I got a Marti Report for my 1971 Pantera. Shows a build date of 1/72, serialized date of 4/73, release date of 5/73, and a sold date of 8/73? Any one seen such large time spans in these Pantera’s before? Or is it more likely the Ford Database has some incorrect data?
Meanwhile the car is titled as a 71?
I have enclosed a copy of the Marti Report. Thanks!
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I actually own a 1987 GT5S with the vin number 9421. I have a friend who owns a 1985 GT5S with the vin of 9426. My car was serialized before his and completed two years after his. The method of these cars coming to life was strange but that is part of the draw for me.
Mike
Do you know what it “serialized” and “released” mean as far as dates go? Build date and sold date makes since, but I don’t know what it means when it says a car was serialized or released?
Thanks!
The late model (9000 series cars) are a slightly different animal for me, hand built in small volume at that point, a car could be pulled from a batch of chassis out of sequence or sit on a lot for a while before finding a buyer and get registered as year sold.
#2322 would appear to be an early '72 and consistent with other VIN's around that number in the registry, not sure how it would have got registered as a '71.
I don't the difference between serialized and released. I bet Jack Sharkey or Kirk Evans does if they are watching this thread!
Delays in manufacture.....pushed to the side lines...finished way later.... Sold dates.....depends..... my Goose didn't "sell" for 2 years as it sat on a L-M dealership floor room as a draw car...... Registered....wild animals did this stuff...... Euro registrations are sometimes allegedly based upon build date, or purchase date, what some dude randomly told the reg' folks.....same in the US! Gotta wonder if there was any sort of chart for DeT serial numbers given to DMV's......... Euro dates many times were based up on manufacture dates vs "model year" dates as done in the US.....
Your 71 Pantera could have been a 1970 Pantera in Europe, as it was made in say Sept-Dec 1969! I don't believe it is all that uncommon to find this situation in cars built later in the year......
Confusion rules!!!
Ciao, Steve
My 71 was built in June of 71. Arrived Port of LA. Was not sold until July of 72 in St. Louis. I can only assume there were plenty of logistics problems in the early days of these cars coming to America, fixes being forced by Ford, etc. I believe Serialization and Release are part of importing a foreign vehicle and getting it into the US "system".
Panterapatt, I agree with your comments...............sounds about like it.
Mike
deniscCaretaker of 8MA1244 '70 Euro Mangusta DRIVE THEM, THEY WERE MEANT TO BE DRIVEN, IF YOU WANT TO LOOK AT ONE, BUY A POSTER!
Dfort, I beleive that the original dealer may have been the one to throw the wrench in this information. The Marty Report clearly states it is a 1972, also If you refer to the VIN decoder in the DeTomaso/ Ford documentation the car IS a 1972 M=1972 B=January so somehow someone decided it was a 1971. The other dates are interesting but again can be manipulated by the Sales office. I remember a certain year we (our Regional Sales Office sold a bunch of F150s to ensure we had the Truck Leadership numbers. The trucks were sold and serialised weeks ahead of being, bucked (just body) or build (completed) Now I beleive it is possible your car may have been built (and therefore it has the Jan72 serial number) it was in fact serialized on Jan72 and may have sat in a queue waiting for some reason (for a long time yes) before being released to Ford and shipment to dealer. 
