[DeTomaso] Pantera facts? (1422)

[The DeTomaso Registry Guy]

Somebody help me out here--this Pantera is advertised as "most likely" having original paint, and is titled as a '71, but there are
some things that don't add up to me (maybe Mike can explain them).


It has kph speedo, it has three air vents in the middle of the dash which I thought was found on later models, yet it's a two-pod
which is found on earlier models, I'm not sure what the "front fiberglass tray" is all about (I think he means the rear tub), and I
got a kick out of the description of the "original radio" since I was under the impression none had radios from the factory but were
installed at the dealerships.  The picture also looks like the paint has pinstriping, but maybe it's just the way it looks in the
picture.
Could this be some European model with which I'm not familiar?
Thanks,
Chris


Chris,

I'll take a stab at an answer for you. We are talking about 1422.

The center vent (in an early two-pod dash) was part of the initial 'retro-fits' to improve the AC.

I'm talking about the Bill Stroppe (West Coast) and Holman & Moody (East Coast)
 'recall' or retrofit items.

These changes were done at the direction of Ford.  
These changes were not done to Panteras DeTomaso sold elsewhere in the world.

Some updates were included in later production.

As you may already know, when Ford first stared to distribute the Pantera, DeTomaso did not
have a big inventory to support the marketing "splash" Ford created.  So DeTomaso pulled
a number of cars 'back' from his European dealer channel, and 'redirected' about 
75 Euro-market cars to the USA.  Most of this splash inventory was the last of the Push-Button cars,
numbered up to 1383 (or close).  In April 1971 the square door handle variant began.
So a small number of push-buttons, and only the ones that made it to the USA were in line 
to receive the retrofit updates, in addition the post-push-button inventory, again, 
only in the USA were marked for updates.

So you see the third AC vent on the earliest Panteras (USA market)... 
How long does the extra AC vent appear ?  A quick tour of the registry shows cars
as early as June 1971 no longer received the Vent update.
Chassis 1662 has the vent, 1692 does not.

Next...
The speedo shown is a dual-scale variant.  This is not original equipment I believe.
The early Euro cars were in Km. (only) and USA cars in Mi. (only).
I first saw this dual scale style in cars of the early 1980s (or later).
I own a dual-scale myself.

Separately... the topic of the console light... That did not appear until July 1972...
A registry check... Chassis 4170 does not have the console light, 4201 has the light pod.

So in summary, this car has some non-original features, as mentioned by several.

Chuck