deTomaso Pantera by Ghia

 imported by Lincoln-Mercury

 

In September 1969 Ford Motor Company signed an agreement with Italian auto manufacturer Alejandro deTomaso to build a high-volume wedge shaped mid-engine budget supercar, the Pantera (panther in Italian) for the United States market.

Ford knew there would be a limited window of sales for this car as the Tom Tjaarda design would not meet 1975 United States crash standards, but Ford anticipated selling 5000 Panteras a year in the United States at $10,925.00 each through Lincoln-Mercury dealers. At that time a Ferrari sold for $25,000, so Ford was selling a supercar at a bargain price.  

The first Pantera, a yellow car shown at the 1970 Los Angeles Auto Show was actually a European market car with push button doors and was later photographed for the initial Pantera brochures. The Pantera was powered by a Ford 351 cubic inch V-8 fitted with a four barrel carburetor that produced 310 horsepower.

 

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The mid-mounted engine fed the power to the independently suspended rear end through a ZF five-speed transmission. With a curb weight of 3123 pounds the Pantera accelerated from a standing start to 60 miles per hour (MPH) in 5.5 seconds and covered the quarter mile in 14 seconds.
 

The Pantera was a hand-built Italian supercar with four wheel power disc brakes and four-wheel independent suspension and cast magnesium  wheels  but being hand built, the cars had some problems. The author recalls making a trip with his father in 1971 as a thirteen year old to a Lincoln-Mercury dealer in Fort Wayne Indiana to look at a Pantera.
 

Upon arrival, the dealer’s salesman was unfamiliar with the car and had no brochures. The dealership’s single medium blue example was not on the showroom floor, but rather was in the service department. The salesman admitted the car wouldn’t run and was in the shop to diagnosis an apparent electrical problem.

My father and I were left alone to wander back into the empty dealership service area to look at the car and were shocked at the poor build quality in the interior and exterior panel fitment. Panteras were notoriously unreliable, with engine cooling issues as well as an inadequate cockpit ventilation system. My father bought a Lincoln Mark III instead (as if he was going to buy anything else).   

Several celebrities owned Panteras. Elvis Presley bought a yellow Pantera for one of his girlfriends, and when it wouldn’t start the enraged star shot the steering wheel, after which the car reportedly started. Playboy Enterprises bought a white 1972 Pantera, had it stripped and painted pink and gave the car to 1972 Playmate of the year Liv Lindeland. In 1974 Canadian hockey star and restaurateur Tim Horton died after he crashed his 1972 white Pantera at over 110 MPH and  was ejected. A later investigation revealed that Horton's blood alcohol was twice the legal limit.   

 

 

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The early Panteras were equipped with attractive thin chrome bumperettes, but by 1973 to meet the new US crash standards, the Pantera Lusso (“L”)  as the example seen at the “Autos of Alamo” car show was equipped with energy-absorbing reinforced steel rubber bumpers which were certainly more attractive than some cars’ added safety bumpers.   

 

At the end of the 1974 model year, as planned Lincoln-Mercury dropped the Pantera line with a  documented total of only 5262 cars sold, far short of the planned 5,000 a year. Many of the surviving Panteras have been modified as the one seen at Alamo which has a non-original pant color and  is fitted larger diameter wheels which are similar to the original Campagnolo design in addition to obvious engine upgrades.

 

The 1973 Pantera had a redesigned instrument cluster with optional wood grain – the original Pantera featured a “twin pod” design

 

All photographs by the author