Manta Cars was owned and operated by American brothers Brad and Tim LoVette, and was located in Costa Mesa, California, from 1974 to 1986 (Manta Cars moved their production facility and showroom to 2914 Halladay Avenue, Santa Ana, California around 1980).
The Mirage's steel space frame chassis was fitted with a high-output V8 engine and four-speed transaxle.
The original Mirage design mated the Chevy V8 to a Corvair transaxle via a Kelmark adapter and remote shifter.
With curb weights as light as 1,900 lb (860 kg), the cars could be built by the factory or their owners to be extremely fast.
A Manta Mirage is modified in the History Channels Counting Cars episode "Red, Hot and Dangerous".