Reply to "1974 Silver Pantera L - St. Louis"

De Tomaso built cars on the calendar year, Ford built cars on the
fiscal year. De Tomaso sold their 20% interest in "De Tomaso Inc."
to Ford in late 1972. The businesses comprising "De Tomaso Inc."
were no longer subject to any influence by De Tomaso. De Tomaso Inc.
was renamed "Ghia Operations". The reckoning of a "model year" was
aligned with Ford's business practice.

Thus 1973 became a transitional year from one reckoning of a "model
year" to the other; it began in January as per De Tomaso practice,
but ended in June as per Ford practice. The 1973 "model year" was
therefore only 6 months long.

De Tomaso Calendar Production Year 1971
1001 - 1382 Pushbuttons (January 71 - April 71)
1383 - 2292 Chrome Bumper Pre-L (April 71 - December 71)

De Tomaso Calendar Production Year 1972
2293 - 4268 Chrome Bumper Pre-L (January 72 - August 72)
4269 - 4839 1972-1/2 Black Bumper Pantera L (August 72 - December 72)

Shortened Transitional Year 1973
4840 - 5899 Black Bumper Pantera L (January 73 - June 73)

Ford Fiscal Production Year 1974
5900 - 7380 Black Bumper Pantera L (July 73 - August 74)

There are a few pushbutton models that are exceptions to this scheme,
their final assembly occurred later than April 1971. Notice also
the 1974 model year was 14 months long.

John, does this possibly change your understanding of the year of your father's Pantera? Another useful method for dating an L model is to identify where the fuel filler was located, in the engine compartment or in the fish gill behind the driver's door.