Was an aluminum gas tank ever fitted from the factory on any Pantera or were they all steel?
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My car(#1889) has a factory aluminum tank.I don't know if it came that way or not.
Ron
Ron
number 1618 has an alumnium tank also. and it is wrapped in fiberglass. it looks original.
The first 250-or-so Panteras were built with aluminum tanks. Of course, the U.S.DOT made aluminum gas tanks illegal in '71 ('safety' issues), so as a stop-gap for cars already imported, Ford had an outside contractor cover those beautifully welded tanks in a couple of layers of fiberglas, then began replacing them with a steel version free of charge. So yes, threy're pretty rare in the US. And no, they're not dangerous- quite a few are still being used- hard- by European Pantera owners..
My car is # 1303, the tank is covered in fiberglass, soooo that explains it! Any opinions on if I should strip it or leave it alone? Would it realy hurt the value? I used to play with corvettes - on those,doing anything seems to be a big deal.
I personally doubt if the fiberglas is doing anything except looking ugly. It isn't going to be easy but if you have the patience, strip it. Panteras are different since all Italian cars are considered "works in progress"- the owner is expected to complete the machine. So matching numbers etc is not important to very many owners. Power upgrdes, emgine changes- all are fair game. The only no-no is dropping a Chev in it....
My car (1386) has an aluminum gas tank also, also covered in fiberglass. I took the engine out of the car because a thought I needed to check the tank for rusting since the car had set a number of years. I was pleasantly surprised. Why remove the fiberglass? The tank is fairly well buried and covered in the engine compartment so you can't see it anyway.