[DeTomaso] Late Model Panteras

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

In a message dated 4/10/07 16:17:34, pantera007 at sbcglobal.net writes:

<< Does anyone have a VIN decoder for Late model Panteras?
For example: 9637 or 9644 etc ?

>>>Sure.  You just have to figure it out on your own, but it's pretty 
easy--until it gets hard. :<(

>Or one or more examples...  I'd need at least a photo of a very late Pantera
VIN plate.

>>>I don't have that, but every GT5-S owner does.  You need Euro and 
Amerisport (as well as US Gray-market) cars.

>I have a bunch of late model cars, but some I only stored the 4-digit VIN,
and not the ~new, many digit VIN. >>

>>>Well, it's not as easy as you might imagine.  If you had the full VIN, you 
could theoretically determine the month/year the body was laid down.  But if 
you only have the four digits, unlike with the Ford-era cars, that doesn't 
tell you much, because for some reason the later cars were often built out of 
sequence, i.e. some were started but not completed for quite some time while 
others were quickly blasted through production.  Also, De Tomaso apparently didn't 
build chassis every year, particularly when they first took over after Ford 
folded their tent.

The VIN breakdown goes like this:

TH:  De Tomaso Modena

PN:  Panteras

(X)  Single letter for the year.  L = 1971, M = 1972, N = 1973, O was skipped 
because it looked like a zero, so P = 1974.  The letters then continued on in 
sequence, at least in theory.  In practice, apparently all the "1975" 
Panteras were built with leftover chassis that had actually been laid down in 1974, 
so they all had "P" (1974) in their VIN.  

Michael Lamm used to own a 1977 Euro GTS; his VIN was THPNSU09033.  If "P" 
was 1974, then logically "S" would be 1977, and his car was titled and sold in 
1977.ade by Embo, and thus shouldn't have a "P" in the VIN (and this car was 
built in 1978, so it should be a "T", although I don't specifically know of any 
Panteras with "T" in the VIN).

Kjell Jansson's GTS is THPNUM09131, and is titled as a 1980 car, although the 
VIN would indicate that the body was laid down in 1979.  Other 1980 Panteras 
are listed as THPNVU, VM, VD etc., which makes sense, but there is one oddball 
listed as THPNOA, which is another oddball (and I'd be willing to bet that's 
a typo).

Just when you start to think you have it all figured out, De Tomaso throws 
another curve ball at you.  Apparently in 1983 or so, they decided to start 
over, and so those cars are THPNA etc.  There's an AL, AM and AR listed in the old 
registry, all as 1983 cars.  There is also a THPNB listed as an '83.  But 
wait, later on there's a THPNB listed as a 1984, along with THPNE, and then a 
THPNC in 1985!  Then with the advent of the GT5-S, those were built as THPND, C, 
F, and E, with the numerical sequence bearing no relation to the year of 
manufacture as implied by the letters.  We can't even begin to guess why things 
were so chaotic when they could have been so simple.

The nice thing is, there appeared to be some constancy with the next 
character in the VIN corresponding to the month the chassis was laid down.  For 
reasons that can't possibly be explained, De Tomaso chose to use a repeating 
16-month cycle.  Only 16 characters are used to define the month of manufacture (in 
the order C, K, D, E, L, Y, S, T, J, U, M, P, B, R, A, G) and then they are 
repeated, in sequence, again and again.

So from a known constant (the Ford-era cars), apparently you can chart all 
the way to the end of production, and calculate the month that a body was laid 
down--even if the preceding character for the year makes no sense at all!  
Remember that this has little bearing on the actual completion date of the car.

Confusing stuff....

Mike<BR><BR><BR>**************************************<BR> See what's free at 
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