Vehicle Description
-Red with Tan leather interior and Tan carpeting, 21,000 showing,
5-speed ZF manual gearbox, Modified 4.6L Alloy 4-cam Cobra V8
producing 450 HP, Group 5 style metal bodywork, No expense spared
custom build-restoration.
Alejandro De Tomaso founded his auto building firm, De Tomaso
Automobili, in Modena, Italy in 1959. Like many race car builders,
he hoped to emulate Ferrari and build road cars that would embody
the qualities of his racing cars and be fast, excellent handling
cars. De Tomaso's hallmark was a well-designed sportscar featuring
exotic styling on the outside, but always have an off-the-shelf
production engine underneath. Today, Panteras are among the most
bulletproof of exotic Italian cars on the road and, as a result,
they are far cheaper to run and own than Ferraris, Maseratis and
Lamborghinis due to De Tomaso and Ford's choice of an off-the-shelf
Mustang V8 engine, the 351-Cleveland.
Starting with a standard 1972 model year Pantera, it was taken to a
bare metal shell and built to its current Resto-Mod specification.
No stone was left unturned and the result is exceptional in every
way. Cosmetically, the body has been restored to Group 5 look with
metal flares and obligatory large rear wing. The interior has been
retrimmed in Connolly leather throughout in true bespoke fashion.
The dash has been equipped with custom White-faced VDO gauges,
Recaro sport seats and must be labelled as sumptuous in comparison
to when original. The engine bay and undercarriage are excellent in
every way, detail and ready for show.
The 4.6-liter Cobra V8 features an aluminum block and cylinder
heads, Motec programmable fuel injection, polished valve covers,
stainless steel tuned headers-exhaust manifolds as well as a
stainless steel four outlet sport muffler.
The suspension has been uprated to Koni shock absorbers with
coil-overs and swaybars. The stopping power is provided by Wilwood
four-piston calipers with cross-drilled rotors at all four corners.
Last, but not least, this Pantera has been fitted with a set of
Gotti-Etoile wheels (17x10 front, 17x12 rear) with 275/40 front and
335/35 rear Michelin Pilot tires.
A wonderful build in every way, we recently drove this Pantera
approximately 300 miles from its previous owner to Autosport
Designs. It was a wonderful opportunity to road test to address any
issue or dialing in that may have been needed due to lack of used
in the recent years. Therefore, we have nut and bolts the entire
car, service the air conditioning and heating systems, adjusted the
shifter linkage, supplied and install a correct right angle drive
for the speedometer to work accurately and finally supplied and
install and uprated crank pulley, one which will be able to
withstand the acceleration this Pantera provides.
Enjoy our video road test, it is a true testament to the build
quality of this resto-mod Pantera. At the same time, it shows the
versatility of a vintage sportscar turned modern. It is at home
cruising around town with ample power on tap when your right foot
is angered. Available for sale for a fraction of its build
cost.