Reply to "How Many GT5?"

The GT5 debuted at the Turin motor show in 1980. The first factory noted GT5 is, according to Matt Stone and Rob de la Rive Box, #9250. Matt and Rob state, in their Book “Pantera Buyer’s Guide”, that “Prior GT5s probably recorded as modified GTS units from about late 1980.” Franz Krump, who posts here as Si Targa, has written that the Turin motor show car was #9250.

The earliest Pantera GT5 I have on record is #9107 belonging to Wally Baldyga from West Suffield, Connecticut. So far, I have not been able to determine the chassis number of the first GT5 built (for all I know, it could be Wally’s), although I think it is highly unlikely that the number was any lower than #9100. Even though there is a lot of confusion between model year, build year and year of first registration (particularly in Europe), I have been able to identify three allegedly 1979 GTS Panteras with numbers greater than 9100, so I believe it to be a safe assumption that no GT5 will have a lower chassis number than that.

The last GT5 in the official production run is #9374, built in 1985, and last known to belong to a customer of Cory Gehling at Collector’s Choice. There may have been more GT5 Panteras built as special orders after that, but mine is the only one I am aware of (#9517, built in 1988 and sold as a 1989 model year).

On the assumption that the chasses were numbered sequentially, if we subtract the first car’s chassis number from the last, we can get a reasonable idea of the maximum number of cars that could have been produced:

9374 – 9100 = 274 cars

Therefore, if you add mine, there is a maximum of 275 cars that could have been produced. Then we have to subtract the number of GTS and L Panteras built during that same time, because the three models were produced concurrently. I have found 23 narrow bodies, although I fully expect many more were made during this period. Therefore, my best calculation of the maximum possible number of GT5 Panteras is as follows:

275 – 23 = 252

It is reasonable to assume the actual number is much lower, but at least we can say with some confidence that no more than 252 cars could have been made. This number can be expected to go down as I find more narrow body Panteras with chassis numbers between 9100 and 9374.

I invite any corrections of, comments on, or additional information pertaining to, my reasoning as set out above.

- Peter