[DeTomaso] One-owner cars

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

In a message dated 10/19/11 15 23 58, michaelsavga at gmail.com writes:


> Could be, but remember that before the LM decision was made, the Pantera 
> was
> called the Daytona Corba Coupe.
> 
> Front Cover of Road & Track no less (I have 2 copies of it )
> 
>>>I do too, and it wasn't called that.   It was called the De Tomaso 
Cobra, but no mention of Daytona, or Coupe.   That was before it had a name.
> 
> >Cobras were derived from AC cars of the UK.
> and has been mentioned, they already had the Capri from Germany
> 
>>>And England.   Mostly England, in fact.   The Capri was an English Ford 
design (in fact, the '69-'74 Capri we know is actually the second model; 
Ford of England had an earlier version).   It was designed and built in Britain 
at the Dagenham and Halewood plants, and later produced in several other 
Ford plants on the continent, including one in Germany.   But have no 
doubt--it's a British car.
> 
> >while GM brought over the Mini Corvette, the Opel GT (cute car)
> 
> Supposedly, the car was never called Pantera until the prototype
> photographer labelled his film with the Pantera name,
> 
>>>True, his name was Rick McBride.   He just suggested the name, and it 
stuck.
> 
> >Mike Drew?  Comments???
> 
>>>Although it may seem laughable to market the Pantera through the L-M 
division, there were very good reasons for doing so.   Ford had established L-M 
as the 'high-end' brand in the portfolio.   Fords were driven by commen 
men, while the middle class drove Mercurys and the wealthy and sophisticated 
drove Lincolns. 

Although the Capri was very much a Ford everywhere else in the world, they 
wanted to give it a slightly upmarket position so they badged it as a 
Mercury in the USA.   The L-M division then became known as the 'import' division 
for the Ford conglomerate, and so the Pantera (which was the most expensive 
car in the entire outfit, much more than even a top-end Lincoln) naturally 
was placed at the top of the heap, in the L-M dealerships.

Unfortunately, they focused too much on the cost and style of the car, and 
not enough on the fundamental nature of it.   It was very much a sports car, 
not a luxobarge, so it really should have been sold through the performance 
Ford ranks, filling in the gap left by the missing Shelbys and Cobras.   
L-M dealers had no clue what to do with it and sales suffered as a result.

Mike