The Pantera is iconic and a bit of an oddball. The cars are, in a way, both American and Italian. They came about when Ford decided to collaborate with Alejandro DeTomaso. DeTomaso was located in Modena and Ford agreed to have his company build the cars there. In exchange, Ford promoted and sold cars in the United States. The example at hand is said to be one of 68 Panteras painted in Medium Green in ’74. The car has just 27k miles and is listed on Facebook in Valley Center, California for $128,500. Thanks to T.J. for the tip.
The exterior is finished in its original Medium Green paint. It appears to be in exceptional condition. The car has been kept in a climate-controlled garage since 2006. These cars have a perfect combination of artful design and aggressive lines. The beefy rear tires complement the more dainty front end.
The interior is finished in black leather throughout and presents well. There is some very minor creasing present on the seats. A gated shifter sits between the seats in perfect Pantera fashion. The carpets look like they could benefit from a deep clean and have some minor dirt and potential stains.
A 351 cubic inch Ford Cleveland V-8 engine sends 330 horsepower to the wheels via a manual transmission. The car is said to run and drive. The seller notes a set of Pat Mical hand-bent custom headers, Euro GTS exhaust, Blue Thunder Pantera Intake, Holley 670 Avenger carb, and Duraspark distributor have been added to the car. The modifications are said to make the car perform and sound better. The stock radiator was removed and modified for maximum efficiency. Twin Spal fans have been added as well as a smaller diameter aluminum pulley to increase flow at idle. This is a rare opportunity to own a well-cared-for, low-mile 1974 Ford DeTomaso Pantera. If you’re looking to beef up your collection contact the seller on Facebook.
Sharp car. I have always liked these Panteras. I don’t think I have ever seen one in this green.
The pics show quite the group of interesting (and expensive) cars in the immediate neighborhood. A bit of googling shows it is a classic car dealer.
Bob agree. Great choice on the powertrain for the Pantera. And this one has some added goodies also. Must just fly. The gated shifter is too cool 😎
What a great color and in fantastic condition. This one is a winner.
Even though the FB posting says it was listed 3 days ago, i think this one has been for sale for a long time. I was in a Pantera group on FB.
I have always wanted one of these and I still kick myself in a**s for not buying a red one that I looked at in Seattle in about ’82 that was for sale for $11,000.
Very cool car that appears to be in excellent condition. Woulda, coulda, shoulda.
my brother bought one in 73 and albeit I could ‘ride’ in it, he would not let me drive it. I could drive his SM, which I had for 6 mos once, and I could drive his 450SE, but the deTomaso was not to be touched. I love the cars, amazing design, difficult for the novice to drive, but so cool.
Why did Ford decide to sell the car through the double knit plaid suit with white shoes and tie culture that was Lincoln Mercury dealers in the early 70’s? Were they afraid of undercutting Mustang numbers?
Chassis design issues notwithstanding, Panteras should have been available as a targa or spider as well; would have sold a lot more.
Beautiful example.
Lovely car. I am confused about the fan comment. As the radiator is at the front of the car, it wouldn’t be driven by the engine – the fan(s) would be electric. So the comment about fitting a smaller pulley doesn’t make sense to me.
What am I missing here
bt
The smaller pulley is on the water pump. Increased flow rate at low engine rpm.
Thanks BDurr – got it!
bt
I would have put a bigger carb on it, 780 Holley??? I fell in love with the dual quad exhaust rear view on this car about the time I was getting my license, long before the Countach 80’s poster era!
780 is a lot of carburetor for 351 cubic inch street motor.
Holley 780’s were vacuum secondary carbs and aren’t nearly as sensitive to engine size as double pumpers. All Rochester Quadrajet carbs were 750’s or bigger, they worked fine, even on stock 327’s with powerglides.
The Street Avenger is almost guaranteed to have an electric choke, that’s likely why it was selected.
Steve R
Maybe I should have clarified my comment further. The 670 Avenger is nearly the perfect carburetor for this cubic inch motor in this application. They are explicitly designed for this type of application and are for the most part “plug and play”. The 3310, or 780 cfm Holley is an out and out high performance carburetor that is great for a high horse, high RPM engine. They were factory installed on 427/425 big blocks, Z-28s, 327/365 Corvettes, and 350 LT-1s. They are a great carburetor if you are experienced enough to tune them, but not so much for the average driver. Also, while Steve R is correct that most Quadrajets are either 750 or 800 cfm, they were not designed, nor do they work well on a true high-performance engine which is why Chevrolet didn’t use them on their solid lifter screamers. They were fine on some of the other manufacturers hydraulic lifter big blocks.
Q-jets work well when tuned properly, just like a Holley will. Look at all of the GM Sock Eliminator cars running one. They get a bad rap because most people have little to no experience tuning them along with the lack of instantaneous access to other performance parts, plus the near unanimous switch to Holley’s for street driven modified cars.
Steve R
Hmmm must put eyes on it before buying it. Bragbook sort of blows it as far as what’s stated.
Steve R., as I said, a Quadrajet works fine on a big inch, hydraulic lifter motor which is exactly why you see them on so many Stock Eliminator cars. That is also why you do not see them on any solid lifter, true high performance cars. That is not the application they were designed for, the big Holley is.
MSRP was $10,000. In 1972.
They sat in the Lincoln Mercury showrooms
Next to the Mercury Capri, which was more my price point.
I ended up with a Datsun Z.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of these that hasn’t been modified, sometimes heavily modified. It doesn’t seem to affect their value. I wonder why that is?
CT Dave
That’s because it usually makes them better to drive. Prices have been on the decline, thus this one should be less.
’S seems to have it all over the last one presented here…
AND..l
we see the interior…
nice