[DeTomaso] Pantera collector cars?

[JDeRyke at aol.com]

In a message dated 11/18/08 11:08:59 AM, partsman912 at aol.com writes:

> My observation is that there are so many modified Pantera's that it appears 
> fragmented with no continuity. Now first let me defend anyone who wants to 
> modify their car , I've done it numerous times? thats the owners choice. But 
> is it fair to say that there as more modified Panteras than original ones ?
> 
Yes, but.....This is the same argument as between owners of stock 4-cylinder 
flathead '32 Ford roadsters vs owners of chopped & channeled engine-swapped 
'32 Fords: what do you plan to do with the thing? ANY older Italian sportscar 
was built by old-world craftsmen, with the tacit understanding that the machine 
will be 95% as-represented and you will finish it to your own tastes. Not 
doing this will leave you with a car that often does not fulfil the promises the 
salesmen make. 
In the case of the Pantera, because Ford was trying to beat AMC and GM to 
market with the first economical mid-engine supercar (both AMC & Gm's turned out 
to be pure hype), Ford skipped their own excellent project evaluation system 
that would have caught the minor problems which soured its initial reputation. 
Then for various reasons, Ford abandoned the project only 3 years into it. 
This left the problem-solving inherent in any new mechanism to the distributors 
and ultimately, to creative early owners like Gary Hall who not only solved a 
number of its annoying problems, but then sold the parts necessary for others 
to correct them in their cars. 
But looked at realistically, any 39-year-old car that still moves under its 
own power is not badly flawed. Several are known to have covered over 250,000 
miles. As far as 'buying for investment', anyone that buys a car to make money 
gets exactly what he deserves..... These are affordable contrivances to 
transport people about the planet in fine style at higher-than-usual velocities with 
some but not perfect safety. They were not intended to be full-sized static 
display models to be oooh-ed and ahh-ed at, and are also not home appliances. 
They take some amount of understanding and care-&-feeding. My wife's 1972 
Pantera has been modified to provide much better handling than when new and more 
performance while still appearing very close to the designer's dreams. We are 
approaching 30 years of driving pleasure with it, not just ownership. 
If you are a car fancier that get pleasure from actually driving your 
machines and tinkering with them, I recommend a well-sorted Pantera. If on the other 
hand you are the sort that considers any deviation from the factory's efforts 
a mistake and don't consider hands-on work theraputic, avoid it and get 
something thats impossible to work on- such as almost any later model electronically 
controlled performance car. Good luck- J DeRyke



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