[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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