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Hi all,
In late 2016 I found, and bought, Pantera #4899.
The car had been parked in a shed in Sweden for almost 20 years.
The last apperance of the car was in Swedish Hot Rod Magazine from 1992. Apart from that, I have no history of the car.
I have registered it in the Promavo register and tried to order a Marti report. However, Marti could not find any trace of the VIN:number and said it's not sold in the US.
There was decal on the car that says: "DeBonis - Havre De Grace, MD." which I recon is a US car dealer?

Anyone that have info on this or know who to ask?

Regards/

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The documentation for European cars is in the hands of Marcel Schaub of Switzerland, who can be contacted via this email address: helene.schaub@bluewin.ch

I would agree that DeBonis was most likely a car dealer in Havre De Grace, Maryland. This car may have traveled across the Atlantic twice. Those are US tail lights. That is a 1973 L model VIN number, but the car has been retrofitted with pre-L rear bumpers.

I've had no luck finding mention of a DeBonis auto dealership however.
Thanx to George I got hold of Mr Schaub and also the original documents for the car.

That leads to my next question, the car has now been stripped down to bare metal, and under the layers of paint and bondo was a factory applied Red.
However, all documents states that the car was ordered as "argento" or "Grigio" (Silver/gray).
Was it common that this could change during production?
A good possibility that a European delivery order came in and a car was pulled from the production line and painted to order. I believe De Tomaso handled all the European sales and Ford was not involved.

Not sure what Info George has to suggest it was in the US at some point, but the taillights are most definitely the Euro amber not all red US.
Also, take note of the backup lens section of the tail lights.

Some French regulation restricts(restricted) backup lights.

Never quite figured it out, but I've seen numerous tail light lenses with the clear backup section changed to amber. I think backup lights had to be separate pieces, not incorporated into the tail lights.

Perhaps a Frenchman can clarify?

Larry

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