The De Tomaso Pantera married Italian styling to a Ford V8 and sold through Lincoln-Mercury
An Argentine-born carmaker in Modena, an American designer at Ghia and Ford's dealer network came together in 1970 to make the Pantera. Most of the roughly 7,000 built were sold in American showrooms, and Elvis Presley once shot his in the dashboard because it refused to start.
Tom Tjaarda, an American working for the Italian design house Ghia, drew the Pantera, the Italian word for panther, to replace the Mangusta. Underneath was a first for De Tomaso: a steel monocoque instead of a backbone chassis. It appeared in Modena in March 1970 and at the New York show weeks later. Ford bought the rights and sold the car through Lincoln-Mercury dealers, while Alejandro De Tomaso kept Europe for himself. The logo nods to his roots, with a T-shaped cattle brand from his ranching family and an Argentine flag turned sideways.
Power came from a 5.8-litre Ford Cleveland V8 of 330 horsepower, and Car and Driver timed a 1971 car to 60 mph in 5.5 seconds. The torquey engine made town driving easy, and buyers got electric windows and air conditioning, exotic in Europe then. Early cars had poor rust-proofing and panel gaps hidden under body solder, so Ford brought in precision stampings. The improved Pantera L, launched in 1972, went on to be named Road Test magazine's import car of the year for 1973, ahead of Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche.
Ford stopped importing the car in 1975 after around 5,500 sales, and relations with De Tomaso turned sour enough that some American cars had his badges removed. He carried on alone for almost two decades, sourcing Cleveland engines from Australia after Ford dropped them, and later switching to the 351 Windsor. Bodies came from Vignale, then Maggiora, then Embo.
A final restyle by Marcello Gandini produced the Pantera 90 Si, with fuel injection and Brembo brakes shared with the Ferrari F40. Only 41 were built before the model gave way to the Guarà. Presley's bullet-scarred car, bought in 1974, now rests in the Peterson Automotive Museum.
Source: De Tomaso Pantera
