Wednesday 4th June 2014

A pair of Panteras: Time For Tea?

Restore to original or create a SEMA special?

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Restore or modernise is a classic car debate that will run and run. For every Eagle E-Type there's a Gullwing AMG and each Singer product is guaranteed to have an equal at the opposite end of the classic desirability scale.

And the restored car. Pretty

Here the two extremes are brought together; in the red corner sits a meticulously restored '74 Pantera and in the, um, sunshine yellow corner is a '71 Pantera totally overhauled by Ringbrothers to create their reinterpretation of De Tomaso's most iconic car.

It would be easy to dismiss the Ringbrothers' car as a gaudy paint job and some blingy rims but it's so much more than that. Nearly all the bodywork is now unique, with certain areas rather more successful than others. But there's evidently a lot of work behind the project, and huge potential given the tech inside it. We'd definitely leave the 'by Nike' interior though.

In fact, the restored car is far more desirable from here. Built before the ostentatious and bewinged Pantera phase, it looks especially delicate next to the Ringbrothers' effort. And it's far from bad to drive either going from Matt Farah's verdict. Decision made then, even given the huge effort behind the modified car. Now to drive the rally-spec version perhaps?

Enjoy the vid.

 

[thelost]

Watched this a couple of days ago, it's rather amusing from the road test just how much the 'ring'(snigger)brothers have ruined the car from a driving point of view (as well as aesthetically, IMO). The reviewer really seems to squirm in his efforts to sound positive about it.

[gforceg]

The yellow one looks a lot better going than coming.

I'd take the restored to (better than?) original.

[TartanPaint]

A modern Pantera interpretation is an idea of pure, concentrated genius. It cannot possibly turn out badly.

*watches video*

Oh well.

[wotnot]

I don't actually think the Ring Brothers' version looks that bad (IMHO) and I suppose you could forgive the handling up to a point, given that it's never really been driven before.
However, the interior is utterly hideous. Form over function in the worst possible way (and why treat the passenger with such contempt, half the fun of owning a special car is sharing it).
Also, it's not a Pantera. There's nothing of a Pantera in it. They could have called it anything.
Basically, the original is gorgeous and is a staple of my lottery win garage. The Russians and the Arabs can have the yellow one.

[cookie1600]

'Gilding the Lilly'

To adorn unnecessarily something already beautiful. The expression is a condensation of Shakespeare's metaphor in King John: "To gild refined gold, to paint the lily ... is wasteful and ridiculous excess."

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Gil...

[burwoodman]

the new one complete rubbish

[SevenR]

I'm on my own then. I'm a huge Pantera fan but I love that other car too. Yes, don't let Nike do interiors cause it is horrible, but I love the body and the sound and the engine/power.
Handling wise, c'mon guys, it still needs set up. How many of you have taken your car to be aligned and set up with fantastic results?
I'm sure the level of equipment used in the vehicle itself will ensure it is easily set up very well.
Brilliant! And what a sound when they both drove by. Only thing the Yellow car is missing is pop ups. Damn you safety laws!!!

[Mavican]

I saw this a couple days ago and yeah I'd skip the Nike interior and put a Coyote V8 in it. Otherwise I like what they've done with it anyway. And considering it was that much of a basket case, they did the right thing.

[BHC]

The speedometer just has '71' on it and the tachometer just has '7'. That's very helpful.

[Guffy]

I enjoyed the vid and think it looks great, a real cohesive design in my opinion and a successful modern interpretation of the Pantera, but the interior is truly hideous for me.

[Agoogy]

Guffy said:

I enjoyed the vid and think it looks great, a real cohesive design in my opinion and a successful modern interpretation of the Pantera, but the interior is truly hideous for me.

yep me too.... what were Nike thinking??

[405dogvan]

NEVER let Nike within a mile of a car interior again - seriously, that's horrid. Perhaps they should have sent the raw materials to India with $2 - like they do all their other products - might have looked better ;0

Also - I don't want to be down on their skills but that's not a Pantera. They say it themselves, there's almost nothing of the original car left, it has nothing to do with the other car or the original car at all - it's a bespoke item even more so than - say - an Eagle Speedster (which I believe is registered as a 'new car'?)

It's like me making a supercar using a bit of metal from my 405 and the running gear from a Ferrari and calling it a '4054thefuture' ;0

[chilistrucker]

wotnot said:

I don't actually think the Ring Brothers' version looks that bad (IMHO) and I suppose you could forgive the handling up to a point, given that it's never really been driven before.
However, the interior is utterly hideous. Form over function in the worst possible way (and why treat the passenger with such contempt, half the fun of owning a special car is sharing it).
Also, it's not a Pantera. There's nothing of a Pantera in it. They could have called it anything.
Basically, the original is gorgeous and is a staple of my lottery win garage. The Russians and the Arabs can have the yellow one.

+1
thanks, saved me from writing that.
i still love the original pantera soooo much, only ever seen 1 being driven, and that was back in about 88/89 when me and my mates went into london for the night in the cortina as i'd just passed my test.

the pantera looked and sounded so good.

[mikEsprit]

The Ring Brothers are about a mile away from where I work and I drive past their shop all the time. I believe their main specialty is doing modern reinterpretations of 60's Mustangs. Those get parked outside their shop from time to time, but I've never seen this Pantera.

Wisconsin doesn't have too much going on that would make Pistonheads except Harley Davidson which is 2 hours east and S&S (Morgan 3 wheeler engines) which is 1 hour west so it's a nice surprise to see this article.

[ES335]

Nice to see what is clearly an excellent restoration of the original. However, its design is iconic and doesn't really need reinterpretation - especially when it involved the butchery of an original to achieve it.

As for the interior, it just proves that the words Nike and taste will never belong in the same sentence.

[DP33]

So we all agree that we prefer the original (although I'd do without the black bonnet) but colour scheme apart, having watched the vid, I didn't dislike that new thing as much as I thought I would. God I'm shallow...

[Bash Brannigan]

I listen to Farah's podcast (the smoking tire) and I'm pretty sure that he said that the RIng Brothers hadn't driven an original before they built this version of a Pantera from a wreck. It seems like a weird concept to take a car and chop it about without using the original as a reference point if that is the case.

Agree with everyone that the original is very cool!

[soad]

How come the original didn't use some sort of Italian engine? Cost issue?

[TREMAiNE]

soad said:

How come the original didn't use some sort of Italian engine? Cost issue?

IIRC, De Tomaso was from Argentina and was a fan of American cars, after moving to Italy and being mentored by the Maserati brothers he became a fan of Italian exotica - the car was designed with exotica in mind for his love of Italian cars, whilst the heart reflected his love of American muscle - though I imagine budget concerns are why an existing engine was used as opposed to outright creating one.

[neutral 3]

Always been a fan of these, but circa 1983 a good pal decides he wants something exotic, so one day 3 up in I can't recall what, we drive from East London miles up the M1 to see a Pantera that's being sold by a Trader.... A Horse Trader.....
We meet in the motorway services and what we see is a light Metalic blue car that is absolutely full of filler, even the roof is full of it.....