I have just signed up to this forum, and this is my first post. I just got my 1972 De Tomaso Pantera back after a 4 year restoration/modification. Yesterday, we went out and took some photographs. I'll attach some. Although my car was in very good condition prior to the restoration, I simply was never driving it especially once I purchased my 5.0L Jaguar XKR. The Jag was quicker, easier to drive, more comfortable, and I didn't have to worry if it was warmer than 80F or if there was a lot of traffic. In my Pantera, the tendency to overheat was always a worry, and starting the car with the finicky carburetor was always a challenge, and usually required me to unscrew and remove the air cleaner, dump gas into the carb, run back into the car, try and start it, run back out of the car, hope it stayed running, screw the air cleaner back on, and finally back out of the garage. What a pain in the rear end! So, I decided that if I couldn't make it more user friendly, I wasn't going to keep it. First on the agenda was changing to fuel injection. Then, of course, once you start a restoration, all sorts of other decisions and opportunities present themselves. We had a chance to purchase a built Ford 351 Cleveland engine (which is the engine all Panteras came with from the factory). I tore out the poor aftermarket seats, covered everything in the interior with leather including the dash. Installed flush glass, new windshield, big bore headers and new exhaust, tightened up the suspension, did a full, high quality respray of the paint, and fixed some other loose ends. I've only had it back for about 4 weeks, but the fuel injection starts the car up first time, EVERYTIME! The car is a beast and the loudest street car I have ever heard. Video and sound bites are coming. I have always loved the shape of this car, much more than its contemporaries of the same era, and the design has aged just beautifully, as wherever I take it, no one can believe it's a 50 year old design. There is no De Tomaso entry on this website, so I guess I'll be the standard bearer. Looking forward to participating.
I can't seem to upload photos. So, I will add them later.
Thanks,
Ted