1974 DeTomaso Pantera GTS clone ford 351 lamborghini countach ferrari styling

            This is a 1974 DeTomaso Pantera L. GTS clone.

            The description is quite lengthy. but I believe that there are never “too many options to list” or information when it comes to buying a classic car.

            Panteras were sold at Ford and Lincoln - Mercury dealers in the U. S. A. until 1975. It was a joint venture between FORD America and DeTomaso Italy to bring a mid-engine. Ford powered V-8 super car to the market and to fill a void in Ford's line-up due to the ongoing dispute with Carroll Shelby over the COBRA namesake. The cars were sold as imports in the U. S. A. after 1975 thru the mid 1990's. A little more than 7000 were made during those years.

            Some history about me and the car.

            I've been around this car for over 20 years. A lot of that time it belonged to my brother in law.  He sold it to a friend of the family that more or less kept it stored until last summer when I bought it. The original speedometer showed around 65. 00 miles.   I've been restoring Mustangs and other Fords since I started driving. and I‘m almost 50 now. Not in a big fancy shop. at my home. one at a time. sometimes over a couple of years. This car has been very thoroughly restored.

            The body has all metal. welded on wheel flares. Molded in sugar scoop and delta wing on the rear deck lid. Shaved door handles. with illuminated. remote entry and alarm. Door mounted. N. O. S. Vitaloni. Turbo racing mirrors with extended pedestals.   There are many one of a kind features that I made for this car. European style front bumpers . Quarter window delete. side air scoops (gt 40'ish). to allow air flow in and out of the motor bay. The driver's side scoop has a flush mounted fuel filler cap into a NEW stainless steel. 20 gallon fuel tank and gauge sender with a low fuel light from Precision Performance. Driving lights in the lower spoiler. that come on with the headlights low beam and off with the high beams.   Custom bonnet and rear deck lid lockable Aero latches. All body opening weather gaskets are in perfect condition and/or were replaced properly. The body. doors. bonnet lid and deck lid were rust free. The friend of the family that owned the car for awhile put Pour 15 sealer on the underside of the car. The underside is not in show/flawless condition. but I didn't see anything that I felt like was a problem. no rust holes. etc. The car has had jacking pads welded to the frame. I removed all the original seam sealer in the front and rear wheel wells and replaced it with high end 3M materials.  I also did the undercoating inside the wheel wells with high end 3M materials. The body has been painted “custom” orange. with high end. B. A. S. F. base and clear coats. Wet sanded and buffed to a high luster show finish. All satin black finish is S. E. M. 's hot rod black   I hate to keep saying “high end materials”. but there is so much crap material being used out there. I have all the custom paint mixing codes. so it can always be matched.

            The motor is the original Ford 351 Cleveland. 4 bbl head engine. It has been rebuilt and now has 1000 miles on it. (I put 500 miles on the car before paint to make sure it was mechanically sound so I wouldn't be working on the car with fresh paint. )  Keith Black pistons (10 over). connecting rods and wrist pins and balanced. The engine has been converted to a roller cam with Crane's 351 c roller cam and lifters kit. Nice cam. not to radical. Heads were rebuilt with thread in adjustable rocker arm studs. Crane springs. seals and guides for the roller cam conversion. Heads have port stuffers installed. It has the factory 10 quart oil pan with a high volume oil pump. The motor right now has Royal Purple's break in oil.   MSD 6al ignition with a MSD billet distributor and Taylor spark plug wires. Edelbrock air gap intake. with a Holley street avenger 670 cfm carburetor. Holley dog bone air cleaner with reusable filters. Carb has electric choke and A/C idle up solenoid. Ford racing polished aluminum fined valve covers. New Tuff stuff billet. 100 amp. Ford direct replacement 1 wire alternator. High volume water pump. Hi torque starter. Sanden 134 AC compressor with all new lines. dryer and high efficiency evaporator. Precision Performance's big tube header. with Pantera International big throat stainless steel muffler /tips with removable baffles.  

            Original ZF trans-axle with Strange half shafts and u-joints. Center-force clutch. pressure plate. throw out bearing and flywheel. New Welwood clutch master and slave cylinder.

            It sits on 4 GTS / Boyd Coddington designed 17” aluminum rims. The rims were bought 8 years ago and do have some small imperfections in the polished areas. The satin black I had done. The tires are NEW. Front rims are 12” wide and the rears are 14”wide. 4 Michelin Pilot sports. Front tires are 275/40/17 ZR and the rear tires are 335/35/17 ZR. Welwood super lite 2. 4 piston calipers. Welwood rotors and Welwood street pads. It has an adjustable brake proportioning valve inside the car on the center console. Also on the console is a manual line lock on the rear brakes for use as a parking brake . G. M. style brake master cylinder and booster conversion. Koni coil over shocks. Adjustable rear upper control arm . Adjustable rear shock tower support. New front. upper and lower ball joints and inner and outer tie rod ends. New. front and rear. upper and lower control arm bushings. (Red) Rear billet aluminum lower control arm covers and DeTomaso rear sway bar cover and new sway bar bushings front and rear. (Red).

           The seats were recovered by the original owner. Nicely done in leather and are very comfortable. The dash is original and is in good condition. There are some dents along the edge and a small area where there are some hair line cracks. I did the applique in the center of the dash.  The gauges are Auto Meter. Pro comp. Ultra lights. Tachometer. speedometer. electronic programmable with digital mileage and trip set. Oil pressure. water temp. fuel with low fuel warning light. oil temperature. cylinder head temperature and a fuel pressure gauge on the fuel rail. The carpet is in good condition and so are the floor mats. The door panels were redone with new fiberglass backs and the original arm rest. The headliner and its trim were all redone. New seatbelts.  Lecarra steering wheel. New turn signal switch assembly. Under dash foot lighting.  New AC blower motor.  New thermostatic AC de-icing switch. New Sony multimedia receiver with built in iPod tunes tray and usb input. Mounted behind the dash. on top of the receiver is a Sony 300. 4 channel switching controller that allows connection of other devices and can be operated from the receiver. The XM car dock beside the passenger's seat outputs its audio to it. JL audio component speakers with crossovers inside the doors. There is an extra pair of tweeters behind the seats to give a fuller sound. JL audio 4 channel amp and an 8” kicker sub-woofer in the passenger side foot well. The sub is removable in minutes if the passenger requires the extra toe room.    

                       These cars had some inherited problems from the DeTomaso factory. cooling and electrical. and have been addressed to make this one a very drivable car.

            Fluidyne cross flow radiator with dual electric fans and shroud. Dual thermostatic relays built into the radiator independently turn the 2 fans on and off for precision cooling . Stainless steel tubes with double clamped hoses carry the water to the high volume water pump and radiator. Stainless steel radiator fill and reserve / overflow bottles.   I have driven the car in south Florida summer heat. in traffic. (90 degrees and up) without any overheating issues.

          I went thru every electrical connection on this car. Optima AGM battery with Noco Genius G3500 charger. The chargers wiring is built into the car for easy use. the charger just plugs in. Tuff stuff's. 100 amp. Ford direct replacement 1 wire billet alternator. Panteras came with 55 amp alternators.  New. oversized alternator to battery charge wire was installed. New. oversized starter wire. with high temp cover to protect it from header heat. New. oversized. battery ground. alternator ground and engine ground straps. There's even a ground strap on the radiator to help control electrolysis that destroys many aluminum radiators. . The headlights. driving lights. JL audio power amp. left and right door opener solenoids. clock. 12 volt accessory power and alarm have their own new fuse panel mounted behind the battery. The headlights were replaced with H4 rectangular halogen lights rather than the round incessant lights. The headlights and driving lights are powered thru relays from the new fuse panel which is direct to the battery. taking a huge load off the car's main wiring harness. The original wires now just carry a signal to the relays. not a load. I could go on and on with the electrical system improvements. but I'll save you that as you can tell it was thoroughly gone thru.

              What's wrong with the car? The only things that I need to mention are the glass. The windshield is not perfect. It has a couple of chips in it. light wiper marks. that sometimes you can see and sometimes you can't and some imperfections. The driver's side door glass has a scratch in it. probably came from removing the glass to change the window motor. . Under the front of the car. behind the spoiler. the lower radiator support has some damage to it and some rust. which came from pulling the car up onto parking curbs. Not a structural problem. If you do that now. you tear the front spoiler off. The tow hooks are there too and I would not use them. The car is sold as is with no warranty.

             I hope I covered it all. You can bet there was more done than what I've I listed.  I do have the trunk/motor cover insert. It has not been re-carpeted. but is included.

                There will be a deposit required. immediately at the end of the auction to the highest bidder thru pay-pal. FULL PAYMENT THRU PAY-PAL WILL NOT BE ALLOWED. Payments can be made by bank wire transfer or bank cashier's check. With any method of payment. the car WILL NOT leave my possession until the bank has told me that the funds are secure. Buyer is responsible for all shipping arrangements. fees and cost. If you have any questions. feel free to email me and I'll email my phone number and you can call me at your convenience                              .                                                                                                                                                   

Also published at eBay.com

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