Reply to "Concorso Italiano and Monterey Historic Races Pics"

The Pantera made the MSN report on the event:

"Also featured at Concorso Italiano is the 35th anniversary of the DeTomaso Pantera, a vehicle known as an exotic car for the common man. Sales began in 1971 through Lincoln-Mercury dealers.

Alejandro DeTomaso was an Argentine race car driver building cars in Italy; he sold the mid-engine Mangusta in the U.S. However, DeTomaso wanted to work with Ford. For a time Henry Ford II considered importing the Mangusta, but instead struck an agreement for a new car to be imported by Ford.

Based on the DeTomaso Mangusta, the Pantera was designed by American Tom Tjaarda, who had taken over the Ghia design studio. The engine for the Pantera was the Ford 351C, a small-block V8 engine used in the Ford Mustang at the time. It propelled a stock Pantera to a top speed of 145 mph."

http://autos.msn.com/as/minishow/article.aspx?contentID=4024156&s=Pebble2006