The De Tomaso Pantera is a mid-engine sports car produced by Italian automobile manufacturer De Tomaso from 1971 to 1992. Italian for "Panther", the Pantera was the automaker's most popular model, with over 7,000 manufactured over its twenty-year production run. More than three quarters of the production were sold by American Lincoln-Mercury dealers from 1972 to 1975; after this agreement ended De Tomaso kept manufacturing the car in ever smaller numbers into the early 1990s.
History The Pantera was designed by the Italian design firm Carrozzeria Ghia's American-born designer Tom Tjaarda and replaced the Mangusta. Unlike the Mangusta, which employed a steel backbone chassis, the Pantera's chassis was of a steel monocoque design, the first instance of De Tomaso using this construction technique.
The car debuted in Modena in March 1970 and was presented at the 1970 New York Motor Show a few weeks later. Approximately a year later the first production cars were sold, and production was increased to three per day. De Tomaso sold the rights to the Pantera to Ford, who were to distribute the cars in the United States through its Lincoln-Mercury dealerships, while Alejandro De Tomaso retained the rights to market the Pantera in Europe.
The slat-backed seats which had attracted criticism at the New York Auto Show were replaced by more conventional body-hugging sports seats in the production cars: leg-room was generous but the pedals were off-set and headroom was insufficient for drivers above approximately tall. Reflecting its makers' transatlantic ambitions, the Pantera came with an abundance of standard features which appeared exotic in Europe, such as electric windows, air conditioning and even "doors that buzz when ... open". By the time the Pantera reached production stage, the interior was in most respects well sorted, although resting an arm on the central console could lead to inadvertently activating the poorly located cigarette lighter.
The first 1971 Pantera models were powered by a Ford Cleveland V8 engine having a power output of . The high torque provided by the Ford engine reduced the need for excessive gear changing at low speeds: this made the car much less demanding to drive in urban conditions than many of the locally built offerings.
The ZF transaxle used in the Mangusta was also used for the Pantera: a passenger in an early Pantera recorded that the mechanical noises emanating from the transaxle were more intrusive than the well restrained engine noise. Another Italian car that shared the ZF transaxle is the Maserati Bora, also launched in 1971 although not then available for sale. Power-assisted four-wheel disc brakes and rack and pinion steering were all standard equipment on the Pantera. The 1971 Pantera could accelerate to 97 km/h (60 mph) in 5.5 seconds according to Car and Driver.
In the spring of 1972, De Tomaso introduced the more sporting GTS model for the European market. The GTS was developed for Group 3 racing and received a more powerful engine with DIN at 6000 rpm, thanks to a 11.0 : 1 compression ratio (versus 8.0 : 1 in the US market Pantera), larger Holley carburetors, a forged aluminum intake manifold, and freer flowing exhaust headers. The GTS also has considerably wider wheels, a more aggressive steering rack setup, ventilated disc brakes, adjusted spring rates and gear ratios, and conspicuous matte black body elements.
The Pantera logo included a T-shaped symbol that was the brand used by De Tomaso's Argentinian cattle ranching ancestors, as well as a version of the Argentinean flag turned on its side, inspired by the company's founder, Alejandro De Tomaso, having been born and raised in Argentina.
In the United States
Late in 1971, Ford began importing the Pantera for the American market to be sold through its Lincoln-Mercury dealers. The first 75 cars were simply European imports and are known for their "push-button" door handles and hand-built Carrozzeria Vignale bodies. A total of 1,007 cars reached the United States that year. As with most Italian cars of the day, rust-proofing was minimal, and the quality of fit and finish on these early models was poor, with large amounts of body solder being used to cover body panel flaws. Subsequently, Ford increased its involvement in the production of later cars by introducing precision stampings for body panels, which improved overall quality.
Several modifications were made to the Pantera for the 1972 model year. A new four-bolt main Cleveland Engine, was used with lower compression ratio (from 11:1 to 8.6:1, chiefly to meet US emissions standards and run on lower octane standard fuel) but with the more aggressive "Cobra Jet" camshaft (featuring the same lift and duration as the 428 Cobra Jet's factory performance cam) in an effort to reclaim some of the power lost through the reduction in compression ratio along with a dual point distributor. Many other engine changes were made, including the use of a factory exhaust header.
The "Lusso" (luxury) Pantera L was also introduced in August 1972 as a 1972 model. For the US market, it featured a large black single front bumper that incorporated a built-in airfoil to reduce front end lift at high speeds, rather than the separate bumperettes still used abroad, as well as the Cleveland engine then having a net power output of at 5400 rpm. The "L" model featured many factory upgrades and updates that fixed most of the problems and issues the earlier cars experienced. It was so improved that the 1973 DeTomaso Pantera was beating offerings from Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini, and Porsche. During 1973 the dashboard was changed, deviating from two separate pods for the gauges to a unified unit with the dials angled toward the driver.
The European GTS model had sparked interest in the United States, with several grey market cars being imported and many of the performance parts being offered. In the first half of 1974 a US version of the Pantera GTS was introduced, with the first 40 cars only being available in California. This model featured GTS badging and matte black sections as well as a special steering wheel and an electric clock, but not the higher compression engine nor the wheels or other performance modifications of its European counterpart.Wakefield, p. 48 Because of the legal acrimony between De Tomaso and Ford, these cars were sold with all De Tomaso badging removed. The wheels received "GTS" badges while the badge on the front bumper was replaced with the Ghia logo.
In 1974, Elvis Presley purchased a De Tomaso from a Cadillac dealership for $2,500. Presley fired two shots into the dashboard with a small-caliber revolver, after he couldn't get the car to start, shattering his windshield and deflating the front tire. He sold the car in 1976 where it would fall into the hands of Robert Peterson in the late 1990s, where it would be interred indefinitely at the Peterson Automotive Museum.
Disengagement of Ford
Ford stopped importing the Pantera to the US in 1975, having sold around 5,500 cars. De Tomaso continued to build the car in ever-escalating forms of performance and luxury for almost two decades for sale in the rest of the world. A small number of cars were imported to the US by gray market importers in the 1980s, notably Panteramerica, Stauffer Classics, and AmeriSport - Panteramerica had gotten the car recertified for US sales in 1981. After 1974, Ford discontinued the Cleveland 351 engine, but production continued in Australia until 1982. De Tomaso started sourcing their engines from Australia once the American supplies stopped. These engines were tuned in Switzerland and were available with a range of outputs up to .
After Ford had the pressing tools destroyed and Vignale went bankrupt, the supply of about 175 existing bodies-in-white produced by Vignale soon dried up. De Tomaso switched to using bodies hand-built by Maggiora in mid-1976. After a falling out over low quality work, De Tomaso switched to Embo S.p.A., who went on to build the next 504 Panteras from 1979 until the end of production. According to De Tomaso the chassis was completely revised in around 1980, skipping ahead from 7554 to chassis number 9000 (although most independent sources agree that the 9000-series cars were made after June 1976 by Maggiora, while Embo-bodied cars started over again from 9100). From May 1980, the lineup included the GT5, which had bonded and riveted-on fibreglass wheelarch extensions and from November 1984 the GT5-S model which had blended arches and a distinctive wide-body look. The GT5 also incorporated better brakes, a more luxurious interior, much larger wheels and tires and the fiberglass body kit also included an air dam and side skirts. Production of the wide body GT5 (and similarly equipped narrow body GTS models) continued until 1985, when the GT5-S replaced the GT5. Although the factory has not made its records available, an analysis based on Vehicle Identification Numbers by the Pantera Owners Club of America (POCA) late model (9000 series) registrar has shown that fewer than 197 GT5 Pantera models were likely to have been built. The GT5-S featured single piece flared steel fenders instead of the GT5's bolted-on fiberglass flares, and a smaller steel front air dam. The 'S' in the GT5-S name stood for "steel". Otherwise the GT5-S was largely identical to the GT5. The POCA 9000 series registrar's VIN analysis indicates that fewer than 183 GT5-S Panteras were built. Concurrent GTS production continued, on a custom order and very limited basis, until the late 1980s.
The car continued to use a Ford V8 engine, although in late 1986, when the supply of Ford 351 Cleveland engines from Australia ran out, De Tomaso gradually began supplanting them with Ford 351 Windsor engines in the Pantera instead. In all, about 7,260 cars in total were built.
Pantera 90 Si In 1990 the 351 engine was replaced by the Ford 302 engine featuring electronic fuel injection and modified cylinder heads, intake manifolds, camshafts, valves, and pistons. Stopping power was improved by the addition of four-wheel ventilated and drilled disc brakes with Brembo calipers that were shared with the Ferrari F40. The Pantera received new styling penned by Marcello Gandini, suspension redesign and a partial chassis redesign. The new model was called the Pantera 90 Si and it was introduced in 1990. The taillights came from the facelifted, first series Alfa Romeo 33. Only 41 90 Si models were made before the Pantera was finally phased out in 1993 to make way for the radical Guarà. Out of the 41 cars made, two were used for crash testing, and one was reserved for the De Tomaso museum. As such, only 38 were sold to the public, of which four were converted to Targas by Pavesi. In the UK, the model was sold as Pantera 90.
Specifications
+Model yearSpecification data1971 L1988 GT5 S Engine configuration Naturally aspirated Ford Cleveland V8Fuel systemAutolite 4-barrel carburetorHolley 4-barrel carburetorCurb weightWheelbase Front trackRear trackLengthWidthHeightBrakesFront: ventilated;Rear: ventilatedFront: ventilated;Rear: ventilatedPower at 5,400 rpm at 6,000 rpmTorque at 3,500 rpm at 3,800 rpmFuel economyHighway (Extra-urban): Compression ratio11.0:19.5:1Gearbox5-speed ZF manual transmissionMaximum speed
Motorsports Group 3