Pantera's--all show or a formidable foe?

[RickM]

Is the seat design the pinnacle of "seat art"? Looks very scuplted. And like there's a rope and wood ladder laying on it.

[MFAFF]

Great Italian car with a Ford engine....

Ok it doesn't handle very well out of the box but there is room for improvement.....heard that before.

The engine, well its a Ford V8 so how much power do you want?

Its greatest failing is bieng deisgned for Italian to drive: all arms and not legs so if you're normally proportioned then its pretty much impossible....

PS It only looks like a 308 because its yellow and mid engined, but its much more angular and muscluar as well as bigger.....

[Victor]

Here is a nice resto in black:

http://www.hotrodscustomstuff.com/Pantera-01.html

[dd74]

Local LA weatherman, Dallas Raines, is a huge Pantera fan. His has a big, nasty Chrysler V8 in it, I think.

Met him and a couple other Pantera guys on a TRE New Year's run. Pretty nice dudes, but not as fun-loving as Porsche guys (for the most part ).

Anyway, he's a big Porsche fan, too. He warned me in meterological terms about the impact of lightening the 911 in the front and not the back...

...something about high pressure and a lot of upper-level atmospheric disturbances...

[cegerer]

The new May issue of Euro Car has an article on Alejandro De Tomaso. Only 1 page, but a good read. Trivia for the day from that article: the Pantera was killed by the fuel crisis in 1974 - a year when Ferrari only sold 28 cars and Lamborghini only sold 19!!!!!!!!! Can that possibly be correct?


Also, check this old thread:

Bordinat Mangusta

[MFAFF]

Possibly when Ford stopped seeling the car in the Us.

It was still on the market here much later, in GT5 and GTs guise...wide body, sillly wing etc.

[Eric 951]

I think Panteras are one of the best looking cars ever made--especially the early chrome bumper models. They added rubber bumpers as time progressed, along with a GTS model that featured special paint/decals along the sills "Pantera GTS" and a slightly tweaked engine(as mentioned all Panteras had 351 Clevelands, Mangustas had Boss 302s.)
After the gas crunch killed the original model run, a "new" Pantera GTS came about in the mid-late 80s(as MFAFF mentioned) which was basically a boogered-up version of the original--with flares and a crappy wing--unsure of the powerplant with those.
Problems--overheating, check for cooling system updates, tight engine bay confines, ergonomics.
Good--wicked fast(think muscle car), easily hopped-up V8s, very exotic.

I remember Royal Motorcars in Ft Lauderdale sold DeTomasos, Lotus, Lamborghini and Excaliburs(yuck).

[MFAFF]

Always a Ford V8....inexpensive power and torque...

[RickM]

This one is nice looking..... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2464402551&category=6472

[JavaBrewer]

From the ebay ad:

Why sell you ask? I am faced with marital problems and potential job loss. It was either her or the Pantera........hmmmm

Sounds like a bandaid applied to a broken neck. If you're forced choosing wife vs. car, you've got much bigger issues ahead.

[dd74]

The lastest iteration of the Pantera has the 4.6 Mustang Cobra engine.

[dd74]

Originally posted by RickM
This one is nice looking..... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2464402551&category=6472

$50,000?

I've seen just as nice for mid-30s.

[RickM]

That was the only "decent" one on Ebay.....If you shop you can get a great example for much less. I do like the color alot.

I bet the billet Campi repros are a pretty penny....

[unimog]

A few Panteras you might want to watch out for:[p]

[Leland Pate]

Hoy crap.

[Victor]

Should there be a scatter shield between those tanks and the tranny??