- Thread starter
- #21
Ooooooh. DeTomaso Pantera, 70-71-72 I believe. Laura's father used to have a 74 with the plastic front bumperette thing instead of those beautiful SS turn signals you see above. INCREDIBLE cars. 351 Cleveland V8 with a Porsche 5 speed transaxle. Somewhere north of 400hp stock.
Coolest thing about the car was that 1st was down and to the left, with second up top in the middle. Made short-shifting from 1st to 2nd interesting. The one time I got to ride in that car, Laura's father romped on in in first, then short shifted, tires broke loose, then we went off like a rocket. I said "holy ****, that was awesome!" He said "That was nothing. I mis-shifted into 4th instead of 2nd."
Mind blowing.
Unfortunately US spec cars never got the 400-500HP spec'd Panteras. Although it is very easy to push the 351 into that range.
Most powerful model was teh 71 with around 380.... down hill after there... hitting as low as 240 in some years. Which is why sales stopped early in the US but kept on till 91 in Europe.
Although i'm sure there were some that were grey market imported.
They are still awesome cars though. The ZF trans they used was the same one as in the original road version GT40s.
The Dog Legged Shift pattern is actually my favorite.
Drove one 72 Pantera back in the day.... awesome car.
Was a Guy that used to show up to the Compton and Long Beach street races that had a TT 351 motor pushing around 900 HP. That thing was quick to say the least.
It looked like this one but with a different wing on the back.
