The Pantera bowed in the spring of 1970 as the follow-up to De Tomaso’s Mangusta, which had appeared in late 1966. The Mangusta was a striking Ghia designed (and built) mid-engined car powered by a Ford small-block V8 and its arrival, just months after the debut of the Lamborghini Miura made it one of the world’s first mid-engined supercars. Despite this, it was not even De Tomaso’s first mid-engined road car. The diminutive De Tomaso Vallelunga was produced in small numbers (50-60 examples) from 1964-1967 and was also powered by a Ford engine, albeit a 4-cylinder one taken from the Cortina.
LIke the Mangusta before it, the Pantera was powered by a mid-mounted Ford V8, in this case a 351 cubic inch Cleveland, which was backed by a 5-speed ZF transaxle. Steering was by rack and pinion, brakes were discs all around, and suspension was double wishbones at all four corners. The chassis was designed by Gianpaolo Dallara, who had done the Miura’s chassis a few years prior. The Pantera was styled by Tom Tjaarda, who was at Ghia (which De Tomaso owned) at the time but had previously been at Pininfarina where he designed the Fiat 124 Spider and Ferrari 365 California.
While Just 401 Mangustas were built, the Pantera was much more successful: more than 7000 were made. This was thanks in large part to a partnership with Ford, who purchased a controlling interest in De Tomaso in 1970 with the vision of creating a car that would not just compete with, but overshadow the Corvette. Ford handled US distribution and sales of the car via their Lincoln-Mercury dealer network, while De Tomaso handled design and production. The relationship lasted until 1975, when official US imports of the Pantera ended, as did the partnership between the two companies. Approximately three quarters of the Panteras built were produced during this era (1971-74), and no Panteras after model year 1974 were officially imported to the United States.
After the Ford era, the Pantera continued to evolve and was produced in comparatively small numbers for a remarkable 17 further years, until 1992. With Ford no longer in the picture, chassis construction was moved twice, first in 1976 and again in 1979. Panteras are often differentiated by the serial number sequences with the earliest cars bearing 1000 sequence serial numbers, and US car production ending somewhere in the 7000s. The final series of Pantera production was the 9000 series cars, which appeared in the second half of the 1970s and lasted until the end of the Pantera’s production. As the supply of American made 351 Cleveland engines dried up following the engine’s US discontinuation after the 1974 model year, De Tomaso switched to using Australian built 351 Clevelands, which were manufactured into the mid 1980s.
This particular car is a 9000 serial number car (9193) whose chassis was completed in October of 1979, although the car itself was not completed until 1981. It is a GTS model, a higher performance variant which was introduced outside the US market in 1972 as a production homologation car for Group 3 racing. Group 3 allowed very few modifications from the road version of the car, so the mechanical specification of the road cars was upgraded significantly, including an 11:1 compression ratio (compared to 8.6:1 for US cars at the time), larger Holley carburetor, aluminum intake manifold, and freer flowing exhaust that included tubular headers. This raised power from the 330hp of the standard European specification Pantera to 345hp. The GTS also gained wider wheels, more aggressive steering rack, upgraded suspension, revised gear ratios, and black body elements including lower beltline, and typically black front and rear deck lids as well. For 1974, a US version of the GTS was offered, although it lacked the mechanical upgrades aside from the wheels, so it was essentially a cosmetic treatment only. US examples of the GTS usually had riveted fender extensions which European cars did not always have.
In 1980, the Pantera GT5 appeared, which took the flared fender concept to a whole new level, with wider integrated flares in fiberglass that transformed the car’s look in a way not dissimilar to the addition of flares to the Lamborghini Countach. The GT5 and its later replacement, the GT5-S (similar in appearance but with steel flares) became the dominant Pantera variant as the 80s progressed. The GTS remained officially available, although production was basically finished by 1985 (a single GTS was made in 1987 and another in 1989).
Thus, this car is a rare narrow body 9000 series Pantera, a car which was originally produced for the European market and is understood to be one less than 100 narrow body 9000 series GTS built. The car was imported to the United States in 1989, at which point it was partially federalized, including the installation of US bumpers. The car retains its metric instruments including 300kph speedometer. During the second half of the 1990s, the car was placed in dry storage, where it remained for approximately 20 years until being acquired by a Southern California based owner in 2018. He resuscitated the car mechanically and retained it for about two years until its current owner acquired it in May of 2020 and set about performing a comprehensive refurbishment that included renewing virtually every mechanical aspect of the car as well as a concours level respray.
The mechanical work was performed by Mike Cook, former supervisor at the specialist shop Hall Pantera. Cook was also a hot rodder who built and raced speed record cars and set a Pantera speed record at Bonneville. The engine of the car was removed to inspect its condition, and the intake manifold and oil pan were removed, the bottom end was inspected, a new water pump and carburetor were fitted, all gaskets were replaced, and the factory GTS headers were ceramic coated as were the muffler pipes. A new 100 amp alternator was installed while the engine was out. The dual points ignition system was replaced with a Duraspark Type 1 (40,000 volt version) ignition system with a rebuilt Davis HP Duraspark distributor.
The engine was determined to be an authentic Australian 351C as it should be while it was out of the car. The transaxle was also removed and inspected, a complete new Centerforce clutch assembly fitted, and the entire cooling system was renewed and upgraded to a modern self-burping design with pressurized header tank and more efficient swirl tank. All cooling pipes were replaced with stainless steel and a new 4 row brass/copper radiator was fabricated and installed, together with high-flow electric cooling fans, which were rewired to have their own discrete circuits with an auxiliary fuse box. The fan shrouds were also media blasted and powder coated.
The air conditioning system was renewed in a similar manner including a new Sanden compressor, new condenser, new lines, and new expansion valve. A new steering rack was fitted and the suspension rebuilt with Aldan American double adjustable coilovers, new ball joints, and new wheel bearings. The hydraulic systems were also renewed including clutch master and slave cylinders and a stainless steel clutch slave hose was fitted as well. A set of custom 17” Halibrand style wheels was fabricated and installed and the original Campagnolos are also included.
The driver’s seat was mounted directly to the floor to provide more headroom and the original sliders are included. The dashboard was also removed and the Alcantara upholstery was replaced. The A pillars and headliner were also retrimmed in the same material. A period Alpine cassette deck was installed, together with new components and Bluetooth adapter.
The body restoration involved removing the windows, all trim, and the fuel tank so that the car could be completely resprayed, which was performed with single stage urethane Glasurit paint by Tony Fabozzi, an award-winning paint experienced with Panteras (and other exotics). The body was found to be free of rust when it was prepped for the repaint. The factory paint scheme was employed, including the black lower beltline. All black trim was stripped and powder coated in the correct satin black finish. After reassembly, the car was ceramic coated.
Today, the car is an exceptionally well-sorted example of this rare model, a late production European specification GTS which has both the performance upgrades and visual appeal of the early cars, coupled with the under the skin improvements of the later cars, including a lowered floor pan, which according to De Tomaso was about two inches lower in order to provide more interior room. The car displays obvious pride of ownership and it is extremely evident how obsessively kept and well-sorted it is. It starts and runs reliably, cools well in all conditions, and the air conditioning is ice cold.
Included with the car are the original wheels, coilovers, cooling fans, seat rail hardware for the driver’s seat, original cooling system components including electric fans, a binder of technical documentation, and another binder containing invoices and other documentation from the car’s refurbishment.
