Some of you may be wondering what a De Tomaso Pantera is. Well it is a car, a 70′s supercar at that. This one is a 1972 Pantera, with some decent modifications.
What is a Pantera? Lets look at some history before we get to much into this build.
The car was designed by American designer Tom Tjaarda and replaced the De Tomaso Mangusta. Unlike the Mangusta, which employed a steel backbone chassis, the Pantera was a steel monocoque design, the first instance of De Tomaso using this construction technique.
The car made its public debut in Modena in March 1970 and was presented at the 1970 New York Motor Show a few weeks later. Approximately a year after that production Panteras started finding their way into the hands of customers and production had already been ramped up to a remarkable (by the standards of Modena-built exotica) 3 per day.
The owner of the example is David, and this is the Story of the car…
The car is a real 1972 De Temaso Pantera, the car was originally my step dad’s father’s car. He hand made the wide body on the car. The body is not just molded to the original body,but was cut and widened. Every part of the wide body is functional from the brake coolers to the rear wing to the side vents. It is shot with a Ferrari red and the interior was changed to a race inspired dash and is functional as well as lighter in weight. It was the factory transaxle and upgraded half shafts to withstand the much higher than the stock 330hp. That being said the engine is a built and blueprinted 351C with no cost spared from the oil pan to the carburetor. The already monster 351 is taken to the next step with a complete custom procharger set up. The set up is intercooled with a holly blow through carb. It currently runs on 25lbs of boost with proper safety precautions i.e blow-off valve, race gas and a fuel cut off/rev limiter. The car has won World Of Wheels in Washington D.C and has been seen and sat in by Carol shelby, Jack Roush, and Chip Foose. The car has adopted the name of “Mind-Blower” for its monstrous like sound and the power it puts down to the asphalt.
My step dad was given the car and I fell in love with it at first sight but at the time it had bent a couple push rods and was just sitting. I couldn’t stand it, I went to school at Wyotech for automotive technology and high performance and have lived around my moms dealership my whole life so I would not let this beast sit. My mom told him she did not want money put into the car that they don’t have so I got the opportunity to take the car in. I pulled the top end off the engine and started my work making sure the car stayed clean and nothing was left untouched. Replaced the head gaskets to thicker and stronger metal
gaskets. To help with sealing the head I replaced the head studs with stronger studs from ARP. After going through 2 sets of pushrods in this engine it was time to up the lifters to stop floating and comp cams harden push rods were installed. At 22 i am pleased I was able to get and bring a car with such history back and to make it even more than what it was before putting down over 150hp more than it previous state by using up to date tuning, fuels and some new stronger parts. It currently on last dyno put out 868RWHP which is impressive considering it was at a low 700′s at its “peak” but with new numbers and care I honestly want this car to peak again mostly in memory of my father who pasted away before he could ever see my passion and my potential to have my name in this industry.
So there you have it, an Italian Hot Rod with a Ford power plant. They where are still are cool cars, its to bad they still aren’t producing cars today. Could you imagine what they could be cranking out these days.
