Sometimes, when you’re camping, you wake up early and start thinking about breakfast. You survey the smoldering remnants of the previous night’s fire, smiling as you recall how your beer-fueled buddies built an epic tribute to early man, a pyre no-doubt visible from space. Lurking in the embers lies a crumpled brown object that might have once been a can of beans. This, friends, is the automotive equivalent of that bean can. It’s hard to imagine this french-fried husk in Hollywood, Florida as a once-immaculate 1971 DeTomaso Pantera, a glistening exotic marriage of Italian craftsmanship and American horsepower. Though the seller mercifully makes no suggestion of rebuilding it, what you see here is offered here on craigslist for $2,000, firm. Thanks to reader Roger for spotting this extreme recycling effort.
No backstory on the fire is offered in the listing, but certainly, even the thickest of metal parts could be warped from the smelting this wreck endured. The up-side… Heat-treated? Check.
Were the Pantera aluminum-bodied, it could now be neatly palletized, as the sheetmetal would have puddled and vanished in the inferno. If you’re not too busy making an offer on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, be sure to check out the excellent history of the Pantera here at danjedlicka.com.
While the GT40 represented the hallmark of Ford’s attempt to beat Ferrari, the Pantera’s appeal certainly carved out a special place as a somewhat patriotic alternative to Ferrari’s road cars. We’d love to hear from any Pantera owner about what part of this car might be worth $2000. Flaming comments would be nothing if not appropriate for this post.
No comment on the Pantera. Great write up! Been on a couple of those camping trips. Keep the humor coming Todd. Take care, Mike.
I say it would make a great dining room table..or coffee table.
2k really? Wow!
Nice write-up Todd. I’m wondering the same thing, what part of this car might be worth $2000?
Here we go again lol
You could frame the title in your name on the wall our um I um he’ll I don’t n🔥
Title is the only thing of value in this case, IMO.
Funny there is a dumpster in the background..lol
Todd-your write-ups are on fire……
To answer your question, can’t imagine anything on this molten Pantera being worth a $100 let alone 2k. Had a 54 Chevy burn in a barn, thought I could save the engine block, I was wrong!
As hot as this one appears to have gotten no way.
At $2000 it appears that the owner is still smoking.
I must be missing something. Perhaps I need several cocktails to understand why anyone would even take the gift of this, unless you owned a scrap yard.
I know I think more clearly after several cocktails, it might work for you, too!
Some hipster will pay 2 grand for it and use it for wall art
Should respond well to a deep-cleaning and coat of wax…
OK,…..but did it run when parked?
Maybe just maybe the headlight doors might be use able.But not for asking price.
aaaahahahahaha !!!!!
Looks like yet another classic falls victim to the Atomic Farter
Humour (I am speaking french): could we name it a “hot rod(ster)? ;-)
Hmm, buy this rusted wreck for two grand, register same, steal nice one in a color you like, change the numbers and Voila, you have a titled Pantera*. Later you can brag to your fellow inmates “I had a Pantera on the outside”.
*Do not try this at home,
For professional use only :)
Doubt the VIN tag survived as hit as this one looks like it got
Jo, even with the new registration, that still sounds like a hot car to me…..
Ran when parked.
For sale? How? No doubt this was insured, so doesn’t an insurance company own it, not a private individual? Maybe this is the scrape dealer who the insurance company sold it to. That mentality, I do understand, however.
Aluminum?
This joke has been for sale for over 2 years now. There isn’t a single savable square inch left, and the seller thinks there is. Reminds me of Gullwing Motors out in CA. they offer things like a pile of Austin-Healy 3000 parts in a heaped wreck for $16K. Not sure if this seller thinks he’s being funny, or simply fishing for the proverbial chump with more money than brains.
The numbers and papers . . . . The numbers and papers are worth something. If selling this car isn’t aiding and abetting fraud, I don’t know what is . . .
I was thinking the same thing. This shouldn’t be legal to sell for anything but scrap.
Wonderful patina clear coat it and make it yard art
Tongue firmly in cheek
Nice patina. Clear coat it and have some yard art.
Thanks for the laughs ..
Please in future start with put your boots on …
Or when 🐖 fly ..,
This guy must think this will buff out and run good with a lil witchcraft since October is upon us…
I suggest a bail of weed With sale (willie Nelson size) to assist transitioning of said junk 😊
Insurance job.
It was rusted to the door handles before it was set on fire.
It wasn’t worth 2K BEFORE the fire.
I’d make a BBQ grill out of it.
Extra Crispy
Wet sand the clear coat & buff it out.
This guy must be cousin to the owner of that abomination junkyard that has all those rusty and wrecked Porsche 356’s. I hope this guy gets tetanus from this wreck and dies. Just kidding………..about the dieing part.
I’m not a criminal…really…but for 2k u can steal one and retag it that’s the only reason someone would buy this hulk.
There ought to be a law!
Or even worse someone might want there’s stolen for insurance so it’d be win win
Hopefully there’s a special place for people like that
It should be illegal for that vin to live on!
BHCC are on their way as we speak with a check and a flatbed.
I don’t think that’ll polish out!
I could sell this as art work in a gallery in New York city for $50,000. Once you hang it on a wall and call it “art work” it goes up in value. I did email the owner and he said fire was the culprit and he sent a pic of the engine bay with engine and trans sitting there in a mess.
Some kind of scam going on here, it appears.
Looking at the photos, there was a significant amount of heavy rust on the lower body prior to the fire. I don’t see floor pans at all.
Either that, or the fire was 30+ years ago, and the lower part of the car has rotted off since. Could be that the car was wrecked/burned a long time ago, and has sat for the many decades following.
Friend put an old Harley from ’30s, same fate and has in his garden for decor and actually looks nice. Someone may do the same lawn art with this.
Absolutely NOTHING on this is salvageable. You may get $50 for scrap metal. SELLER IS NUTS.
So basically you’re paying $2k to be able to tell people that you owned a Pantera.
😂
Needs plywood wheels.
Oh she’s a lil rough round da edges.. I was gonna restore her maself but ma rumatism is givin me a fit. Yeah she’s near a runner..could use a lil filler and some straitenen. Nothin too tough for a guy who’s good with his hands! Ya know ah seen these go at auction fur half million dollars to the right guy! Heck this might be worth more if you leave some of the patina when your done. I have most of the parts ya dont see collected with a broom and dust pan in several neatly assorted n tagged storage bins. Il throw them in fer nothin! I had the wheels but some varmint done took off withum one night. You can find them easy on that feller named Craigs list. Yeah shes one helluva eyetalian supercar. Ive been gitten a ton a calls so dont try an lowball me” “You dont have two grand??… well how much you got inyer wallet, its gotta go today! And you need to get yer own transport. A enclosed box trailer works best or maybe a dump truck with a dust cap. Dont want to lose parts to the wind!” “Good luck Mr Rawlings”
I wonder why nobody suggested that it is a good start for a rat rod.
Bob
Park it in front of Tim Horton’s headquarters.
He’s been gone for 45 years now, I wonder if anybody working there would make the connection. I wonder how many here will make the connection.
I agree
You guys know some bits of history. But Tim’s isn’t even Canadian owned anymore, and like other named-for bits of our lives, few know how they came to be named that way. Or, what became of the person for who it was named.
If you have to go, why not on the QEW?
The DYI gang could rebuild it…
This is amazing it looks like junk from aussie (australia point of view)
it will bring $20 for scrap metal,but this is USA so another world…
IT was hit and rolled over that’s why it burnt up.
Great start for a” rat TRAP” maybe….2K..no way in h*** !!! Gotta be real High,stupid, or a thief to even consider this purchase. Just cant stop gigglin🤣
There’s a sucker born every minute. This needs to be advertised in a high priced art auction where stupid people with way too much money have literally paid much more for actual garbage under the guise of “art”.
I say buy it then cube it then store it in the corner of your garage. When you cube something like this it takes up less space and you can legitimately brag to your friends that you own a Pantera. Heck you can then use it as a base for your drill press. How many people can say they own a Pantera drill press base.
If I owned one I would buy it. Its obvious nobody on here has ever worked on one or owned one. If there is a trans in that wreck and its salvageable for hard parts your looking at minimum 5k I have seen them for well over ten grand and that was 1998 prices. All the controls arms and knuckles with hubs are big money . I cant believe a Pantera owner hasn’t picked this up. If the above parts are good you wont lose any money. I had a customer with two of them and he had big money in both of them.Most was finding good salvageable parts.
sad
“I don’t tell a lot of people, but I own a ‘71 Pantera”.
This hunk of metal will yelled $10,000 worth of parts in my estimates