Exotic Italian sports car powered by affordable American muscle

by Sam Barer

Even though Italian cars make car enthusiasts go weak in the knees, the majority would never own one. The most common reason is a lack of desire to take a second mortgage to finance the acquisition and maintenance for these highly tuned, yet somewhat unreliable thoroughbreds.

What about the car that looked as exotic as a Lamborghini, ran faster than a Maserati, was built in a place so Italian that Ferrari’s current 360 supercar carries the town’s name, but was Ford Mustang reliable? A collector in Olympia has purchased just this collector vehicle, a 1971 De Tomaso Pantera.

Alessandro de Tomaso started building racecars in 1959 at his Modena, Italy company. In 1967, De Tomaso Automobili released its Mangusta road car. The gorgeous Mangusta, the first production mid-engine vehicle with a V8 -- a Ford 289ci, instantly received attention from the automotive press. Despite breathtaking styling and record-making skidpad performance, the reviewers focused on the lack of rear visibility, kit-car build quality, tendency for unrecoverable oversteer and tame acceleration.

Meanwhile, back in Michigan, Ford was desperately looking to market a performance-oriented luxury GT to compete against Corvette and popular European marques. After a failed attempt to buy Ferrari, Ford turned to De Tomaso to create a new Ford-powered vehicle to be sold in America in Lincoln-Mercury dealers.

The all-new Pantera premiered as a 1971 model for just north of $10,000. Reviewers loved the 2-seater’s landmark looks styled by Ghia’s Tom Tjaarda and its tractable Ford-sourced 351 Cleveland big-block design engine. Skidpad tests showed the mid-engined Pantera was tops in class, tied with Porsche’s 911 at .782g. On the negative side, the reviews bashed the ergonomics, focused on overheating problems, nitpicked early build quality, and complained of scary handling at the limit.

Lincoln-Mercury dealers, more used to selling land yachts, failed miserably in bringing sports car fanatics to the Pantera. Advertising was minimal. After just a handful of years, Ford ended the agreement, although Panteras continued in production and were sold overseas until 1994.

Our profile car benefits from many of the updates commonly applied to early Panteras. Additional manually activated cooling fans and a larger radiator solves all overheating problems. Upgraded carburetor and engine internals raise the horsepower beyond the already potent stock 310 SAE Gross figure.

In person, it’s apparent Tjaarda got it right. The low, wide vehicle finished in bright red is timelessly beautiful. It’s like Halle Berry on Oscar night: sexy yet elegant. Since this is a model imported prior to safety legislation, it wears thin, chrome bumpers instead of the large, black rubber ones on later cars.

The cabin looks inviting, and can be comfortable, provided you have a grand prix driver’s proportions. For the typically large American driver, a shoehorn is required to get in, and the jaws-of-life to get out. Seats are hard, and offer no rake adjustment. Despite sitting nearly on the ground, headroom is lacking. Pedals are off center and require drivers with feet larger than a ballerina’s to drive in their socks or risk depressing two pedals at once. On the positive side, leather seats, green on black Veglia gauges and a chrome-gated shifter are high-class.

Turning the under-the-dash ignition switch brings the 351C to life. Even at idle, it’s loud. I use just my toes to depress the clutch, since using my whole foot would interfere with the brake. The rather stiff gearlever slots left and down for first.

Under full throttle the engine shoves me in the back, literally, being just inches behind my spine. Slightly modified, it dashes to 60mph in under five seconds, emitting noise levels akin to a Blue Cheer / The Who double bill. Like Ferraris and Lamborghinis, the gated shifter requires practice and patience. Shifting gets smoother as the ZF transaxle warms up, but gear ratios are way too short for an engine producing such mammoth power. The brakes are effective for stopping the 3155-pound car, but the pedal travels too far down for comfortable heel-toeing.

Steering is unassisted so feeling is direct, yet light . Grip is otherworldly, but the Pantera probably won’t warn me before the tail breaks away mid corner. Panteras often wound up bent around trees, mostly because their drivers seldom gave the weight balance and power the respect they demanded.

The Pantera is wildly fun, but brutal over long distances. For weekend fun, the affordability (good examples start around $20,000,) great acceleration, “I could die finding the limits” handling feel and blue-oval engine reliability make it a definite choice for thrill-seeking collectors.

Sam Barer writes for Apex, an Olympia, WA based freelance writing company. To submit a car for a future “Sound Classics” story, email soundclassics@apexstrategy.com

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