Were Panteras Led Down The Wrong Road?

September 23, 2017 By Mike Gulett 18 Comments

by Wallace Wyss –

De Tomaso Panteras are finally getting good money at auctions, but far less than, say, a Maserati Ghibli made in the same time frame.

This is partly because they are all too common, the most generally accepted figure being around 7,000 cars, compared to say under 1,400 Ferrari Daytonas or Maserati Ghiblis.

De Tomaso Pantera

The second thing that hurt the value was that they are hybrids; not thoroughbred, the engines not made by the folks who made the car. No, they have an American made V8 engine, a 351 “Cleveland” which is a decent motor, but which can’t be revved too high, and has a cast iron block and cast iron heads.

Still you compare it to the Iso Grifo which has a Chevy 327 (some had larger 427s and some had 351 Clevelands), those engines were cast iron block cast iron head engines too but then you fall back on the total produced and realize Iso Grifos are a much rarer breed with about 402 made.

Alejandro deTomaso with a Pantera

So next I go to build quality. The Pantera was OK but didn’t have any rustproofing. I have seen cars in Europe that were see-through (you could see right through the fenders). In America, because they were a cheap sports car some were driven in cities like Detroit in the winter and Detroit coats its streets with salt to melt the ice.

Even if you get one that’s not rusty, open the engine lid and you see a lot of gunky black goo that they covered the inner panels with so basically it looks cheap, like some industrial generator out in the sticks. Not like a sports car engine.

OK let’s go to another criterion of value: racing. There were indeed factory racing Panteras, I think about 14 SN were listed in my book De Tomaso, the Man and his Machines but the factory also could be paid to modify a street car with race equipment. If you could prove the mods on your car were made at the factory then it’s worth more than the cookie-cutter all-cars-alike models that came to the U.S.

I only know of two Pantera GT/4 factory race cars sold in the U.S., one to Warren Tope, the son of a high ranking Ford official.

SPECIAL MODELS

Now that it’s a long time since the last Pantera was made, the prices are shaking out with some showing far more worth at auctions than others. I would say the targas, of which approximately 12 were made (converted by Pavesi, a recognized coachbuilder), would be the most valuable street cars while a race car with racing history would be more valuable. Then too there’s the odd prototypes like the one called the 7X, which was owned by my former dentist in Michigan, that was a genuine prototype and then Don Delarossa, a Ford official, had one modified for himself that qualifies as a factory prototype.

The Euro models like the GT-5 and GT5-S, some brought in as gray market cars, are worth more than the US models because of rarity but you have to be careful before you buy to document it’s a real Euro, not one of the U.S. spec. models carrying repro European body style panels.

The last Panteras made, constructed long after Ford dropped importing them, were called the 200 SI cars but I would say a GT5-S or targa would outrank one of those, depending on condition.

THE PULL OF THE MANGUSTA

Making Panteras more valuable is the fact that the much rarer Mangusta (only about 400 made but far fewer left) are climbing in value and going for well over $250,000, maybe more if it is an early prototype.

De Tomaso Mangusta

The fact that one member of the De Tomaso family is recognized now as a classic brings up the reputation of the Pantera.

CUSTOMIZING HURT

But I say the marketing of Panteras in the U.S. was a failure in that they reached the wrong audience. They reached hot rodders, not those who venerate Italian design history. The buyers put on mag wheels, extra wide fender flares, aluminum intake manifolds, bigger carburetors, big bore exhaust, the whole nine yards. And then did the George Barris things—candy apple paint, pinstriping, yadda yadda. That didn’t happen to Iso Grifos which went from unknown to valuable ($400,000 and up for the small block and more than $600,000 for the big block models).

So I say that Panteras, as a model, were hijacked by the hot rodders who are only now, almost fifty years later, selling them to owners who are more historically oriented, and restoring some to stock.

So now, present day, we see a few Pantera owners realizing the profit that Iso Grifo owners did earlier, but with much less profit. Ford could have kept the De Tomaso marque, and Ghia, and used the facilities and names for marketing other Ford cars but they were too short sighted and dumped them both. Cars carrying the names De Tomaso and Ghia would be worth more now if Ford had built some veneration into the names.

That doesn’t help your reputation when your maker, or owner, dumps you. Even recently, in 2017, the De Tomaso factory contents were sold with no respect whatsoever for the history, like it was just so much rubble in a scrapyard.

Hardly the way to treat a noble marque. Ford wanted to buy some class when they ordered an Italian sports car built in Italy but treated the marque and the coachbuilder with all the respect of a Pinto.

What say you?

Let us know what you think in the Comments.

THE AUTHOR: Wallace Wyss has autographed copies of his book De Tomaso: the Man and His Machines. Contact Photojournalistpro2@gmail.com.

Get My Car Quest by email – free – click here.