Introduced in 1971 as the successor to the Mangusta, the Pantera would go on to become De Tomaso’s most popular model in the company’s history, with production lasting over two decades and more than 7,000 examples sold worldwide.

Like its successor, the De Tomaso Mangusta received Ford small block V8 power, although its power plants never exceeded 302 cubes. Image: Gonzalo de Velasco / Wiki Commons

Now, you might be asking yourself, “What does a mid-engine Italian sports coupe have to do with musclecars?” More than you might think, actually – not only was the Pantera motivated by Ford small-block V8 power, in the early seventies you could sashay into a Lincoln/Mercury dealership and pick one up if you wanted to.

Penned by American car designer Tom Tjaarda, the Pantera was first unveiled to the public in Modena, Italy, in March of 1970 and made its way to the New York Auto Show later that same year.

Production began the following year, and with De Tomaso and Ford’s intention to sell the car worldwide. Its presentation reflected the disparate needs of various regions – for instance, while the car was loaded to the gills with standard features that American buyers wanted like power windows and air conditioning, its Italian proportions meant that the car was difficult to drive for anyone over six feet in height.

An early Ford ad for the Pantera.

Nevertheless the Pantera caught the attention of the car buying public and not long after De Tomaso began building the new car, production had to be increased in order to meet demand.

Unlike many Italian sports cars both past and present, the Pantera sported a far more traditional power plant (to us Yanks, anyway) nestled between its rear fenders – a 5.8-liter Ford Cleveland V8, which was said to be woefully underrated at 330 horsepower. The torquey 351 block made the Pantera much easier to drive around town than many of its counterparts by eschewing the need for excess shifting, as was the case with other exotic, high revving sports car drivetrains of the era.

Hooked to a 5-speed ZF gearbox and sporting a curb weight of just over 3,100 pounds, the Pantera offered very impressive performance for the era, bolting from zero to sixty miles per hour in a mere 5.5 seconds – according to tests conducted by Car & Driver – and topping out at just under 160 miles per hour.

Ergonomics were not a strong suit of the Pantera intially, with its offset pedals and odd placed switchgear. But to some that is part of its charm. Image: Fox Motorsports

Getting things back down from speed, the Pantera was equipped with four wheel power-assisted disc brakes, and to bolster its cornering prowess, De Tomaso installed rack-and-pinion steering. Both were standard components on all Panteras sold.

However, as is often the case with intercontinental automotive endeavors, the Pantera’s transition stateside wasn’t exactly a smooth operation. While the first 75 cars sold through Lincoln Mercury dealerships were imported directly from Italy, an additional 1,007 cars were built in the U.S. in 1971 and were notoriously plagued with quality control issues, a point typified by reports that Elvis Presley once shot his De Tomaso Pantera when the engine wouldn’t turn over.

1972 would see some substantial revision to the Pantera’s design, most notably in the mechanicals. To comply with the ever-tightening U.S. emissions standards, compression on the 351 V8 was lowered from 11:1 to 8.6:1. However, in an effort to reclaim the performance lost by this change, a more aggressive camshaft and new exhaust headers entered the mix. Additionally, the Pantera L (for Lusso/Luxury) debuted that year sporting the large black single bumper required by U.S. safety standards. The bumperettes used on previous models were still available on these updated vehicles that were sold overseas.

The De Tomaso Pantera GTS. Image: Wiki Commons

The following year would see more changes, this time with a focus on the interior and driver ergonomics, with a new single-pod dashboard design that was angled toward the driver, rather than the two-pod unit mounted straight that was used on former models. 1974 would see the debut of the Pantera GTS, but while the European and American versions of the car were visually similar, the U.S. version of the GTS did not get the high compression, solid-lifter version of the powerplant used in other markets.

By 1975, Ford had discontinued domestic production of the 351 Cleveland V8 and severed direct ties with De Tomaso and the Pantera, but it was far from the end for the car. Although the motor was put out to pasture in the U.S., Australian production of the 351C continued for several more years, and without the regulation constraints applied to American automakers, De Tomaso continued producing Panteras of ever-increasing performance.

Because the Pantera used a fairly common motor amongst the enthusiast crowd, options for aftermarket cylinder heads, camshafts, intake manifolds and other performance parts are plentiful. Despite the engine being installed so closely behind the passenger compartment, buyers reported that it was actually the gearbox that made the most racket.

Once American supplies of the 351C dried up, the company began sourcing the Ford V8 from their Aussie counterparts and sending the motors to tuners in Switzerland to boost their performance up to 360 horsepower in top spec – ostensibly unheard of numbers outside of the likes of Ferrari and Lamborghini in the late 1970s. And clever American buyers with the means to do so could still get their hands on these new machines by way of gray market importers like Panteramerica.

1980 would see substantial changes for the Pantera, starting with a massive revision of its chassis, which resulted in a new model added to the lineup that offered a visual aesthetic which was a significant departure from the GTS. Dubbed the Pantera GT5, De Tomaso took a page or two out of the Lamborghini Countach playbook for the model, festooning aggressive bodywork and aerodynamic pieces to the car while widening the car’s footprint, updating the interior appointments and bolstering braking performance.

Only a few hundred GT5 and GT5-S models were rumored to have ever been produced, with the latter sporting single-piece flared steel fenders rather than the fiberglass extensions that were riveted in on the standard GT5.

Eventually both the American and Australian supplies of the 351 Cleveland V8 were depleted, and by 1988, De Tomaso switched over to the Ford 351 Windsor as its replacement, before switching again to the venerable 5.0-liter Ford V8 for 1990.

The De Tomaso Pantera GT5. Image: Wiki Commons

That was the year which also saw another model refresh with a visual facelift provided by famed automotive designer Marcello Gandini, along with revised suspension and chassis tuning.

Production of the Pantera would end after 1992 to make way for its successor, the carbon-fiber bodied Guarà. Only fifty examples of the Guarà would be built throughout its nine year production run, and it would end up being the last car produced by the company.

With exponentially more Pantera models built, it went on to become synonymous with the De Tomaso marque, and interest in the Pantera has only increased in the years since it went out of production.