Discussion
All this business of it looking like either a Lamborghini Countach or indeed and I can only assume you’ve got your cars muddled up, an Espada? Consider the following
The Pantera was styled by Tom Tjaarda of Ghia fame I think it’s a fair bet he was a designer of sufficient merit to not need to crib designs.
The first Pantera rolled into showrooms back in 1971; the Countach was released upon an unsuspecting world at the Geneva show of 1971 and built from 1973. Mindful of that it is rather hard to claim the Pantera looks like a Countach, rather the other way round? If anything it was an evolution of the original Mangusta which I’ve posted below.
As for the Miura, can’t see it personally apart from them sharing a two seat mid engine layout which inevitably leads to an element of similarity.
An Espada? It was a front engined two plus two and looks nothing like a Pantera despite being one of my all time favourite cars. In fact they both are
Such is the longevity of the original design that by the time Ghandini restyled the car into the final Si model shown above it was 1994 b y the time the last one rolled out of the factory if I recall correctly. Not a bad run in my opinion.
How about one of these from the same crew? A Mongoose!
What ever next, you’ll be saying a Deauville looks like a XJ6 next…………………………
The Pantera was styled by Tom Tjaarda of Ghia fame I think it’s a fair bet he was a designer of sufficient merit to not need to crib designs.
The first Pantera rolled into showrooms back in 1971; the Countach was released upon an unsuspecting world at the Geneva show of 1971 and built from 1973. Mindful of that it is rather hard to claim the Pantera looks like a Countach, rather the other way round? If anything it was an evolution of the original Mangusta which I’ve posted below.
As for the Miura, can’t see it personally apart from them sharing a two seat mid engine layout which inevitably leads to an element of similarity.
An Espada? It was a front engined two plus two and looks nothing like a Pantera despite being one of my all time favourite cars. In fact they both are
Such is the longevity of the original design that by the time Ghandini restyled the car into the final Si model shown above it was 1994 b y the time the last one rolled out of the factory if I recall correctly. Not a bad run in my opinion.
How about one of these from the same crew? A Mongoose!
What ever next, you’ll be saying a Deauville looks like a XJ6 next…………………………
i looked at buying one in Bedford many moons ago, it was the first car i had ever seen with a rotten roof!! 
Typical 70's italian motor,rusty steel under paint, bits you cant see, ie the inside of all panels, un painted!! the roof had foam glued to it, just to hold moisture against the bare metal!!!
great car tho!!
Typical 70's italian motor,rusty steel under paint, bits you cant see, ie the inside of all panels, un painted!! the roof had foam glued to it, just to hold moisture against the bare metal!!!
great car tho!!
vario-rob said:
All this business of it looking like either a Lamborghini Countach or indeed and I can only assume you’ve got your cars muddled up, an Espada?
Just offering an opinion. Don't agree with the Espada comments though, but others may see similarities which I don't.
Interesting stuff about the dates though.
Oli.
Graham.J said:
Another
Thanks Apache, thats exactly what I was talking about
*salivates uncontrollably*
Wanna dribble even more? Here's a photo of me driving that very car pictured. It is a fairly rare version of a Pantera - converted to targa by Pavesi. Powered by a 427 ci Windsor that puts out 540hp or so...
I'd have one in a shot, they're lovely. The Mongoose was the car in Kylie's Can't get you out of my head wasn't it. Remember seeing a picture a De Tomaso Longchamp convertible in a magazine a few years back, always loved the look of those too.
As for the comparisons of the Pantera (non winged) to countach's and miura's etc. Surely its closer to a Maserati Merak SS or a Bora?
Just a thought.......
As for the comparisons of the Pantera (non winged) to countach's and miura's etc. Surely its closer to a Maserati Merak SS or a Bora?
Just a thought.......
tiga84 said:
I'd have one in a shot, they're lovely. The Mongoose was the car in Kylie's Can't get you out of my head wasn't it. Remember seeing a picture a De Tomaso Longchamp convertible in a magazine a few years back, always loved the look of those too.
As for the comparisons of the Pantera (non winged) to countach's and miura's etc. Surely its closer to a Maserati Merak SS or a Bora?
Just a thought.......
Yes, Kylie was driving a yellow Mangusta in her video...
As far as similarities to Maserati, good observation. It did have a certain resemblance to the Bora, and they even shared the same transaxle (A ZF). The Maserati had either a 4.7 or 4.9 liter engine, which the Pantera of course has Ford's 5.8 liter.
Ribol said:
Here's a photo of me driving that very car pictured. It is a fairly rare version of a Pantera - converted to targa by Pavesi. Powered by a 427 ci Windsor that puts out 540hp or so... 
Excellent choice of transportation sir
Ah, but I said "here I am driving it", I didn't say "here I am driving MY car"! Small but subtle difference.
I know the owner, and he was kind enough to toss me the keys for a few hours.
This one is mine:
gt5s_1985 said:
Ah, but I said "here I am driving it", I didn't say "here I am driving MY car"! Small but subtle difference.
I know the owner, and he was kind enough to toss me the keys for a few hours.
This one is mine:
Another beauty.
Would not feel too bad about driving other people's cars, through my motor trade connections I have driven every badge God has created (except Lambo for some reason).
You don't need to own a car to enjoy driving it
gt5s_1985 said:
gt5s_1985 said:
Here's a photo of me driving that very car pictured. It is a fairly rare version of a Pantera - converted to targa by Pavesi. Powered by a 427 ci Windsor that puts out 540hp or so...
Excellent choice of transportation sir
Ah, but I said "here I am driving it", I didn't say "here I am driving MY car"! Small but subtle difference.
I know the owner, and he was kind enough to toss me the keys for a few hours.
This one is mine:
I would happily take your keys off you for a couple of hours
apache said:
Charles, does yours share the same body as Rolands? those flared arches really give it a purposeful look
Yes. Roland's car began life as a 1975 GTS, which is a narrow-body style, such as that seen in the "for sale" photo. It was later sent by DeTomaso to the Carrozzeria Pavesi to see what would have to be done to convert it into a targa. It was an option on Panteras for roughly 45.000 euros.
Less than a dozen buyers took up that option. Roland later bought a set of GT5-S wings from the factory, which are the rounded, blended in arches that you see in the photo, and converted his to GT5-S specs. There were perhaps 90 real GT5-S cars built - mine was the first one (serial #9375) and spent its first year doing the auto show circuit.
The GT5-S, like mine, has arches that have been blended into the body. The GT5 has welded-on flares. It looks more like a narrow body car that has had the flares welded on, but has the same upgraded suspension and brakes of the 5-S. And the (rare) GT4 cars, which were factory built to race in Group 4, had riveted on flares. These flares are all required to fit over the rubber - in the front, they wear 285/40/15, and in the rear 345/35/15.
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