Wednesday 23rd August 2017

De Tomaso Pantera: Time For Coffee?

When your company car allowance gets pretty exotic!

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Trying to decide on a company car nowadays can be a pretty tedious task - few performance models fit the bill and fewer still elicit enough emotion to make the man maths required to reach them seem worthwhile. But what if your company gave you an allowance which enabled you to pick almost any car you desired - what would you choose then?

It may not be so likely these days, but it's exactly what happened to Gary Corcoran back in 1983 - after three years of employment, the company he worked for offered him a $250 company car allowance, serious money for the time. Many of his colleagues opted for Mercedes and BMWs, but Gary was more intrigued by exotics. Good for Gary.

Having considered a number of Corvettes, he even went to look at a Ferrari Dino but, as fate would have it, whilst driving down the Pacific Coast Highway he came across a De Tomaso Pantera in one of Ferrari's very own dealerships. The styling appealed to Gary and, after he found out that it had a Ford-derived engine mounted to a ZF gearbox, he had to have it.

Despite having paid the same price as a Dino ($20,000 back then), Gary says that he doesn't regret buying the Pantera at all. Life eventually got in the way and Pantera ownership stopped being a priority but, with his son beginning to show an interest, Gary set about restoring to its original glory. If you can keep a car like this in the family then you really should, right?

Watch the video here.
 

[Mikeeb]

So you could have a Dino or a Pantera for the equivalent of $50,000 back in 1983!!

[sparehead3]

Lovely film - and they do sound great whenever I see one.

I worked for an American IT company in the UK in the early nineties and whilst the company car policy at the time gave you an allowance for sensible cars ( they needed 4 seats ) , when the company was starting out a few years before then you were just given the car to buy something and some were still around in the car pool.

So I worked through the pool , the highlight being an XR4x4 on an E plate - a great car to have and go on holiday in but being a 2.9L the tax was crippling ( although luckily I was doing business mileage ) . There were also XR2i , Renault 5 GTX ( 1.7L ? ) , Audi 80 and also the odd Volvo 740 which was crippling on fuel but useful for moving furniture around happy days !

[T25UFO]

Great to listen to someone who really cares about the marque. My neighbour's son bought a yellow Pantera in the USA and had it shipped back to England. It was lovingly restored and I always knew when he was visiting - the low engine rumble was like nothing else.

[BVB]

There is a tale that Elvis took his gun to his Pantera when it wouldn't start! Bullet holes in the bonnet. I wonder if he realised that was actually the boot.

[BFleming]

BVB said:

There is a tale that Elvis took his gun to his Pantera when it wouldn't start! Bullet holes in the bonnet. I wonder if he realised that was actually the boot.

Well, did you Elvis?

[boyse7en]

BVB said:

There is a tale that Elvis took his gun to his Pantera when it wouldn't start! Bullet holes in the bonnet. I wonder if he realised that was actually the boot.

Lucky it didn't go up in flames!

A hunk a hunk a burnin' car

[V8RX7]

Mikeeb said:

So you could have a Dino or a Pantera for the equivalent of $50,000 back in 1983!!

Around that time my Dad bought a (far from mint) Pantera for around £5k (he also bought a Urraco and various Chargers, Challengers, Corvettes etc for less) and a local back street mechanic used to smoke around in a Dino in the late 80's and he wouldn't have paid much more.

[unsprung]

Of course I love it in shouty colours reminiscent of the 1970s. The Pantera tends to look like a weapon; it might be a formidable opponent in matte black.

[gforceg]

No need for fripperies like windscreen wipers. Bliss.

The shots from above really show how un-fussy and unadorned it is.

[irocfan]

LOVE 'em

[Lotusgone]

I've always liked Panteras, but that is achingly beautiful. Only ever been a passenger (Sporting Bears, NEC), and it felt seriously quick. I saw a fully-sorted one a few years ago for £50k, should I have remortgaged?

[grumpy52]

A guy in the Bedfordshire area used one on tarmac rallies back in the 80s , a bit different from all the escorts and chevettes !
They look good with a bank of Cibies hanging on the front .

[V8RX7]

Lotusgone said:

I've always liked Panteras, but that is achingly beautiful. I saw a fully-sorted one a few years ago for £50k, should I have remortgaged?

Perhaps... I always thought it was the "sensible" Supercar - supercar looks and performance (for the time) with a simple engine to maintain.

[anonymous-user]

Always loved the Pantera. That sound

[aeropilot]

grumpy52 said:

A guy in the Bedfordshire area used one on tarmac rallies back in the 80s , a bit different from all the escorts and chevettes !
They look good with a bank of Cibies hanging on the front .

Blimey - I remember that, used to spanner for a few guys in my motorclub on events back then and came across that guy and his Pantera a number of times.

[Slippydiff]

Petrolicious really do this stuff so well. PH and others take note

[Narcisus]

One of my fav Top Trump cars.... Along with the Countach and the 512BB

[tberg]

Late to this thread, but I have always admired the Pantera since I first saw them at the Lincoln/Mercury dealership that I took my 1969 Cougar to for service. That svelte (pre L model) Tom Tjaarda design, the massive rear tires, the ferocious sound 6" behind your head, and a usable trunk that will hold two sets of golf clubs or enough luggage for a real trip. I've owned mine for about 18 years and just got it back from 4 years of restoration and modification. Mods included transplanting a new, built (over 500hp) 351 Cleveland, flush windshield, all new leather interior with C-4 Corvette seats, leather dash and firewall, new paint, and the most important mod, FUEL INJECTION! The car is a monster now and starts with a simple turn of the key, something that had never happened in the previous thirteen years. And as for attention grabbing, people will nearly break their necks to turn and look at it. And even in Los Angeles where Ferraris, Lambos, and Astons are everywhere and seen every minute while driving, the Pantera has a special following.

[mhurley]

How many are right hand drive?

[coppice]

Leeds racer , wide boy and charmer Chris Meek was a regular sight in Leeds city centre in his yellow Pantera. In the passenger seat would invariably be some scantily clad ...err.. lovely helping CM in his search for eternal youth. We'd see him win production sports car races in it at weekends too- cue even more lovelies.

From my perspective as an impoverished law student he seemed to live in a different , and much better world