Exotic Barn Find: 1974 De Tomaso Pantera
It never ceases to amaze me what shows up on Facebook Marketplace. To see a vintage supercar like the De Tomaso Pantera listed on a site that tends to cater to beaters and poorly modified teenagers’ cars, is a bit of a shock. Regardless, this Pantera looks like a fairly complete project despite obviously having some cosmetic issues and not having run in some time. The seller has listed it here on Facebook Marketplace without much information, just calling it a barn find and expressing that he is open to trades for a ’69 Z/28 Camaro, or the extra $55,000 you have taking up space in your bank account.
The Pantera is one of those unusual exotics that seems to pop up on sites like Facebook Marketplace and craigslist as often as they appear at Mecum’s or other big-name auto auctions. I’m not sure why that is, as there’s really no such thing as cheap Pantera, especially one that has been sitting. The frequency with which they show up for sale tends to eliminate the feeling that they’re particularly hard to come by, even though they obviously still sold in limited numbers. And certainly, it’s impossible to deny that they had the looks, speed, and exclusiveness (based on the price tag) that keeps high-end exotics firmly out of reach for most consumers.
Still, I suppose the Ford-derived powerplant made this exotic one of the more accessible ones if you couldn’t quite play at the level of someone who isn’t phased by five-figure maintenance bills that come with owning a Lamborghini or Ferrari of the same vintage. To me, that’s a key reason why not every Pantera goes straight to the auction block, which is because you can find someone within driving distance who is willing to trade one muscle car for another or drop $40K-$50K on a project. Knowing an engine rebuild won’t cause you to refinance your house opens the potential buying pool up for more broadly than a piece of Italian machinery.
That doesn’t take anything away from the desirability factor of a Pantera. You’ll likely not ever lose your money on one unless you buy extremely foolishly, and this one looks solid enough to take a chance on. Pictures aren’t great, but the interior doesn’t appear to be taken apart, and the engine looks relatively complete, too. The body does exhibit some signs of previous bodywork or unfinished business, as evidenced by the splotches of primer in places. The Pantera is located in Seaman, Ohio, which isn’t the friendliest climate for vintage automobiles, but aside from the caked-on dirt, this Pantera looks like it could be brought back relatively painlessly.
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Comments
You know, there was time, when the Pantera came out, it was the most exotic thing that had a blue oval on it. It was every kids fantasy. It’s so disheartening seeing one as a beater. I don’t know if it’s worth $50g’s like this, I’d think a nice one wouldn’t be much more. If you got $50, what’s another $50g’s? Regardless, the coolest Ford ever!
Howie, I agree with most of what you said, but Panteras are not Fords. I’ve had 3 Panteras and am now on my 4th. This car is worth 50 thousand, unless it’s a rust bucket. Pantera owners are touchy about their cars being called Fords. They were built in Moderna Italy, hence they are Italian. I paid 75k for my present Pantera. I’ve spent 50k to get the car show quality. I raised the hp from 330 to 700, plus many other upgrades. Panteras have a German ZF tranny, but they’re not a German car. Panteras are one of the coolest cars with a Ford engine.
I’m pretty sure tho if Ferrari made a 2 seater sports car with an Amercan OHV V8(heaven forbid a FORD one! lol), they would not consider the car to be a Ferrari at ALL, despite the rest of the car being Italian.
I believe GM used modified turbo 400 automatics from ’60s Toronados in all its ’60s & ’70s automatic mid engine Corvettes concepts. I wonder if such a drivetrain could be swapped into a wrecked Pantera if one really wanted an automatic Pantera.
We had one of these in the shop , it was hit in the rear end and needed a new decklid . We had to get one fabricated by a company out of California , the cost was 2500 dollars if memory serves , and that was 25 years ago.
No way, howie. Not even close to the coolest Ford ever.
Ford GT40. Ford GT. Shelby (Ford) Cobra, Ford Mustang GT 350. Just as a start.
Ok, ONE of the coolest. Kind of splitting hairs, but it was the closest thing to an Italian exotic you could get. We didn’t have many Lambo dealers in MIlwaukee.
Do I detect a little backpedaling there, Howard? lol. Don’t get me wrong I love exotics (especially lambos) in all of their narcissistic glory. But let’s get real. The band, hell yes. The car, the ultimate wanna be. peace out.
You can buy a whole lot of cars that don’t need redone for $50k but none of them are a Pantera.
Billed as a poor man’s GT40 way back when, they were the embodiment of the Italian high maintenance paradigm.
Today, you can listen to Pantera while you’re fixing one up.
People that don’t like the body colored well integrated front bumper on the ’73 & up corvette need to look at this pantera’s. & the ones on the Bricklin & Magnum’s Ferrari. lol
of course no pics of the underbelly, and he did himself a disservice by not taking a couple hours to detail. Good luck to the new owner. caveat Emptor, especially for 55 LARGE!!
Cheers
GPC
Been trying to buy this one. Not going smooth.
Odometer numerals don’t align, so that’s a traditional sign of a rollback; sure wish I could have located it! The green in my face is not because I’m Irish, which I’m not, it’s envy!
I don’t know if it has been clocked because it is so close to 24k, that is why I think the 3 is not inline as it is going to be a 4 in a few miles. The trip having all 8s is unusual though.
The engine rebuild might not be that expensive, but you don’t want to have to finance a rebuild on that ZF gearbox.
I recently had the ZF in my Pantera rebuilt and polished. The cost was $12,000. There aren’t many qualified mechanics that can rebuild a ZF. I had mine done by Pantera Performance in Castle Rock, Colorado by Dennis Quala the owner. He’s the best and a Pantera expert. Shipping was $1000.
Does anyone know how to get fb marketplace photos to open larger? They display at about 1/4 inch wide on my chromebook. I can google photos, but would like to see the actual car.
I think you tap the picture then pinch it to make it bigger or smaller. It works that way on my phone. Or just buy it bring it home and you can look at the whole car in the comfort of your Garage. Lol.
No pinching with my chromebook, but I did manage to save image and then it opens to full size. You would think just clicking it would work.
I’ve found that as you pull up the listing on Facebook, right click and choose “open link in new window.” Then you’ll have all photos in the proper size and scrollable with an arrow.
@Jeff Lavery — your comment “It never ceases to amaze me what shows up on Facebook Marketplace…a site that tends to cater to beaters and poorly modified teenagers’ cars.” The reason people have turned to it is it has gotten too expensive to sell vintage cars on the usual sites like eBay, Hemmings, et al. Restrictive rules not to mention deadbeat buyers. At least FB it is a free service, but as a seller you will have to vigilant and deal with deadbeats face to face and on the phone.
I can click “save image as …” or “open image in new tab” but it only does one image at a time. I’m using a cheap Acer CB3-111 that’s over five years old. I have better chromebooks, but this one is the lightest and I enjoy lying on the sofa all day with it perched high on my tummy.
want too much
@dr fine, hello you need to open the FB marketplace LINK in a new window, not open the IMAGE in a new tab. When you open the link in a new window, you will have all the photos and all the text to scroll through, expand, etc etc. I envy you. I wish I could lie on the sofa all day with a computer on my belly but I have to leave the house and work in order to afford all the projects I drag home! Brought 5 pasture gates and a mower home this weekend after finding them on these online addictions.
JoeNYWF64, Interesting logic. So, if you bought an American made car that had a part or two made in China, it wouldn’t be considered an American car? I always thought that a cars original origin of manufacture or company, determined what country it came from. Fords are American, regardless of their Chinese parts. Putting an automatic transmission in a Pantera, would negate the driving experience and fun of a 5 speed. Just my opinion.