Italian sass on show. Image: Coventry Studios
I freely admit to having a major Jones for cars like the De Tomaso Pantera. Like the Bizzarrini 5300GT with its Chevrolet 327 small-block or the Iso Grifo with its choice of small or big-block Chevys or even a Ford 351, the Pantera is – for blokes like me – that perfect blend of Italian sass and Uncle-Sam grunt and simplicity.
Imagine a supermodel who has her own fishing boat and can TIG weld. Perfection, really.
Not that I can’t appreciate a traditional Italian supercar, what with all those camshafts, multiple carburettors and a soundtrack that raises neck hairs. But if I was ever in the position to own such a thing, I reckon I’d be constantly looking over my shoulder – literally and metaphorically – waiting for that collection of valves, chains, tensioners and sprockets to take a dump and make loud exploding noises. Followed by the `whump’ of my wallet bursting into flames.
But an Italian supercar with a factory-fitted American V8? Suddenly, I’m sleeping a lot better at night. And while purists might gasp at the thought of using a non-standard wiper blades on their Ferrari or Lamborghini, nobody’s going to beat me up at a cars and coffee for tuning the absolute agates off a Chevy small-block.
And, clearly, enough car-makers over the years have agreed with that sentiment, and one of the better-known ones was Alejandro De Tomaso.
De Tomaso handed the design of the Pantera (the replacement for the Mangusta) to Ghia, and legendary stylist Tom Tjaarda (who designed everything from the Ferrari 365 California to the 1974 Ford Maverick) broke out the crayons to sketch up the muscular, big-haunch coupe, leaving onlookers in absolutely zero confusion over where the engine was located.
Dallara then stepped in to carry out the mechanical layout design and hit all the right buttons with double wishbone suspension at each end, four-wheel disc brakes, rack-and-pinion steering and – a first for the De Tomaso brand – a monocoque bodyshell.
Big boots send power to the ground. Image: Coventry Studios
It was, of course, the choice of engine that had car snobs throwing up in the corridors and the proper car guys (and gals) reaching for their cheque-books. And among those proper car guys was none other than Ford exec Lee Iacocca who, about a year after the car first surfaced in Europe in early 1970, was convinced by the fast talking De Tomaso to get the FoMoCo behind the Pantera and act as its distributor for the US market.
Certainly, De Tomaso’s decision to power the Pantera with a 351 Cleveland didn’t hurt his chances of wooing Ford and, by May of 1971, the Pantera was a fixture in Lincoln-Mercury dealerships in the States. Mind you, you kind of get the impression that there were maybe a few cultural differences to be overcome. For instance, Ford knew that American buyers would want air-conditioning. The average Italian supercar buyer? Not so much. But the Pantera got AC.
And even though the Pantera was to be a halo car for Lincoln-Mercury, (the majority of whose customers arrived on walking frames) Iacocca knew it had to be good value. Which is why it was priced at around $10,000, about half of what a Ferrari or Lambo or Maserati cost, and, apparently, about half of what old Alejandro figured was a fair thing.
And quality? Well, maybe Ford and De Tomaso weren’t worlds apart there, because even though the car was recalled multiple times early in its life (just for little stuff, you know, like replacement rear sub-frames and fuel tanks) it still carried the full Ford factory warranty. That didn’t stop road-testers in the day declaring the car to be an interesting concept, but one that needed finishing and a final polish.
The Clevo was tuned for about 330 horsepower (246kW) so it was hardly a hand-grenade waiting to happen, although it did have 11:1 compression. It was also begging to be tuned and many owners obliged it with bigger four-barrels, headers, electronic ignition and more compression bumping the horsepower to where ever your wallet could take it.
Transmission was an aluminium-cased ZF transaxle with five speeds, and was actually the same unit as used previously in the Ford GT-40. The mid-engined layout also saw the spare tyre and its inflator, battery and radiator mounted up front with the brake booster, brake master cylinder, clutch master, and windscreen washer bottle. Not much room for anything else, then, and it forced the coolant pipes to run from the radiator to the engine via a tunnel under the car.
Inside, it was all Viva Italia with lashings of black leather, body-hugging seats and that cattywampus driving position. But you did get a small, thick-rimmed tiller (for extra leg-room for the driver) and lots and lots of gauges. And, of course, a six-packet ash-tray just behind the exposed-gate shifter.
It was all fun and games at the helm, too, with a nought to 100 time of about 5.5 seconds and a quarter mile in about 14-dead. Given enough road, a Pantera would nudge 260km/h or so, so there was nothing wrong with its performance.
Ultimately, though, the cultural differences between Europe and the US started to surface. This was mainly in the areas of build quality and reliability and while previous owners of Italian thoroughbreds were somewhat accustomed to waiting by the side of the road for the tow truck to arrive, in the US, the instant-gratification generation wasn’t so chill about the prospect of their ride popping its clogs somewhere between the golf club and home.
Gotta love the pop-up lights. Image: Coventry Studios
Even the Lincoln-Mercury dealership mechanics soon discovered that even though it was a familiar pushrod V8 mounted just behind the front seats, access to the thing was not as simple as lifting the bonnet on a Lincoln Continental.
Then there was the cabin that was really too tight for anybody above about six-foot tall, and the weirdly skewed pedals-to-steering-wheel relationship that was also typical of Italian cars, but didn’t go down so well in the USA.
Like a lot of mid-engined cars, the Pantera also had a patchy track-record with thermal management. Even with the air-con on, the cabin could get pretty warm, but worse was that the engine itself was prone to overheating. Contemporary investigations at the time revealed an underdone radiator and a combination expansion and surge tank system that didn’t allow the coolant to be sucked back in as the engine cooled, meaning that many Panteras were running around constantly low on coolant. In-period fixes included bigger radiators, vents in the engine lid, electric cooling fan conversions, sealing the gap between the bonnet and the top of the radiator to force more air through the fins and, unsurprisingly, junking the thermostat. And still that Cleveland, stuffed into its cage, would sometimes, make like a kettle.
The other thing that played against the Pantera was that it was never designed with upcoming US crash-safety standards in mind. That’s probably because it was originally designed without regard to the US market, Ford’s involvement only coming 12 months after the car launched in Europe. (De Tomaso had already been using Ford powerplants in its Mangusta model.)
A dreadful looking rubber front bumper was designed for US-market Panteras for the 1973-74 model year, but Ford knew the car would never meet upcoming 1975 safety standards for frontal impact, so effectively, the game was over for North America and the car disappeared from Lincoln-Mercury showrooms in 1974, with about 5500 having hit the American blacktop.
The other problem for Ford was that Federal emissions laws choked the Cleveland back to about 250 horsepower (185kW), effectively nobbling what had once been a fine straight-line performer.
The car did continue in production in Europe, with an Aussie connection. Since Ford US had stopped answering Alejandro’s phone calls, De Tomaso did a deal for supply of 351 engines with none other than Ford Oz. For a while, whole cars were being shipped to Australia in flat-packs, assembled and fitted with engines and then shopped back. Apparently.
By 1980, the Pantera was still a global car (beyond the USA) and De Tomaso was still cranking them out, but in smaller numbers. The claim for 1980 was that the chassis had been completely redone and that year also ushered in the GT5 version, with its wide body and boxed guards. But even though it looked tough, you can’t help but think that maybe – just like the Lamborghini Countach that likewise grew wider and more aggressive – the original, skinny-tie and pointy-shoes original, like the stunning, non-US spec 1974 model on these pages was, perhaps, the one to have now.
And when the supply of 351 Clevelands ran out, De Tomaso switched to a 351 Windsor and finally an injected five-litre Windsor for the very last examples built in the early 1990s.
Actual production numbers are typically sketchy, but most observers reckon between 7000 and 7500 Pantera were built, the majority being sold in North America.
It’s also worth mentioning another local connection. Paul Halstead of The Toy Shop and Giocatollo fame, was involved in the deal to source Aussie Clevelands to keep the car alive, but in 1984 also bought out the local assembly operation that was building Panteras from kits (with those local engines) and established De Tomaso Australia.
The operation assembled cars until 1986, while Panteras continued to slowly emerge from the European factory until the early 1990s when it all stopped.
Lots going on in the dash. Image: Coventry Studios
VITAL STATS: 1974 DE TOMASO PANTERA
Production run: 7000-7500 (estimated)
Body: Steel monocoque
Engine: 5766cc V8, single 4-barrel carburettor
Power: 246kW at 5400rpm
Torque: 466Nm at 3500rpm
Performance: 0-100km/h: 5.5 seconds, 0-400m: 14.0 seconds
Gearbox: 5-speed manual transaxle
Suspension: Upper and lower wishbones, coil springs, anti-roll bar (f); Upper and lower wishbones, coil springs, anti-roll bar (r)
Brakes: Ventilated discs (f) Ventilated discs (r)
Wheels: Magnesium alloy, 15 X 7 inches (f); 15X 8 inches (r)
Tyres: Michelin XWX 185/70 15 (f); 215/70 15 (r)
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Publish date : 2024-09-19 16:21:00
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