It is the height of summer, and car clubs across the country were holding all manner of local and national events. I recently had the pleasure of being invited to speak at the 38th annual gathering of the Pantera Owners Club of America.
Seeing 50 of these cars at once was rather a unique experience, as they’re all based on …
Nice article.
I have always liked the Panteras, and prefer the early cars with clean styling, before they started adding boy racer aero bits that made them look a bit like clown cars. That's OK, Lamborghini did exactly the same thing, and the original Countach was the purest version - compare this:
with this:
Found a pantera covered in dust and junk in the back of a disued warehouse in the 90s. 30k on the odometer. I tracked down the owner hoping he didn't know what the car was worth... but unfortunately he did. So my pantera dreams have forever gone unrealized. Thanks for the article and thanks for the memories.
Being one of my dream-cars from my youth, I was fortunate to meet a gentleman in the early 2000’s who was somewhat local & on the board of a national Pantera club. I was even more fortunate when he let me drive his car around the countryside!
I will say that experience somewhat quenched my desire to own one. While it certainly didn’t drive like a muscle car of the era, it also lacked any lithe sportscar-like performance. Instead, I could really feel it’s weight(and it’s age).
They're still one of my favorite exotic cars, but not one I think I’d enjoy owning for very long.
I built a Pantera model as a kid--flares and everything. I'm sure others here did the same.
my favorite DeTomaso was the Mangusta... and while they didn't explode in value (originally) like the Pantera... by the time I might have afforded one, they were out of reach.... 
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