There are things in life that are timeless. The little black dress, the sound of a solid lifter camshaft equipped V8 engine, the looks of a 1941 Willys. These are all things that long after we’re helping to fertilize the grass, people will be into or at least admiring as we have done and as people before us have done. In some ways it can be argued that the DeTomaso Pantera ushered in the current world we live in with respect to high performance Italian super cars that are designed to snap necks in terms of passers by and passengers. These are cars that are kind of like high fashion clothing. They are not exactly comfortable but they’ll get you the desired level of attention.
We found this 1972 Pantera for sale and the thing is really awesome because it is so unmolested. Yes, it costs $45,000 but that’s the price for a halfway jacked up “restored” muscle car these days.
The only thing that made our eyes open a little was the fact that the engine had a bent pushrod so the dealer rebuilt the top end of the engine. We’re not sure if that job included the camshaft on up or not but if we were trying to score this thing, we’d probably use that as a bargaining chip in terms of knocking some bucks off the price.
With the original wheels and that nice color, this is a killer car that would be really fun to put miles on.
But the question remains. Is the early Pantera as cool as it once was?
RacingJunk – This Pantera is beautiful in color, shape, and condition
The early cars with the tiny bumpers are the best looking Panteras. I have loved those cars for years. Beautiful coachwork with easy maintenance powertrain, what’s not to love?
brian is on the money,i will second that,always loved that body and ford v8.
My left nut and that’s my final offer.
Ballsy move!
I am no Ford guy by any means.But that is cool shit right there. I think they have never been given the “super car” status that they deserve. That is a good thing for common Joe car guy. Look its $45K, not $450K.Very cool car ,always have been.I would put a new Hemi in it,yep Mopars rule.Just my 2 cents.
Presumably the reasonable maintenance costs ruin the snob appeal.
I like it – the shape has aged well, and if the performance is not quite what a modern supercar will do, there’s room to upgrade it and an owner community that actually encourages making them faster.
The Old Italian models are still favorite as were in their age.
Probably doesn’t help to know the front end’s going to be lifting for the sky when a fat ‘ol Chrysler Hellcat still has another 40 mph left in it. Still, I wouldn’t “kick it out of bed”…
I see them occasionally in this town that’s along a popular weekend-drive route, as popular for people to gawk at as any car. At 45K, possibly actually a bargain that way.
The downside is, their many years of popularity have them to where they’re sorta passe among certain enthusiasts.
HELL YEAH!!!
Too good for me!
First the negatives – – they are prone to spectacular rust issues. They are darn near impossible to get into and out of. The transmission is impossible to shift quickly. And the build quality is miserable by modern standards – they are more like an Italian kit car than a production vehicle.
The upsides are the visuals – – still looks amazingly clean and modern. A friend/customer has an early “push button door handle car” in yellow with a 600HP all aluminum Cleveland in it. It garners rapt attention on every test drive, even from non-automotive folks who think its much newer. Its insanely fast with that amount of power and the mid engine deal hooks up darn well. Once you get situated in the odd cabin you get used to it quickly and it handles far better than any 48 year old muscle car should.
The one in the ad could be a pretty good deal, but you really need a lot more images or a visit to be sure. The ripped seats and black painted bumpers (instead of the original chrome) might be clues to a hard life and they all need serious rust inspection.
my grandfather was in charge of sales for the west coast /aisa sales for pantera (still got a pile of sales brochures!) they were AWESOME cars he had some badass stories about driving from Long Beach to Vegas to deliver a couple of those to mob bosses late night 130+ mph deals!