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Needs Factory Luggage: ’72 De Tomaso Pantera

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I feel like the Pantera is the one car that non-collectors can stumble upon and somehow, still make money. Like, literally, dad driving through the countryside and not knowing a thing about cars could spot a Pantera a mile away and manage to snag it cheap enough to turn a profit. This 1972 De Tomaso Pantera here on eBay wears an unusual shade of factory paint and sports an optional luggage rack, two rarely seen features – but the seller is short on the details. 

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Does anyone know what this paint shade is called? I love it, personally, along with this car’s hyper-clean body. However, there is some rust lurking in places, but we’ll get to that later. I love how jacked-up Panteras are in the rear, giving it a stance from the factory that most companies wouldn’t dare to offer today. The car does have some electrical gremlins left over from the last owner, affecting driver’s window operation and the headlight buckets.

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Check out that luggage rack! That’s a precision fit, which either means it’s straight out of the options catalog or a pricey custom job, in my opinion. It would certainly make road trips more of a possibility. The rack looks like it could swallow a fair amount of luggage, which would send me on the hunt for some original leather suitcases stamped with the De Tomaso logo, if such a thing existed. Ferrari did it; maybe the Pantera folks did, too?

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As you can see, there’s some cancer in the floors and another photo shows rust lurking the door jamb. It’s certainly not terminal, but the rust in the door frame could be more invasive that immediately evident with a cursory glance. The Pantera always seems to fetch a fair price when they’re as honest as this one, and with the largely stock condition and unusual features, it could go beyond the current high bid of $40,500.

Comments

  1. Avatar Dan

    Holden bought out an hq with a similar colour called lettuce alone..

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  2. Avatar Dan h

    Even though it has rust, it was a pleasant surprise (to my eyes) to see such a colorful car after that last burnt 230SL posting!

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  3. Avatar Rocko

    I know the rear shock towers were prone to rust from just sitting in the rain. I was working for Ford Canada in 75 and my task one day was to clean out the rear office shelfs of old car flyers and came across a stack of Pantera flyers , i tossed them into the bin down below on the warehouse floor, thats when i spotted a forklift pushing all these lined up mustang doors into a scrap bin railway car, yes the train tracks came into the warehouse. I was hired to take care of Dealers rust issues with the Fords at that time. Seems they where built with recycled metal and corrosion was already present in the new cars, such a shame Panteras were built with recycled scrap !

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    • Avatar Biggles21

      Oakville?

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  4. Avatar Steve007

    I smell Gas Monkey Garage all over it………

    Like 1
  5. HoA Howard A Member

    The Pantera was one of those cars we lusted for as a teen. Aside from the GT40, which was primarily a race car, this was similar and was a street car. Just looked Italian, with a blue oval. I see it’s from Wisconsin, and some doofus actually must have driven this in the salt( all it takes is one salt bath), so the rust is no surprise. I’d have no use for it, except it would be fun to “let ‘er go” on some long stretch of 2 lane here in N.Wis. Pantera’s bring big ( to me) money. They seem to hover around 100g’s. Great find, but the rust would worry me.

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  6. Avatar Red'sResto

    The rear ground clearance and that luggage rack (which looks like it could hold spare tires) reminds me of a Baja racer. Cool car, but I’m too tall for one.

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  7. Avatar Van

    Found one at copart, it’s a flood car. I’d buy it and fix it and drive it. It will not have any real value as a flood car. I want one bad enough to deal with the problems. I’m not sure what it takes to tag a flood car. 11k last I checked.

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  8. Avatar Dolphin Member

    This Pantera is in Wisconsin, has rust perforation in the driver’s floor, a lower door jamb and maybe elsewhere, but is claimed to have original paint (that looks perfect)?

    That doesn’t compute.

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  9. Avatar Jim L

    My personal preference has always been the Mangusta. I guy in the town I grew up in had a beautiful silver one. I graduated High School with a kid that got an orange Pantera for a grad present. I would have told dad to get me a Mangusta instead!.

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  10. Avatar RoughDiamond

    Ever since reading the story about that baseball player who killed himself in one of these, they scare the heck out of me. Well I am proud to say that I own a mint condition Ghia 500 Mangusta with the De Tomaso Chassis in 1/43 size made by Corgi. That’s as close as I will ever come to owning any exotic sports car.

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  11. Avatar Scott

    I agree with Rocko the shock towers are a problem, please remember this also, most of the body is welded to the under structure of this car and everywhere there’s a weld should be looked at. The best way to do that is use a ice pick, you don’t want to stab the seems just poke around on them a little bit, even spots where there’s no bubbling, listen to the sound you’ll hear the difference, a deep tone should be invested a little more. The electrical problem I had on mine was the fuse connections in the fuse blocks corroded, a easy fix. I still enjoy the one I have and I’ve had it going on 12 years, it will be a labor of love but to me the juice was definitely worth the squeeze.

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  12. Avatar z28th1s

    Always one of my favorite cars when I was growing up! I like the color, could do without the luggage rack though!

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  13. Avatar DonS

    I am 25 minutes from this car if you need an inspection. Google Don Settergren Fitchburg WI

    Well maintained vintage cars in Wisconsin can rust like this. Most people wash dirt and salt off the topside, but of course that leaves the the bottom side to rust. You’d really have to go out of your way back in the day to wash the bottom side of a car.

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  14. Avatar Bruce Best

    This may well be one of the top 10 most beautiful cars ever but be very cautious, Rust, Electrical problems and cooling problems are legend but another thing that most will not know about is what they are like to drive. I have driven one and I would never own one no matter how beautiful.

    The pedals are off set to the center of the car to clear the front wheel well. The steering is off set to the outside just a little beyond the centerline of the driver. Fine for a short trip but over a half hour it gets uncomfortable and a few hours for many will be intolerable.

    I have been in Maserati Boras, Lotus Esprits and Europas, Lamborghini Muria, Countash and none are even close to how uncomfortable this car is. Even the lowly Fiat X-19, Fiero and MR-2 are far more comfortable to drive. That is truly tragic for there are few things more beautiful to see in a country road then one of these flashing past. The shape, the sound of the engine and the way the air moves around it is truly beautiful.

    Save it some one just make certain you fit. REALLY MAKE CERTAIN YOU FIT, and have a pre appointment with someone that can adjust your spine you will need it.

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