Find Reviews by Make:
May all your Christmas, Holiday and New Year’s wishes come true. For mine to come true, Santa, this Pantera is going to need a little home-country friend to keep it company, like the one after the jump:
11 Comments on “Curbside Classic Outtake: Dear Santa…...”
Read all comments
Sweet.
To the B&B: Cheers and all our best from snowy Central New York.
Would that be an early 70s MGB in British racing green,parked on the left side of the photo?
Does the Pantera come with a full time mechanic?
Full-time rust fixer, maybe, mechanic, I think not. That’s a Ford V8 under there, with IIRC the same transaxle as a GT40. The marginal cooling system may be an issue on a hot day, but otherwise the drivetrain is as stout as the come. Of course, they toss the rest of it in for free….
But for cruising around on a sunny day, how reliable does it have to be? Nobody is ever going to daily drive a 70’s Italian exotic.
I’ve owned German, Swedish, French, and British cars, high time I got something Italian for the garage! That Abarth is lovely, but I think my budget runs more to an Alfa Spider.
Well, there IS the problem of these cars overheating, and the ventilation system was so bad that you could end up with heat exhaustion just driving around on that sunny day…
Here’s my question: with all the talk about the “unforgivable sins” from GM and Chrysler, why doesn’t this car reflect negatively on Ford, which imported it? As bad as American cars were in the ’70s, I can’t recall one that attempted to bake its occupants like a batch of chocolate chip cookies.
L-R, Top-Bottom:
MG-B, DeTomaso Pantera, Jaguar Mk2
Big Healey (I’ve never learned all the specific model differentiators of the big healeys) Abarth Zagato “double bubble”.
Triumph Spitfire, Aforementioned Abarth & Healey.
An old review described the Pantera by saying it was “one of those cars where the people on the outside were getting a better deal than the one on the inside driving it”. IIRC, although beautifully styled, the driving position was pure, period, classic Italian, i.e., only those with an orangutan physique (short legs, long arms) would be comfortable.
Oh Mr. Paul Niedermeyer, I’m much more prosaic! If Santa were to make me happy all I need would be a brand new Fiat 500 lounge in grey…or (it’d be quite a sight here) an original Ford Mustang in red or maybe, just maybe, an Alfa Giulia, in red, too!
Full-time rust fixer, maybe, mechanic, I think not. That’s a Ford V8 under there, with IIRC the same transaxle as a GT40. The marginal cooling system may be an issue on a hot day, but otherwise the drivetrain is as stout as the come. Of course, they toss the rest of it in for free….
True, it has a 351, so it’s rather easy to hop up. The transaxle is a classic piece by ZF. Works well, up to a point – above 800 or so HP, they tend to frag. ZF no longer does parts for it, but there’s a guy that has all the parts and tools.
Everybody that I know that has had one fixed the cooling eons ago – simple to do. The rest of them were pretty well sorted by the 80s. The later model GT5 is a bit boy-racer for some, but I like it in the bespoilered-Countach sort of way. The driving position is a bit classic ‘ciao Sofia’, but pretty livable (I’m 6′).
Personally, if you’re looking for something that’s fun and well sorted for $50K, I’d recommend it. Bonus: you don’t see a dozen of them every time you drive to McDonalds. Unlike C5s/C6s…
True, but then again, that ‘Vette probably has a decent A/C system, and won’t bake you alive as you drive it.
British eye candy. I go to Limerock Labor Day WE for an annual dose. Veery pretty ,and I dont have to keep them going