“As you skim around the pavement in the Pantera you just can’t aid emotion smug,” wrote Auto & Driver journal in August 1971 when Ford teamed up with Italian auto manufacture De Tomaso Automobili to produce the exotic Pantera in the U.S.
“You listen to the motor rumbling along from its station back again by your shoulder blades – a mechanical arrangement even novitiate automotive visionaries will realize as a little piece of tomorrow now. And the appears. Oh wow – like anything that just rolled out of the Turin Present.”
The Decide on of the Working day is a 1971 De Tomaso Pantera with just above 34,000 miles on its odometer and sporting a Verde Environmentally friendly color around a black interior. It’s presented on ClassicCars.com by a dealer in Salt Lake Town, Utah.
The mid-engine sports vehicle is run by a 351cid Ford Cleveland V8 bored and stroked to 403cid and rated at 430 horsepower. The motor is also equipped with Edelbrock aluminum heads and consumption, ceramic-coated Hall headers, a new Holley 750 CFM carburetor and MSD ignition, according to the supplier.
“Included with this financial investment De Tomaso is its restoration receipts of servicing and general performance updates, as well as the initial owner’s manual,” the dealer notes.
The Pantera arrives with electricity-assisted 4-wheel disc brakes, rack-and-pinion steering, electric home windows and air conditioning. It also capabilities 17-inch Campy-type wheels with Michelin Sport1 tires, a Momo steering wheel and front and rear anti-roll bars.
Built as a competitor to Ferrari and Lamborghini in the early 1970s’, the Pantera charge about fifty percent as a lot, with equivalent Italian styling and an American V8 packing a equivalent punch in conditions of horsepower. Ford and De Tomaso envisioned wild stages of achievement in the American market, but rushed output resulted in spotty high-quality, which includes overheating challenges reported by Pantera owners.
Pointless to say, Ford and De Tomaso did not see the achievements they were hoping for. Following advertising fewer than 6,000 Panteras by 1974, Ford known as it quits on promoting them in the U.S.
In spite of the troubles, Panteras are iconic in the eyes of several collectors of equally sporting activities cars and trucks and muscle cars and trucks, with its sporty style and wicked-quick motor aiding it preserve its benefit.
In accordance to Hagerty’s selling price information, a 1971 De Tomaso Pantera in fantastic problem goes for an average of $88,000, reaching $122,000 in perfect concours ailment.
The dealer is asking for $112,000 for this Pantera, which appears to be realistic if the automobile is as the vendor describes and the images demonstrate.
To see this listing on ClassicCars.com, see Decide on of the Working day.