Reply to "Pantera year of manufacture vs VIN"

This is to me a very interesting subject.

First off I've always trusted Kevin Marti for accuracy with his reports. When you go to document a Shelby, you need the report.

Everyone takes this as gospel. This shows that it isn't.

I'm not going to waste my money on it now. I want to see others with Panteras post their reports and look at the results.

It looks to me like there is some kind of a guessing game going on with him and the Panteras?

I don't remember if it was here or on the SAAC Forum where there was a poster that said his father was the engineer for Ford that took care of all the Warranty records on the Pantera Warranty Service.

As I recall he said he remembered his father had the "official" Ford records on these cars all hand written of 3"x 5" index cards and that to his knowledge when they were of no use to anyone they all got dumped into the garbage?

I'm wondering if Marti got a hold of a similar stack of cards from Ford and that is why he is offering these Pantera reports.

Now this isn't an accusation by me, but it isn't me who needs to explain this situation to everyone. It is Kevin Marti.

To me, it is Marti's credibility that is at stake here, not mine. I'm not the one that is claiming accuracy on these reports. He is, and the information being shown here is they are not accurate at all?

Considering all of this I doubt others will come forth with showing their Pantera reports, but personally I'd love to see them.

Maybe they will prove me wrong and way off base on this, but I don't think so?

Anyone up for the challenge to post them?

As far as what model year any car is, I do think George and I are in agreement basically.

There are two sets of records really. Detomaso's and Fords.

In the US all that matters legally are Fords because they are officially the manufacturer and Detomaso is essentially a sub-contractor, and Vignale a sub-contractor to him.

So the documentation from Ford is the determining factor as far as what model year the car is.

I'd love to see the accurate history of my car as far as the original selling dealer etc.

For '73 that is the first model year as a "titled" car for New York.

I purchased the car in New York with a Florida title.

Who knows where the original selling dealer was? It is a US car so likely it is a US sale? It is an L, it was assembled in September '72, it was red with a black interior. All other equipment is standard.

It had a dual pod dash and the early fuel tank and filler system. It has the L bumpers and directional lamps and pods. Pretty much answer my own questions on that...except the original dealer and sale date.

The only information missing is the original dealer and original sales date.

That is nothing more then a curiosity at this moment. I can wait.

Were the cars sold new in Canada from 71-74 US equipped cars?