The Pantera was significant for a few reasons. It was the first mid-engined sports car offered for sale in the North American market, and it was the first ‘affordable’ supercar Americans could buy. For about $10000 in 1971, it could be purchased from Lincoln Mercury branded Ford dealerships at a time when new Corvettes were $6000, and new Ferraris cost $20000. If the Datsun 240Z was the ‘poor man’s E Type Jag’, then the DeTomaso Pantera was the ‘poor man’s Ferrari’. It offered Italian style with effortless American V8 power. It has been said that this was the first supercar you could fix or maintain with a hammer and a shifter.

The Pantera was of steel unibody construction designed in Modena Italy by renowned styling house Ghia and built in one of five De Tomaso factories. Ford bought an 84% share in De Tomaso in 1971 and started shipping the bodies to America where they were fitted with the newly released Ford 351ci (5.8L) Cleveland V8 producing 330hp and the same ZF 5 speed transaxle that was found in the Maserati Bora and the original Ford GT40. With power-assisted four-wheel disc brakes and rack and pinion steering as standard, the Pantera was well equipped.

Ford sold 5144 Panteras in America and made 14 updates throughout the next three years to address the poor build quality, overheating and reliability issues that plagued the early cars. All these issues came as a result of Ford rushing the Pantera to market. The Pantera prototype was displayed at the 1970 New York Motor Show, and only nine months later they were available in dealerships. The reason for this was that Ford was worried General Motors and AMC would release a mid-engined supercar before them and wanted to be the first.

The bad reputation the Pantera received due to these quality issues along with the looming oil crisis lead Ford to stop importing the Pantera in 1974. Alejandro De Tomaso, who had been fitting 351ci Cleveland’s and ZF transaxles sourced from the states and selling Panteras into Europe retained the rights for the Pantera for the rest of the world.

De Tomaso continued to build cars by hand at a rate of about 100 per year with a few cosmetic changes over the years like wheel flares and the same rear spoiler as the Lamborghini Countach to help keep the model current. Ford USA stopped manufacturing the 351 Cleveland V8 in 1974, but the engines were still produced by Ford Australia until 1982 and so continued to supply engines with the last Cleveland V8 being installed in 1988. De Tomaso then used a 351ci Windsor V8 for a few years and in 1990 opted for the 302ci (5.0L) Windsor V8.

The last Pantera was built in 1991, and it is not known exactly how many De Tomaso Panteras were made but some estimate the number is about 7200 vehicles. The POCA register (Pantera Owners Club of America) has identified well over 4000 that still exist.

YouTube De Tomaso Pantera Videos:

Jay Leno's Garage: 1971 De Tomaso Pantera: Pantera expert Michael Drew visits the garage to go through what may be the most unappreciated and misunderstood supercar of the 1970s.

Petrolicious take a ride in Gary Corcoran's prized De Tomaso Pantera along the mountain roads overlooking Los Angeles. Back in 1980, Gary was a recent college graduate who just had landed his first professional job.

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