[DeTomaso] The Fake Pantera Lives????

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

In a message dated 10/7/09 20 14 28, oldwheel at mts.net writes:


> >I am quite certain that your 1972 Pantera never had the plate that 
> surrounds
> the VIN on the top of the footbox. Mine didn't either
> 
>>>They all did, including mine, and yours.   I still have my original one 
in a box; I just haven't gotten around to installing it yet.

> >Pre-L Panteras did not have a "Body Service Number" on a plate in the 
> engine
> bay or the metal tag that normally surrounds the VIN.
> 
>>>NOT true.   Most of the Pre-L cars didn't have the BSN tag, true enough. 
  Those came in just slightly before the switch to the L-model, #4269.  The 
tags began with #50000.   Chassis #4028 wears the earliest known (to date) 
BSN, #50006.   Chassis #4011 wears BSN #50025, #4019 has #50080, #4033 has 
#50041, #4040 has #50026, so you can do the extrapolation and see that it 
probably began sometime in the late 3900s at the earliest.   So potentially at 
least a couple of hundred Pre-Ls got a BSN tag.

But they all did have the VIN surround.   Heck, just look at your September 
1971 issue of Road & Track; the road test of the very early pushbutton 
Pantera there clearly shows it (well, it's not clear in the Brooklands reprint, 
but clear in my original magazine).   Although the VIN wasn't stamped on the 
surround, the engine number was.   (The engine number was replicated on a 
tag in the engine bay too).

The European cars had the same surround, often augmented by secondary tags 
required by the specific nation, or just installed for grins by the specific 
importer.   Among the many cars I've worked on is #1256, a French-market 
pushbutton that predates the US-market cars.   It has the surround, and also a 
Franco Britannic Autos Ltd. tag, which replicates the last four digits of 
the VIN and also the engine number.   The Belgian cars, German cars, UK cars 
etc. all had their own variants of this auxiliary tag.


>  I have been studying
> photos of 71-72 pre-L cars for originality for 8 years and I have not seen
> one with the "Body Service Number" 
> 
>>>Right, see above.


> or the plate that surrounds the VIN on
> the top of the footbox. 
> 
>>>I haven't been studying *photos* of cars.   I've been studying cars. :>)

Trust me on this--they all came out the factory door with the surround.   
It's not uncommon for the felt in the trunk compartments to wear out, and 
when it's replaced, often (as on my car) whoever does it, doesn't bother to 
reinstall all the factory badges etc. so many cars don't have it installed 
anymore.   If you look in the registry, the second-earliest car there, Bjorn 
Carlsson's #1014, which is highly original, has its surround.   Most of the 
subsequent cars have been modified or redone to varying degrees and are missing 
it, but then #1101 has one too, and so on and so forth.

Go ahead and rip up the felt in your car (presumably a replacement) and 
you'll likely find the four rivet holes where your tag once was.   Come to 
think of it, if you're an acrobat or particularly adept with a mirror and a 
flashlight, you might be able to see them by looking up above the pedals from 
inside the car.

The good news for you is that the Pantera vendors sell repros of this tag 
very cheaply, so you can return your car to its original configuration quite 
easily. :>)


> >I'm not sure at what point in the "L" production the
> change to add these items happened, but perhaps sometime later in 1973? 
> 
>>>See above--the BSNs showed up in July '72, with VINS beginning with 
THPNMD. :>)


> I'm
> pretty sure that all the Ford program Panteras had felt in the front trunk
> and not carpet.
> 
>>>Yes, true.   It seems to me that at least some (all?) of the late-model 
cars had a very thin carpet instead of felt, but the '71-74-era cars (to 
include the non-Ford cars) all had felt.

Cheers!

Mike (junior registry dork!)