When the first production De Tomaso Pantera rolled out onto the roads in 1971, the car held an enormous amount of promise. Unfortunately, the “hit and miss” nature of the company’s quality control at that time meant that those early cars failed to fulfill that promise, and it took a number of years before the Pantera became a great car. This 1987 Pantera GT5-S should be a great car. There’s no denying that it has a presence, and this is an opportunity to have its presence in your driveway. It is located in Potomac, Maryland, and is listed for sale here on eBay. The Pantera has generated its fair share of excitement since it was listed, and 58 bids have pushed it to $85,000. The bad news is that the reserve hasn’t been met.
While the original Pantera was an attractive car, and its lines were relatively pure, I’ve always had more than a small soft spot for the GT5-S. Those bulbous wheel arches and enormous rims make the car look truly muscular. This Pantera wears its original black paint on every surface, except for the front valance and rear wing. The paint does look to be in exceptional condition, while the original Campagnolo wheels have recently been refinished. It’s no surprise that the Pantera looks so good, as it has only covered a mere 19,900 documented miles in its 32-years. Speaking of documentation, there is plenty of it included with this car, and it appears to date back to the day that it rolled out of the factory. The owner says that there is a binder full of documents that will be included in the sale.
The interior of the Pantera looks like a pretty nice place to spend some time, and it has come in for a recent refurbishment. This includes new leather, and all of the timber trim has been refinished. About the only deviation from original is the inclusion of a CD player in place of the original radio/cassette player, and the installation of a digital clock in place of the original analog unit. It really is impossible to fault. The new owner is going to be grateful that the car is fitted with air conditioning. Fresh air-flow into a Pantera is not one of its strong points, and if you combine that with the black paintwork, then that’s a recipe for finding yourself relatively broiled in short order. There are a couple of features in the Pantera that I really like. The first is the speedometer. I mean, how can you go wrong with a car that has one of those that’s graduated to 200mph? The other is the gated shifter. I’ve always liked those, and want to buy the Pantera for that feature alone. They are a practical idea, as they provide protection from the driver accidentally “wrong-slotting” when the going gets a little frantic. If you wind this out to redline in 3rd gear and accidentally grab 2nd instead of 4th, the results aren’t ever going to be pretty. At least this minimizes the chances of that happening.
The mid-engined Pantera does allow me to do a bit of patriotic Down Under flag waving. The early Panteras featured the 351ci Cleveland V8, built in the USA. However, American production of that engine ceased in 1974. Ford Australia was a bit slower to react, and the engine remained in production there until 1982. So, the engine in this Pantera would have been built in Australia. Basic engines were then shipped to Switzerland, where they were tuned to produce the 345hp that this one pumps out. That power is then fed to the rear wheels by a 5-speed ZF transaxle. The Pantera is a surprisingly heavy vehicle, tipping the scales at 3,249lbs. In theory, the power-to-weight ratio should equate to performance that is less than impressive. This isn’t the case, with the car achieving a 0-60mph time of 5.1 seconds, and a ¼ mile time of 13.5 seconds. Hold it flat, and you can expect to see that speedo needle hit 174mph. This one appears to have been meticulously maintained by a Pantera specialist. The owner provides this YouTube video of the car starting and running, and it really does sound nice.
My wife just looked over my shoulder and uttered the fateful words, “Don’t even think about it.” I guess that scuppers those plans, not that I could ever afford a car like this. These are a bit of a rarity, with the Pantera Owners Club of America showing that De Tomaso only produced around 180 of the GT5-S. They believe that only around 40 were ever imported into the USA. I’m not sure what the reserve is on this, and this is one of those cars where I’m really not willing to hazard a guess. The owner does mention one that sold at auction in 2018. That car went for $319,000. I also found one that sold at auction in 2016 for $220,000. To muddy the waters even further, an identical car, minus engine and transmission, sold in June of 2018 for $226,000. This particular car was listed for sale in an online auction in November of 2018 and was passed in at $144,000. So, I’m really not sure about this one. Does anyone want to make a guess? More importantly, is anyone going to bid on it?
watched this on another site fail to sell last Fall & was very surprised how low the final bed was.
this was right after buying an ’83 Kawi 750 Turbo off a gentleman outside of Atlanta that was preparing his 1-of-28 red ’86 GT5-S for sale.
he had just been contacted by a member of the DeTomaso family interested in purchasing it. not sure how much he got for it but wouldn’t be surprised if it was the one for $319k.
i got to drive an earlier L model over a 4th of July weekend several years ago & it was a blast! the sweet sounds of a hipo American V8 behind the shoulders, the lie-down-i-wanna-talk-to-you seating position, the non-existent visibility making for a very special experience.
Back in mid-seventies had access to an orange one occasionally and a white one quite often……. most fun vehicles. The “feel” exceeded the feeling of some other cars that were accessible even though the others were more capable racing machines. sweetest memories of my gear-head youth.
The interior look and upholstery is interesting – I don’t think I’ve ever seen an interior shot before. It looks much more “pillowy” than I would expect in a performance car – especially compared to the original early 70s models.
Sticker price of $10,000 in 1971!
“The owner searched for 15 years for the right GT5-S and finally found this amazing example approx. 3 years ago.”
I think if I were to go to the trouble of “new leather” I would have changed the color from white to something not white.
Cool cars, but at the price point of these I’d get an early 70’s model. Similar enough for the way I drive (not on a track and while on public roads, drive like I’m on public roads) that for me anyway there’d be no difference other than the extra $230-250K in the bank….
Does anyone remember the 1983 Pantera from Hotrod magazine with a 340 that had to be crushed because it was non EPA compliant? Interesting this one is later and didn’t have the same problem.
It many Panteras make me forget about the Countach..this one does.
definitely! when i saw it in his garage the first words out of my mouth (after an inaudible “wow”) were “this Pantera thinks it’s a Lamborghini.”
A little insight as to a possible reserve, this car bid to 180k at mecum in January and didn’t sell. Hands down the hottest one I’ve seen though. They definitely got sexier in later years. Adam, the key is to not let the wife look over your shoulder.
I could never sell this car. I have owned 4 early cars, and kept the last one. They check all my boxes for a great sports car. Hope it brings big money!
here’s the one from GA with my son checking it out.
wiiiiiiide body!
definitely prefer the black interior over the bordello blanco
There is nothing about the grey interior that I like. I hate the wood dash and the “plushy” seats do not belong with that tough exterior. Change it all. The black interior definitely looks better especially the dash. It hides all the flaws in design. But get rid of the two tone steering wheel from Pepboys.
agreed. he had the original steering wheel & the Campagnolos (with the orginal P7’s still mounted!) stored in the garage with the bike i was buying.
the odometer read 12k. pretty low until you realize it’s in kilometers (Euro only model for ’86)…about 7500 miles!
As a former Owner of a 71 pre L that actually was on top of a rotating billboard about 45 feet in the air at the Indianapolis Indiana Lincoln Mercury dealer.
I can shed some light on why Ford Motors canceled the relationship. Henry Ford II and Alehandro DeTomasso got into a very heated argument (when both of them had a copious amount to drink) As both men had very large egos, and a I’ll show you who has bigger “kahuna’s” Henry directed All Lincoln Dealers to Sell all remaining cars by a specified date. After which, any remaining inventories of unsold Panteras were shipped back to Lansing Michigan. I believe there were 10 to 15 Panteras sent back. Then Ford Dug a big hole in the ground and buried them!…Being that there are laws about car manufacturers having to maintain inventories of parts for vehicles sold for 10 years, of which Ford/Lincoln did maintain parts availability for that period of time. When this time passed the legalities of making parts available, Henry Ford II again instructed all of the Lincoln Dealers that if they had parts inventory for the Pantera, And did not want to keep that inventory of parts, the dealers could return all the Pantera parts that they wanted to, within a specified timeframe. Again, all returned parts were send to Lansing Michigan. Then Henry again (as a Testosterone measure of Veracity) had another Hole Dug next to the buried Whole Pantera Cars, and buried all the parts!… Lee Iocoa wrote about this in his book when he was the head of Chrysler Motors
“When the first production De Tomaso Pantera rolled out onto the roads in 1971, the car held an enormous amount of promise. Unfortunately, the “hit and miss” nature of the company’s quality control at that time meant that those early cars failed to fulfill that promise, and it took a number of years before the Pantera became a great car.”
Unfortunately, wrong! I’m constantly amazed at how even today people continue to propagate the myth that the few shortcomings/defects of the first few pre-production cars which were given to the press to review were on-going problems. It just wasn’t so! As soon as the first few defective radiators missing baffles were replaced, it was a great car, literally from Day 1 or 2. It would out-perform just about any of it’s contemporaries, and do it at a fraction of the cost in most cases. And, it has a 9 cubic foot trunk which can easily accommodate a set of golf clubs and a gym bag, or all your wife’s luggage for a weekend away touring wine country in exhilarating style. And the marriage of sexy Italian styling with American muscle made for an unbeatable combination of style, performance AND reliability. The Pantera was decades ahead of it’s time – it’s a real world supercar that could actually be regularly driven.
If u going 2 go 4 it, get a real race car GT 40
Wasn’t it an early one that Elvis had – and shot when it failed to start one day? Wonder if that’s still around in the Graceland collection or got sold off.
Always wanted one,but I went the Vette route.The mid engine “ME” Vette will be unveiled in July.