1973 Pantera Japan Custom Restoration

Tom CorraoMember

Work is well underway to our 1973 DeTamaso Pantera custom. This Pantera was purchased from the BAT auctions online. Our bid was high bid at $71000 but lost. We contacted the seller though and he did sell us the car. This car had numerous comments on the auction site because the headlights had been omitted by the original owner. There were also no windshield wipers on the car and the intake manifold had lines for nitrous but no system installed. The car is currently undergoing massive custom restoration efforts. The body kit is a GTS style kit but as suspected the car had damage underneath. During inspection we discovered that there is collision evidence to the drivers side fender and inner fender. Good news is the car is straight and not bent. These are the headlights we are considering. We’re placing this post here to hear what you the owner/experts think. Please be nice. We realize is not a original equipment restoration but the car was not a good candidate for a true survivor restoration.

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7/6/229:08 AM

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lf-tp2511Member

Welcome to Pantera ownership. It’s hard to fix a previous owners missteps, but I’ve always thought one of the classic aspects for the Pantera is the pop-up headlights, often called frog eyes.

of course, many of us have upgraded to better and more modern headlight assemblies to replace the original 7 inch lamps But most Panteras still retain the original headlight assemblies

New fender tops, including the headlight bucket cut outs, are available from vendors here in the USA. In your case you could just use the forward portions of them to restore your fenders. No need to remove your entire fenders.

headlight buckets are somewhat difficult to find. They generally sell between 300 and $600 apiece.

this is assuming you are able to perform the metal work, and perhaps fabricate other missing portions by hand.

some more photos of exactly what you are dealing with in regards to missing sheet metal would be helpful for us to provide better informed advice.

The front of any car is it’s most recognizable image, and I believe I speak for many other owners in encouraging you to consider and investigate restoring the headlights to a stock configuration.

We are here to help, we just need the questions to answer.

Larry

P.S. - I have three or four headlight buckets in various conditions, should you decide to go and that direction.

7/6/223:15 PM

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7/6/223:24 PM

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pineyMember

Although I wouldn´t do it myself, It could work, seen as perhaps a Mangusta influence. I once saved a CGI of a Pantera with similar headlights that I thought looked good.