De Tomaso Pantera
Tom Tjaarda created the De Tomaso Pantera while at Ford’s Italian design studio, Ghia. It was a full-scale assault on the exotic car segment by De Tomaso, which sold the Italian-American hybrid at North American Lincoln-Mercury dealerships for about $10,000. A mid-mounted Ford 351 cu in V-8 made it competitive with expensive European sports cars, […]
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De Tomaso Pantera
De Tomaso Pantera
De Tomaso Pantera
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De Tomaso Pantera
Photo by Scott Williamson/www.photodesignstudios.com
De Tomaso Pantera
Photo by Scott Williamson/www.photodesignstudios.com
Tom Tjaarda created the De Tomaso Pantera while at Ford’s Italian design studio, Ghia. It was a full-scale assault on the exotic car segment by De Tomaso, which sold the Italian-American hybrid at North American Lincoln-Mercury dealerships for about $10,000. A mid-mounted Ford 351 cu in V-8 made it competitive with expensive European sports cars, but the American V-8 engine de-escalated the mechanical complexity and price. The best-looking cars are the chrome-bumper versions, made from 1971 to 1972, followed by less attractive models with rubber impact bumpers through 1975. The car continued to be sold outside the United States until 1991. Rust, engine cooling, and other issues keep Pantera ownership interesting, but less than $75,000 will acquire a good example (north of $100,000 for a concours specimen) of what is still one of the most seductive exotics from the leisure-suit era.
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