[DeTomaso] GTS Questions

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

In a message dated 1/11/11 20 19 13, lashdeep at yahoo.com writes:


> A few dumb questions if you guys don't mind...
> 
> 1. Why do some GTS models have the riveted fiberglass flares while others 
> do
> not? Where most of these removed for restoration? Or just not equipped 
> from the
> factory with them?
> 
>>>All 150 US-market GTS Panteras came with the riveted flares.   Most, but 
not all Euro GTS Panteras came with them too; some were built without them. 
  And of all those cars, some owners subsequently chose to remove them.
> 
> >2, Do these factory GTS models with the riveted flares truly allow for a 
> wider
> rear wheel when compared to a standard early narrow bodied car? Or are 
> they just
> tacked onto the stock fenders thus limited by the same fender clearance as 
> a
> standard, non GTS car?
> 
>>>They're just tacked on to the stock fenders.   They really have no 
function whatsoever.   European GTS Panteras were available with optional 8-inch 
front and 10-inch wide rear wheels (as opposed to the standard 7/8 inch 
setup), but those wheels and tires fit just fine under a stock-bodied Pantera 
too.
> 
> >3. How many GTS cars were produced worldwide? I've heard 98 or 138 for US 
> spec
> GTS cars..what about the rest? How rare are the Euro GTS models here?
> 
>>>The actual number of US-spec GTS Panteras was 150.   There is some 
confusion about that number, because 98 cars were built for the 49 states, and so 
the 98 figure is often erroneously quoted as being the final total.   52 
were built for California.   Many years ago, Bill Milburn (who was part of the 
old De Tomaso registry) gave me a listing of confirmed GTS serial numbers 
that he had painstakingly accumulated, much of it in the pre-internet age; he 
had well over 100 confirmed cars which blows the 98 number away.   

US-market GTS Panteras have their own discrete Body Service Numbers, which 
ran sequentially.   Standard Panteras had a BSN starting with "5" while US 
GTS Panteras started with "3" (and European cars built in that timeframe 
started with "4".   The lowest BSN in the registry at the moment is 30005, and 
the highest is 30150.   That fairly conclusively establishes the number of 
cars at 150.

Nobody really knows how many European GTS Panteras were built.   The De 
Tomaso family retained all the records, and it would be fascinating to go 
through them and tally it up.   Without a doubt the number is substantially 
higher than 150, especially in light of the fact that GTS Panteras were built 
through 1989.   Also, one can split hairs and consider a GT5 or a GT5-S to be a 
GTS also (I personally consider them to be seperate animals).

I'd say there were several hundred narrowbody Euro-market GTS Panteras 
produced.   They probably outnumbered the total of European pushbutton, Pre-L 
and L-model Panteras, based on what I've seen on the roads there now.

A sizeable percentage of the Panteras on the road in Europe these days 
consists of repatriated American-market cars, particularly in light of the 
strong European currencies against the dollar in the past few years.   It has 
been MUCH cheaper to buy a Pantera in the USA and bring it home, vice buying a 
European car.   And European cars, by and large, tend to be towards the 
rough end of the scale when they come up for sale.

Mike