1981 | De Tomaso Pantera GTS

THE DE TOMASO PANTERA GTS

After Alejandro De Tomaso had established himself as a serious car manufacturer with the Mangusta Coupé, he commissioned Lamborghini designer Gianpaolo Dallara to produce the chassis for his new mid-engined super sports car.

The breathtaking coupé body was designed by Tom Tjaarda from Carrozzeria Ghia and built by Vignale.

Just under 17 months later, the resulting car was sent to be photographed. As the car did not yet have a name, the photographer wrote "Pantera" on the film footage. The improvised name was very popular and so the name "Pantera" wasestablished.

When the Pantera was launched in 1971, Ford Motor Company was De Tomaso's partner, and so the Pantera, like the Mangusta, was powered by a Ford V-8. The 351 cc (5.8 liter) Cleveland engine, mated to a five-speed ZF transmission, varied in power output depending on the target market and produced its peak output of 350 hp in Europe. This enabled the Pantera to sprint from 0 to 100 km/h in just over five seconds and reach speeds of up to 265 km/h.

Unusual for a super sports car is the long production period of the Pantera (1971-1993) after the first years the series received a number of improvements, including an improved cooling and air conditioning system.

The two-tone paintwork was characteristic of the GTS model, which in Europe was equipped with a 350 hp engine, larger wheels/tyres and other performance improvements.

In total, only 7158 Pantera's were built between 1971 and 1993. From 1971 to 1974 at least 5260 Pantera's were imported by Ford into the USA, in the same period there were just 1118 vehicles in the rest of the world.

De Tomaso continued to sell Pantera's in markets outside America when Ford stopped North American imports. However, assembly slowed to about 1 or 2 cars per week; only 275 were built between 1975 and 1979.

In the 1980s, the public became increasingly enthusiastic about exotic Italian sports cars as the Ferrari 308, Ferrari 512BB, Ferrari Testarossa, Lamborghini Countach and also the De Tomaso Pantera were featured on television and in movies.

In the 1980s, the Pantera successfully competed with Ferrari and Lamborghini as a super sports car with the GTS and GT5 models.

Many of them were indirectly imported to America as gray market vehicles.

The vehicle on offer

• German delivery
• First registration 05/1981
• 4 owners
• Only 2 long-term owners since 1989
• Part of an exclusive collection of sports cars from the 80s and 90s
• Sensational original and rare color combination in black/red
• Very rare unaltered condition
• Not a US import as in many other cases