Reply to "Pantera #1006 - Help"

This straight from Mike Drew. He knows your car. ........ I'd be willing to bet big bucks that it's actually #1006. That car was
the earliest known Pantera in the world with a very well-known history, and
was sold to an owner in Florida, where the car in question is now being
advertised for sale. It's listed in the De Tomaso registry; the last time this
car came up in conversation I detailed its history, as follows:

"The car was the sixth car built. It was one of the cars used for safety
testing by Ogden Labs. It was supposed to be a barrier test car, but obviously
that didn't happen. Instead it was sent back to Italy and sold by De
Tomaso. All the original paperwork is with the car. It was sold to a sports car
dealership in Modena. First owner was Sinsi Franco who lived in Palermo,
Sicily. Reportedly he was involved with the Mafia, and in 1979 he was
assassinated while climbing into the car.

The car was sold in an estate sale in 1982 to a US Army Colonel who was
stationed in Germany (last name Williams). He later sold it to Gregg Lynn, who
shipped it to the USA in 1984, where it was restored. He then sold it to
Jack Houpe in 1989. A few years later, Jack sold it to Bill Borello in Houston.
Bill did another complete restoration, before selling it to somebody
unknown in Florida in the early to mid 1990s.

It has numerous features not seen on any but the very first Panteras,
including a two-piece front grille. Like most Euro pushbuttons, it has two
headlight switches (the one to the left of the steering wheel raises and lowers
the buckets and the other one just turns the lights on and off). It has an
inside deck lid release (in the left door sill), De Tomaso emblem on the dash.
It also has a bunch of later Pantera stuff on it, probably a legacy of the
restoration. It has later seats, a different steering wheel etc."

Mike
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