CarBrandLogos archive · De Tomaso · 1971
An Italian mid-engined supercar you bought from a Lincoln-Mercury dealer.
Discover the storyPhoto: Spanish Coches · CC BY 2.0
The story
Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the De Tomaso Pantera, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.
01
Ford wanted a mid-engined halo car for its American showrooms and had no intention of developing one. De Tomaso had the chassis expertise, owned the design house Ford was buying into, and needed capital. The Pantera came out of that arrangement in 1971: a steel monocoque with a 351 cubic-inch Ford Cleveland V8 mounted amidships, a ZF five-speed transaxle, and a body drawn by Tom Tjaarda at Ghia.
De Tomaso Pantera GT5 · Ed Callow · CC BY 2.0
02
What made it remarkable was distribution. Americans could walk into a Lincoln-Mercury dealership and buy a mid-engined Italian supercar with a warranty and parts availability, at a price well under a Ferrari's — and with an engine any competent mechanic already understood. Nothing else offered that combination.
De Tomaso Pantera GTS Group 4 Gen1 000 1972 frontleft U · Detectandpreserve · CC BY-SA 3.0
03
Early build quality was poor enough that Ford ran extensive rectification programmes, and the most repeated story about the car concerns Elvis Presley reportedly shooting his when it refused to start. Rust, cooling and cabin heat were persistent complaints. Ford ended its involvement in 1975 after emissions rules and the fuel crisis undermined the business case.
2020 ARES Panther Modena Progetto Uno 5.2 · Dylan Johnson · CC BY-SA 4.0
04
De Tomaso carried on alone for another seventeen years, developing the GTS, the widened GT5 and GT5-S with their bolted-on arches, and finally the Marcello Gandini-restyled Pantera SI with a 302 engine. About 7,260 were built in Modena to 1992 — by a wide margin the company's most successful car, and the one that keeps the name alive.
At a glance
Produced
1971–1992Units built
7,260Engine
302 CID Ford small block engine#302Designer
Tom Tjaarda at GhiaTechnical specification
Badge at launch
This is the marque emblem that accompanied the Pantera's era. The full identity timeline is documented in the brand archive.
Explore the logo history →Lineage
De Tomaso · 1964Vallelunga
De Tomaso · 1967Mangusta
De Tomaso · 1970Deauville
De Tomaso · 1972LongchampContemporaries from the 1970s
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