Reply to "Sale prices high, 3 cars leaving the country!"

In regards to Pantera reliability (Mark's subject), the earliest cars (1971 - 1972) did have their problems. The experience of some owners was they were in the shop more often than they were out. Some Lincoln dealers didn't know how to work on them, some did more harm than good, and some had problems acquiring parts. John Buckman would be a good guy to pipe in on this subject.

Ford instituted so many changes to the Pantera L (August 1972) that they called it a series II model! It wasn't until the 1973 models that the radiator baffle was corrected. By July 1973 (the beginning of the 1974 Pantera model year) the Panteras were a different (better) car in terms of reliability. After investing all that time and resources to improve them, Ford would have been crazy to drop the car because it was unreliable! That was not the reason at all. There was an oil embargo in Fall 1973, the sales of sports cars slumped around the world. GM came very close to giving the Corvette the axe on several occasions during the mid and late 1970s! New regulations in the US would have required Ford to invest a good deal of money modifying the Pantera to meet the new regulations ... and the investment could not be justified for a car in which sales had slowed so dramatically. The Pantera was Iacocca's baby, if there was any way he could have financially justified keeping the car around, he would have! The Lincoln dealers loved the Pantera too ... when they were selling! The 1971 - 1973 models did what they were intended to do, they increased foot traffic in Lincoln show rooms. There was also more profit built into the Pantera's price than any other model on the Lincoln dealer's lot (about $3000 in 1970s!). But the Lincoln dealers didn't want an expensive car on the lot that wasn't selling. And some 1974 Panteras sat on the lot for a long time.

-G