and luxury.Built for driving it as a sports car, but also able to be chauffeur-driven. Often ludricously expensive when new, but they also devaluated faster than a third-world-country currency. Within a couple of years, most of them ended up in hands of pennyless people and deteriorated. Nowadays the majority of my list of cars can still be bought for prices, which don’t come near any 2-door siblings of the same brand. They however remain fascinating, majestic and beautiful cars!

For this website – and eventually a book I’m planning to write – I used the following criteria to define a Quattro-Porte:

• Obviously they need to have 4 doors
• They have to be sporty and fast (200+ KM/h)
• At the same time they need to be luxurious and comfortible
• They are very exclusive and limited (not more than 7.500 cars produced)
• Produced in the period 1950 to 2000
• And last but not least they were fairly expensive in their times

Therefore you won’t find any Rolls Royces in my list, because these cars are too luxurious and not build for sporty driving. Another car you might miss, is e.g. the Lotus Omega simply because it’s too fast and not very luxurious nor comfortible. What I did add in the selection are one-offs and prototypes from e.g. Ferrari and Lamborghini.

As said, I’m planning to write a book called Quattro-Porte in the next few years with these cars featured. In case you have one or more of the listed cars, please contact me. You can do the same if you miss a car in the list. In the upcoming time, I will add more information per car to support the photographs.

Have fun!
Roel Pollen