Tom Tjaarda's personal car on the auction block

I would like to see that car with the bumpers color matched to the car. Not a big fan the way shown. might hurt the value

Right you are - bumper color is wrong.

And could that car sit any higher? My God, the rear looks like he ADDED a spring spacer instead of took them out.

Interesting that he did not choose the wheels he designed a few years back, that are sold through P.I.

Larry

I think the front bumper is horrible. Not crazy about the back, but I do like the pipes being surrounded (not sure how to describe what I mean). I, too, wish the bumpers were painted the body color so I could see how they would look on a typical car.

R.

Maybe we can get some photoshop help on Tom's car.
I have photoshop however my Four year old daughter can draw better that my photoshop skills.

I would be the last person to critize the “God Father” of the Pantera. But I am not really sure what Tom was trying to accomplish with the exterior styling. The original design is IMHO still a timeless classic. If he was trying to modernize his original design the Pantera SI is for me just that.

His comments for the BJ auction are interesting. He was very honest, but it still down grades the car. Not what I want to hear from Tom. It only strengthens the car enthusiast’s impression that Panteras are not great cars.

Now I really miss my orange car. Rear bumper reminds me of the add on appearance of the lower bumper of some Diablos. Check out some Diablo photos, but those are the color of the cars. Seems to work well with Diablos. Got to give him credit, where would we be without people trying creative things with cars. But if you need a bumper, maybe better styling is to try and infuse it within the car body somehow (of course I am a fan of bumperless Wonder what the high bid was, it says it didn't sell.

I liked what Tom did to the front and rear. I would like to see pictures of the interior he described. Does anyone know where they can be found?

quote:

Originally posted by DOES 200:
Wonder what the high bid was, it says it didn't sell.

The car has not gone to auction yet-the date is October 16th-18th.

I do agree I do like how the rear bumper encapsulates the exhaust, however I am sure if it was body colour it would look well done.
The fact it was Tom's doesn't really do anything for me as this was not the car that was built for him, just a 2nd hand car he bought and had restored, and then added his own touches to.
It is nice and clean though
After it sells I would not be surprised if a pantera vendor starts selling the front and rear bumpers.

A closer pic of the rear bumper shows exhaust discoloring on it already.
Not very good for a car that was probably not driven much with that rear bumper on.

If I installed that bumper I would redo my exhaust from scratch. Maybe having the exhaust come straight out would fix that gunk on the bumper?

R.

I think the rounded shape of the new bumpers doesn't integrate well with the crisp angular panels of the Pantera. It's almost like seeing a beautiful, mature woman dressed in teenager clothes! It's a mismatch, although I applaud the effort.

Contrary to what I'd heard,it doesn't appear that Tom is going to market these add-on pieces. Looks like it was just a design study for his own car. FWIW

quote:

His comments for the BJ auction are interesting. He was very honest, but it still down grades the car. Not what I want to hear from Tom. It only strengthens the car enthusiast’s impression that Panteras are not great cars.

Agreed.

This statement speaks volumes coming from Tom Tjaarda.

quote:

The Pantera is a vehicle that really invites its new owner to drive it for awhile then take it all apart and rebuild it into a proper automobile. Even when new, back in the early 1970's, the build quality was marginal at best.

quote:

Originally posted by Mark M:
Maybe we can get some photoshop help on Tom's car.
I have photoshop however my Four year old daughter can draw better that my photoshop skills.

My 4 year old was busy, so I had to do it myself - tried a couple of views...
Body Colour:
- due to the comment about it still looking like a lump of clay, I tried darkening the orange a bit so this is the new version ... the challenge is that I'm not skilled enough in Photoshop to make plastic look like painted metal :-)

Blacked Out

What we would do if the Pantera was converted to hydrogen cell technology ...

Blacked out looks a lot better.

Michael

Nice work Russ. The black is better.
But the question still remains why ?
The Pantera is NOT a 21st century car.

If you want to do that this is it !

Jeff

Is that the 21st Century spelling?

'Hydrogren Green' gets my tick !! Ha Ha , just kidding !
I was hoping the front would look better in Body colour, but it still looks like you drove into a piece of clay at high speed and it has moulded itself on the front, the edges don't blend well with the bodyline.

The back I hope will look better.

Nice job on the photoshop work. Blacked out looks the best.

Off topic I know , but I now want a Mastercard !!
Nice avaitar Mark M !!

Here are my attempts to adjust the rear-end of the car ...
[BTW for those of you who are frightened by the cost of Photoshop, I'm actually using something called GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) - I downloaded it this morning when a coworker told me about it ... it's free and it works pretty well - knowing a bit about Photoshop does help though]
Body Colour:

And since the Blacked Out version seemed popular, here it is
(Sorry folks I'm not posting the Hydrogen Green version until we get an apology for the laughter)
;-)

quote:

Originally posted by Russ D:
What we would do if the Pantera was converted to hydrogen cell technology ...

with that green front end it looks like poor Gumby got rammed by the Pantera...

The rear view looks like the Pantera is wearing a diaper.

Michael

Those bumpers make it obvious that the rest of the car doesn't have any do-dads glued on.

But maybe the back bumper wouldn't look as out of place on my GT5?

I wonder if it would work with the flairs, or fight them.

R.

So does Tom really own this car or is it just his bumpers.

quote:

So does Tom really own this car or is it just his bumpers.

The BJ Auction site claims it is his. However I don't think he's owned it long. He didn't know how to open the rear deck lid at Concorso in Monterey (correction, Marina) last month.

And FWIW, there's nothing impressive under the hood. Just a tired, stock Cleveland sitting in an engine compartment that's seen 37 years of dust, dirt, and grime accumulate. Rather embarrassing to open the hood.

Might be kind of cool to have his car along with a signed bill of sale from Tom Tjaarda for the purchase of his Pantera. However in this case your buying it from the auction company. Its not quite the same.