1972 De Tomaso Pantera

By Jay Hirsch

The De Tomaso Automobili sports car company was founded in 1959 at Modena, Italy, by Alejandro de Tomaso. Alejandro was born in Argentina in 1929. His grandfather was from Italy and emigrated to Argentina in the late 1880s, eventually buying land and raising cattle. From the early 1920s the family became prominent in politics in Argentina — too involved some may say, for in 1955 Alejandro fled to Italy to get away from the Juan Peron led government.

Being from a well-off family, Alejandro had the luxury to become a race car driver on the European circuit. He drove for Maserati, Scuderia Centro Sud and O.S.C.A. and participated in four Formula One Grand Prix. What intrigued Alejandro more than driving race cars was to build his own sports cars and racing cars, which he did in 1959.

The 1972 Pantera was designed by American-born car designer Tom Tjaarda, who worked for the Italian design firm Ghia. The Pantera replaced the De Tomaso Mangusto, which had a steel chassis unto which the body was placed. Unlike the Mangusto, the Pantera had a steel monocoque frame.

Tjaarda also designed for other car companies, some of his other designs were the Aston Martin Lagonda, the Ford Maverick, the Fiat 124, Ferrari 330GT, Ferrari 365 California, and the De Tomaso Pantera seen here.

For power De Tomaso chose the Ford OHV V-8 351 Cleveland/5.8-liter engine 

The 351 C was mounted forward of the rear axle making the Pantera a mid-engined car with rear drive mated to a five-speed ZF transaxle with final drive of 4.22. This was the same type of transaxle Ford used in their Ford GT 40. 

Using the Ford 351 C served a three-fold purpose for De Tomaso. It gave DeTomaso a proven engine, good enough for the Ford GT 40 to beat Ferrari. De Tomaso also would not have to go through the engineering time and money to make their own engine, and it gave the Pantera instant recognition in the United States by being sold at all Lincoln Mercury dealerships. This also put Ford Motor Company in the newly emerging high-performance car market in the United States. One could buy a Pantera and have it serviced at any Lincoln Mercury dealer.

The 1972 Pantera had four-wheel-disc brakes, rack-and-pinion steering, weighed in at 3,046 pounds, was 168 inches long, 72 inches wide, and 43.3 inches in height — basically a Ford GT 40 updated to a passenger sports car of the 1970s. That reworked 351 C could go from 0 to 60 in 5.5 seconds, from 0 to 100 in 14.1 seconds, and had a top speed of 158 mph. The car had a list price of $9,800.

The first Pantera, which was a prototype debuted at the New York Auto Show in April 1970. One of the criticisms of the car were the front seats — they were uncomfortable, which was duly noted by De Tomaso and when the car went into production more conventional body hugging seats were used.

The Pantera for the American market had luxury features that would find their way onto all “super or exotic cars” decades later. The Pantera came with an abundance of standard features, which appeared exotic in Europe, such as electric windows, air conditioning and even “doors that buzz when opened.”

Gordon Borteck, the owner of the De Tomaso seen here, always liked the Pantera but was particular in the choice of the car he was to buy. When the opportunity to buy this relatively low mileage (under 70,000 miles) came up nine years ago, and the car was only one hour from his house, Gordon did not miss a beat and purchased the car. The driver’s seat was slightly worn, the carpet was worn where one puts their foot down when entering, and the original orange paint was faded in spots, more from the car never being waxed than from exposed to the weather. The 351 C was in very good condition and the A/C needed rubber seals replaced. Since the car deserved a repaint, and Gordon and his wife, Cheryl, wanted the car to “pop,” they looked at various shades of orange and some other colors they had seen on De Tomaso vehicles.

One day while at local car show, they saw a 1970 Mustang in a tangerine-orange. It was not pure orange but had a hint of “red” and was a straight color…no metallic in it. Talking with the owner, he told Gordon that when he had the Mustang repainted he chose the 1970 Mustang orange but “had a little red added to the code.” He then had a body panel painted, waited two days and “that is the color you now see.” The Mustang owner gave Gordon the name of the paint shop, and that is how Gordon’s Pantera got its unique orange color. A local auto upholstery shop redid the drivers seat, which was relatively easy, since they had the original leather on the seat to duplicate. 

The Pantera came with front tires 185/70 x 15 and rear tires 215/70 x 15. To give the car an “updated look” to go with the new paint, and for better handling on the open highway and back roads with sharp curves, Gordon replaced the wheels and tires with front: 305/30 x 18 and rear 335/30 x 18.

“This De Tomaso is a driver; that is what I bought it for, a weekend driver for fun and enjoyment,” said Gordon. “It is also interesting the comments people say…‘What kind of car is it? Ferrari, Maserati?’ When I tell them and the year, 1972, everyone cannot believe it. They thought it was new or only a few years old at the most.”

The Pantera logo is a T-shaped symbol which was the brand used by De Tomaso’s Argentinian cattle ranching family in Argentina.

Ford stopped importing the Pantera to the U.S. in 1975, having sold around  5,500 cars.

The De Tomaso was made from 1971 to 1993. •