Vehicle Description
1971 Detomaso Pantera for sale! Motorcar Classics is proud to
present this stunning 1971 De Tomaso Pantera featured in brilliant
orange with black interior. The Pantera was the perfect combination
of Italian beauty from the Ghia design studios in Turin, with one
of the finest American V8s built, the 351 CI Ford Cleveland. It
offered enthusiasts the best of both worlds: a beautiful Italian
mid-engine exotic sports car with the reliability and low
maintenance costs of the Ford V8. Lee Iacocca, head of Ford North
America, had a vision to have De Tomaso create a GT car that could
be mass-produced and sold through Fords Lincoln-Mercury dealership
network. Ford desired a car that would overshadow the Corvette and
anything else General Motors could produce and Iacocca had a keen
plan to leverage Alejandro de Tomaso's suave "Italian" image to
promote the car. The notion was to create a car featuring a steel
unibody monocoque body rather than the more exotic backbone chassis
of the previous cars, and that was powered by a suitable Ford V8
engine mated to a production ZF transaxle. This was to be the
Pantera (Italian for Panther). The design was by American Tom
Tjaarda working for Ghia and its engineering was done by Gianpaolo
Dallara, whom De Tomaso had lured away from Lamborghini.This
specific Pantera chassis #2133 is from the first year of Pantera
production, in which approximately 7,000 cars were made. It was the
recipient of a no-expense-spared restoration by respected Pantera
expert Joe Divilio during the 2016-17 time frame. The car has
documented ownership from new and the indicated mileage is believed
original. The car includes a large ring binder and a photo CD with
receipts and photos documenting the restoration. The history file
also includes receipts for work done in the 1990s by Pantera
experts Hall Restoration in California along with copies of earlier
titles, registrations, receipts and correspondence. A fine example
to begin with, Joes Perfect Bodies technicians disassembled the car
for a nut and bolt restoration to as-new condition, during which
its few factory shortcomings were corrected.The car looks as nice
underneath as it does from the top. This is the nicest Pantera that
we have had the pleasure to offer and it is sure to perform as well
on a concours field as it does on the road.
