1971 De Tomaso Pantera

1971 Detomaso Pantera for sale! Motorcar Classics is proud to present this stunning 1971 De Tomaso Pantera featured in brilliant orange with black interior. The Pantera was the perfect combination of Italian beauty from the Ghia design studios in Turin, with one of the finest American V8s built, the 351 CI Ford Cleveland. It offered enthusiasts the best of both worlds: a beautiful Italian mid-engine exotic sports car with the reliability and low maintenance costs of the Ford V8. Lee Iacocca, head of Ford North America, had a vision to have De Tomaso create a GT car that could be mass-produced and sold through Fords Lincoln-Mercury dealership network. Ford desired a car that would overshadow the Corvette and anything else General Motors could produce and Iacocca had a keen plan to leverage Alejandro de Tomasos suave Italian image to promote the car. The notion was to create a car featuring a steel unibody monocoque body rather than the more exotic backbone chassis of the previous cars, and that was powered by a suitable Ford V8 engine mated to a production ZF transaxle. This was to be the Pantera (Italian for Panther). The design was by American Tom Tjaarda working for Ghia and its engineering was done by Gianpaolo Dallara, whom De Tomaso had lured away from Lamborghini.This specific Pantera chassis #2133 is from the first year of Pantera production, in which approximately 7,000 cars were made. It was the recipient of a no-expense-spared restoration by respected Pantera expert Joe Divilio during the 2016-17 time frame. The car has documented ownership from new and the indicated mileage is believed original. The car includes a large ring binder and a photo CD with receipts and photos documenting the restoration. The history file also includes receipts for work done in the 1990s by Pantera experts Hall Restoration in California along with copies of earlier titles, registrations, receipts and correspondence. A fine example to begin with, Joes Perfect Bodies technicians disassembled the car for a nut and bolt restoration to as-new condition, during which its few factory shortcomings were corrected.The car looks as nice underneath as it does from the top. This is the nicest Pantera that we have had the pleasure to offer and it is sure to perform as well on a concours field as it does on the road.