[DeTomaso] history

JDeRyke at aol.com JDeRyke at aol.com
Tue Mar 6 13:32:58 EST 2007


You have a difficult task. Thanks to the anti-stalking laws, vehicle info is 
very difficult to pry loose from U.S sources like the DMV etc. CARFAX is 
useless since they don't deal with old cars. You used to be able to call up the 
factory in Italy, and for a fee someone would look up your car's serial as to 
where & when first sold & to what dealer, the color etc, but dunno if that works 
any more. I once stumbled across a shipping bill for a "lot" of Panteras 
shipped to Long Beach CA in '72 which luckily contained our '72 L #4366. But 
practically, all it showed was the date into the US, original color and the 
destination. 

Interestingly, among the cars in this one shipment were serial numbers 
ranging from 4150 to 4413, all brand-new, unsold cars. Your serial was not included 
in this bill of lading, though. So they didn't all get instantly shipped upon 
completion, serial-sequence meant nothing and some apparently remained unsold 
for 6 months or more once arriving in the country of destination. Thus for 
example, a 'build-date' of Nov '72 may have been first sold in Jan of '74. That 
doesn't make it a '74, though- as the CA DMV found when they passed the first 
of many smog-date requirements. 

There were essentially two different series of Panteras: Ford got the bulk of 
the cars constructed, which were intended for the U.S. and kept all the 
records on them. Then, as usual, they scrapped everything 10 yrs later.
DeTomaso kept all the records on the non-US-sold cars and I'm told, still has 
them. Good luck- J DeRyke
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