Exotic cars are great. The names alone ring of mystery: Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Lotus. Think of casually tossing off one of these as you arrive for a meet-up with friends. “Yeah, I thought I’d give the Maserati some exercise on a sunny day like this,” you could proclaim as you walked into the coffee shop. The problem can be when such cars need attention. Some Ferraris require the engine to come out to do a tune-up. This not to mention parts prices in the stratosphere. Ever hear of a $1500 alternator? Buy an exotic and your debit card might get well acquainted with some unexpectedly high charges. Wouldn’t it be great if someone invented a car with the body of an exotic but the heart of a muscle car? Someone did, and it’s embodied in this 1973 De Tomaso Pantera. The car is available for bid here on ebay for a current price of $40 grand with three days to go in the auction.
What’s under the hood? A good old, garden-variety, cheap-to-fix, but nearly bullet-proof anyway, 351-CID Cleveland. Yup. It’s got the heart of a Ford, and that engine has less than 60,000 miles on the clock. But wait, “under the hood” isn’t where the engine is. It’s in the middle, singing away behind your head. Or better, bellowing away. Why bother with a modern, mid-engined Corvette if this car in this configuration is an option? If you’re curious, the seller offers the chance to view 165 photos of the Pantera, plus Face Time as an option. That said, there’s not a lot of detail about what work has been performed, if any, though a clear claim is made: “This car is absolutely flawless outside, inside, and underneath.” A glimpse at the photos in the ad shows most everything looking buttoned-up.
This car is part of a run that surprisingly stretched from 1972-1991. Most were sold in the US through Lincoln-Mercury dealers from 1972 to 1975. The car was sold in limited numbers after that period through the manufacturer. As an aside, famous Canadian hockey player Tim Horton (whose name is now on donut shops from Toronto to Qatar and Beijing) died while driving his Pantera at excessive speeds on Ontario’s highway 401.
So what’s not to like about this deal? I’m not sure I would have put the over-the-body blue and white stripe on there, but I have to admit, it’s handsome, and it gives the car a bit of a contemporary kick. The great unknown, of course, is whether bidders will run the price up to what the value guides currently sit at (about double the $40K bid), or whether there’s the potential for a bargain buy here. You wouldn’t mind an excuse to go to Pompano Beach, Florida to pick up your new toy, now would you?
$48,100 now, so reserve met or no reserve.
The stripes would have to go but, otherwise, I’d like to have it. Back when these were new, I got to ride in one. We hit around 155 MPH just south of Dayton Ohio on I-75. At that time the highway was only two lanes heading south towards Miamisburg and the speed limit was 55. We came up on cars and passed them pretty quick. I’ve often wondered what the law would have done to the guy driving if we had been caught. We worked for a Mercury dealer in Kettering. He was supposed to be doing a pre-delivery test drive and inspection. He did too.
Just a correction..Tim Horton crashed his Pantera on the QEW (or the Queensway) it’s not part of the 401..it’s part of the 400 series of highways with the internal code(but not posted) of 451,all us old Toronto boys know it by heart..he was one of our heroes even when he went to the Sabres.
love them! my brother bought a new one in 73 but would never let me drive it. to this day I rue that fact, as I still have a hankering to own one. instead, he gave me his Citroen SM to drive for 6 mos while my alfa duetto was being overhauled (at his expense). a 19 yr old driving an SM was a sight.
One of the top 2 or 3 cars that have always been on my “bucket list”. I still rue the day back in ’82 when a specialty used car lot in Seattle had a red on tan one for sale for $11,000 and I whiffed on it because I didn’t want to let my ’75 Vette L-T1 roadster go. Because of the motor, they really wanted my car, but I was too stubborn to part with it. I have since had 6 different Corvettes, but I never got another realistic shot at a Pantera. If not for the fact that I am 76 years old, a stroke and cancer survivor, and have my “forever” Vette in the garage, I would be all over this car. Somebody is going to be really happy.
I remember the $10,000 sticker price on the new ones in 1973. Similar to the BMW 507.
SCAM ALERT. Same Pantera on Bring a Trailer listed a few weeks ago that did not meet reserve. NOT listed on eBay by true owner. Listing deleted by eBay.
Thanks for the heads up.
Odd question, I remember passing on one of these fairly cheap in the ninety’s as it had a blown motor, but would it be possible to do a Coyote motor swap in one of these? Totally playing the “What if” game in my mind.
Or would that be sacrilege to the car gods?
I have always admired these cars and it doesn’t change that but all my adult life I believed Tim Horton lost his life when he crashed his GT40 coming back from Buffalo but just last week I discovered it was actually a Pantera.
I am going to put a 5.2L 350gt engine in mine (love the flat plane sound and top end) Might upgrade the ZF transaxle to the new ZF in the new Italian cars. Vette has that 8 speed dual clutch, Naw, automatic.
very nice