New Member looking for a Pantera

quote:

but there is no documentation to go with the car.

You'll find this is common with Panteras since many owners prepare these cars themselves.
Much of the work, not all, can usually be verified by photos or visual inspection.

Good luck,
Josh

Thanks for the reply Josh. I thought no one wanted to talk to me. Ive looked at several cars but I'm afraid of what I am not seeing. I guess I will just go with my best instinct and take the plunge. I should be a owner soon.

Snoopy. HI. Where are you located?
The PANTERA fun rally is scheduled for May 3 rd
to the 7TH. in LAS VEGAS. Not only can you look at a lot of different car's and talk to many different owner's but there may be PANTERA'S there for sale as well. You can certainly pick up a lot of pointer's as what to look for in a car.
JOHN K.

I wanted to come to the rally but my schedule will not allow me to. Im in Chicago area. Im looking hard at the group 4 car on the PI website. The interior color is a little different and the Pantera lettering will have to go but otherwise it looks like a nice car.

The GT-4 you're considering looks like a nice car in the photos. I agree about the lettering... The wing is also a custom job and doesn't match what the factory offered. Plus GT-4s never had a wing installed.

Its interior color is different but shows very well in the photos. Personally I prefer black, but could easily learn to live with this color.

Josh

Hey Snoopy. There are actualy two PI websites. Make sure you check out the other site before you leap.

http://www.pim.net/pim1.html

Snoopy,

As DeTom says be sure to check out the other PI cars for sale spot, there is currently quite a good inventory to choose from, ranging from a $29K project all the way up.

If you particularly want a GT4 clone I think the link below (PI car) could prove a good buy. It's been on the site for sale for some time (maybe a year) and hasn't sold due to the color, well who'd want a pink Pantera eh! But spend the extra money for a repaint in a decent color and this car has it all, right down to steel flares and the late leather interior.

http://www.pim.net/91804pnk.html

Julian

quote:

well who'd want a pink Pantera

If I was a little more secure in my sexuality, I would like to have that car. But I just don't know if I could pull off pink.

Ive been watching both sites, Ebay and googling Pantera. Ive found a lot of cars just doing a Google but many are old listings and already sold.
I considered the pink car. I had the same thought, paint and go. Only other problem is the rear custom spoiler, I would want to take that off and Im sure that would be quite a bit of labor.
On the red and black group 4, I had similar ideas about changing the lettering to something more original and getting rid of the wing, although it does make the car look pretty cool, it just doesnt match. More to come...

Snoopy I have one of those coffee table wings on my car. It looks like it is held on by four bolts. Then you just patch the holes and repaint and you are good to go. I was going to take mine off but my wife likes to wrap christmas presents on it so I left it on. Besides little kids love it too. They think it makes my car look like the batmobile.

If I end up with the group 4 the wing will probaly be for sale. I dont know how one could ever ship something like that. Maybe just attach a rocket engine to it and point it in the right direction?

Why does PIM have two separate websites?

One is the magazine side (Dave)and the other the parts (Jerry). At least that's what I've been told.

quote:

Originally posted by hawaii:
Why does PIM have two separate websites?

Pantera International is a car club / magazine that was founded in 1973, they've been producing the quarterly magazine since 1974. Dave & Linda assumed stewardship of PI in 1991, it was previously owned by a lady named Eveline Blanchette.

PI Motorsports is a Pantera parts & service business started in 1992 (?) by Dave & Jerry, they're partners.

doesn't PIM have two different websites for just cars for sale??? If so...I was wondering why. Unless you guys are trying to tell me that dave has a site and jerry has their own site...??? I just woke up and still foggy. LOL

PI has a "cars for sale" section - Advertising space is purchased by the car's owner. Ads are private and not affiliated with PI. PI will host the photos and description for a fee.
Interested in one of these cars? You get to call the owner.

PIM has a "cars for sale" section - Vehicles for sale here are on consignment to PIM. These ads are placed by PIM.
Interested in one of these cars? Call PIM.

Both are a great service to the De Tomaso community.

Josh

I am finalizing the deal on the Group 4. Looks like Im going to be an owner. Ive been interested in the car for several months and I realized it is the one I compare others to that I have seen. I'm sure the perfect car will become available as soon as I sign the paper but thats life and I only have 50 years left to live (I plan to live to 100). Now to start the personalization process...

Congrats!!!



Josh

Snoopy, congratulations my friend!

Good for you, Snoopy, but be careful,the personalization process can get out of hand!
Trust me on this one.
Post pics when you can!

Welcome aboard
Mark 6808

quote:

Originally posted by Snoopy:
If I end up with the group 4 the wing will probaly be for sale. I dont know how one could ever ship something like that. Maybe just attach a rocket engine to it and point it in the right direction?

Snoopy it really does make a great coffee table. Imagine that in your den?? Great conversation piece. Guests will love it.

May I add my congrats to you also. I hope that you enjoy the car. Looks great. ZZ

Snoopy
That's a super, super nice car! I love the Ferrari Seats too. Have fun and stay under 160mph. Welcome to the club!

Good for you, Snoopy, but be careful,the personalization process can get out of hand!
I'm well aware of out of hand, I have a 1999 Cobra Mustange that Ive probably spent more on parts for than the car cost. But dont tell my wife.

Hey Snoopy,
Where in the Chicago area? I'm in Palatine.

Snoop,

I'm not sure if this is the same car, but if it is, I saw this car in Hall's showroom quite a few years back. If this is the original Pink Panther that Gary built for Bev, it is a fine piece of work. You can't go wrong. It was the state of the art when built and will surely become your personalized supercar with a little TLC. Good luck.

korina
Im in St Charles, are there many owners in the Chicago area and do you ever get together. Im currently Local Chapter Director for SVTOA in Wheaton
deeb
I thought of getting the Pink Panther but went with this one instead. Pink car would require immediate work (paint), this one I can take my time with. Its pretty nice just as is.

deeb not the same car but I think it was hall built.

Just for the record I think the small wing on the PI pink panther car looks good just needs a repaint and maybe some new wheels.

Is this the car you bought snoopy

No I got the Red Group 4 clone at;
http://www.panteracars.com/70505BA.htm
It was built by Brian Graham. I spoke to him and he was pretty helpful and was willing to talk to me for about an hour. It was built for a guy that lost interest before it was finished. I don't have the all the owners and probably never will; and probably don't want to know. It mine now good or bad, kind of like a wife..
(no dear I didn't say anything)

I like it nicely upgraded.

Nice ride! Are you taking delivery in Vegas?
I'm sure you'd get a award for being the newest Pantera owner

When do you pick 'Er up, Snoop? I just got mine from the guys in Bensalem, Pa and they're a good group to work with.

BTW, I had an opportunity to have a look at it and it's in pretty decent shape. Of course, I wasn't given an opportunity to pound on the undercarriage with a ball-peen hammer and a punch, but still, it looked good from where I was standing.....

Rick

quote:

wasn't given an opportunity to pound on the undercarriage with a ball-peen hammer and a punch,

LOL!! Yeah everytime I want to take an oxy-accetelaene torch to a car the seller acts all like he changes his mind all a sudden. I figure it is because he is trying to hide something.

I got under the car but I didnt hit anything with a hammer. Never been to comfortable doing that to someone else's car. When I get it I'll go through that process and if there are problems I need to address.

Im trying to decide how to get it home. Mike's shipper wants $900, a guy thats been advertising on Ebay, Premium Shippers, wants $650. Or I could fly out and drive it back for about $350-400. Its about 900 miles from Philly to Chicago. So I haven't decided yet.

I drove the car you got also. It was actually a much more comfortable car to drive. I think the dropped floor pans help and maybe the pedals have been moved forward for more leg room. Im 6 foot and the group 4 is pretty tight. So my first action is to get the seating to my liking.

Are you having fun with yours?

My recommendation; pay a good classic auto shipper the money and don't skimp at the last minute, especially when it's for the sake of a few hundred bucks.

I got my car from NY and shipped it out to Reno and in the process got a lot of quotes for shipping. I went with VIP transportation (via a verbal recommendation) who are a specialist exotic transporter from the East Coast. Cost was $1,565 NY to Reno closed container and these guys were extremely professional.

The difference in price between most of the shippers is for open or closed container - pay the extra go closed to protect your investment.

Make sure your shipper has sufficient cover for his load, i.e. some carriiers advertise $100K insurance, but if that's per load with maybe 6 or 7 exotics on board, your slice ain't much if the worst happened.

Just my 2 cents.
Julian

My recomendation is to DRIVE it!

You'll have a blast! and have memories to last a lifetime.

quote:

Its about 900 miles from Philly to Chicago

In that car it would be just a little over eight hour drive then. If you take an hour for lunch.

Does the wing give me a low flight authorization?

You may fly it so long as you book your flight plan in advance with the FAA.....


When I went to look at the one that ultimately became mine, I asked for the hammer and punch, telling them what I intended to do. They had nothing to hide and very quickly came up with said tools and put her up on the lift. There's something nice to be said about knowing in advance that your undercarriage is not about to fall apart in the very near future -- especially when you plan on driving it home....

quote:

Originally posted by Snoopy:
Does the wing give me a low flight authorization?

LOL.

In your mind the wing also adds about 10 mph to your indicated speed!

Does anybody know where I can get the real story on a group 4 car. How many made and what were the differences from a stock car. My guess is they were all a little different, however, I have heard reference to group 4 axles, intakes, tail lights, etc. I want to continue making this car a group 4 car, except of course the interior, thats all about comfort. Any experts out there?

I am no expert but I am reading a book about it right now. There were exactly 4 group four factory cars and a few more sponsered by privateers. Several of these went on to become group five cars. Like maybe two or three. Group four cars were real race cars. They had one seat, bare metal floors, Nascar type engines and later had webbers and bundle of snke headers and were putting out about 500 ponies. They had fiberglass trunks, hoods, doors, plexiglass windows, no air, no radio. They did not do all that good racing because they were pitted against ferrai daytonas that came from the factory with aluminum bodies, and 935 porsches with 10,000 dollar half shafts. Group 4 cars were cool, but they were pure race cars that were budget compared to what they were running against.
I hate to be the one that bursts your bubble, but the Pantera was not that good a race car back then. They were a dynamite road car and bang for the buck were the best. But it wasn't untill over the road racing became popular that Panteras began to shine. Check out the exploits of Mad dog accentuenti. He is what you call a living legend. He and his team Pantera dominate that type of racing, which is more suited to what the Pantera does well.

Hello Snoopy,
We get together some times. We have a yahoo group where we keep in touch with each other. I think it's called the northern Illinois Pantera owners. Sign up and you'll be in the loop. Last fall we met a Woodfield and had 12 or 13 cars there I think. Sometimes we'll go to a local show and hang out or go to a track day.

I knew they didn't do well racing, they never really had any extensive factory support which is needed to be competative. They did at least place in a few races which is not bad considering their short life.

I thought I had read that a factory had to build 400 cars to be able to qualify group 4. Maybe that was group 3, Im so confused. I like the black and red look of the group 4. Im thinking of going that way and painting the bottom more of a subdued black as well as the hood and trunk. The black that is on the car needs to be re-painted due to stress cracks. Or I may have the whole car painted red. Im still trying to decide. Either way I want to do the PANTERA lettering on the bottom in the more traditional style.

korina
I met a guy last year at the Autobahn track in Joliet. He was at one of the SVTOA track days. I think his car was silver or white.
I will try to get on the yahoo site.

That was me I think. My car is silver. This was on the south course and you guys had a tent or something, right?

That was us. I had the electric green cobra convertible. We have another event coming up there next month. You coming?

Also: Where is a good place in the Chicago area to take a Pantera for work. I was planning to go to Mustang Restorations in Dundee. Ive already spoken to Chris. He has done a couple Pantera restorations and has an excellent reputataion in the Mustang world. Hes also pretty close to me. Any thoughts?

quote:

Originally posted by Snoopy:
I knew they didn't do well racing, they never really had any extensive factory support which is needed to be competative. They did at least place in a few races which is not bad considering their short life.

I thought I had read that a factory had to build 400 cars to be able to qualify group 4. Maybe that was group 3, Im so confused. I like the black and red look of the group 4. Im thinking of going that way and painting the bottom more of a subdued black as well as the hood and trunk. The black that is on the car needs to be re-painted due to stress cracks. Or I may have the whole car painted red. Im still trying to decide. Either way I want to do the PANTERA lettering on the bottom in the more traditional style.

You were absolutely right about homologation and they did build Panteras. Thousands of them. The group 4 was never a model. It was a race car. The Porsce 935 was supposed to represent a 911 turbo. That was the deal, it didn't have to be a street car, but it had to be based on one. How ferrai ever passed a homolgomation rule I will never know. What do they sell a year?? Like maybe twelve or so????
The lettering on the bottom you are used to seeing was actually a decal. I think you can still get them from the vendors. The reson the hoods and decks were black on the group 4 was because they were fiberglass and they didn't bother to color match. The rear deck was latched by two straps.
I guess what I am saying is Panteras are the one car on earth that isn't documented down to the gnats behind. Take some poetic liscense and do the car the way you want it. Chances are if it is a labor of love, it will turn out way better than someone elses cobbled up idea anyway.
Btw here is a picture of my car. It is a euro GTS and it came from the factory with that decal. Also the cracking you see isn't the paint so much as it is the lead underneath. Back in the old days they used lead on top end cars. Now a days they have body filler that works better.

Congrats Snoopy! That is sure one great looking car. I had my car shipped from WA to South Carolina via DAS Dependable auto shippers. $1200 coast to coast. I requested that they not wash it when it arrived. There was oil leaked on the hood from another car being over it. I ran my car for about 9 months with the hood and deck blacked out with primer. I paint cars for a living, so I had to paint it all over the correct red. My car is posted all over this site.

Hello Snoopy.
E mail me if you want to be in the local loop. vince@kleenair.com. There are a few cars in your neighborhood you can meet. Vince

Detom wrote:
You were absolutely right about homologation and they did build Panteras

I had to look up "homologation" just to make sure you were talking about cars.

I really like the look of your car with the decal, black is always good looking and the decal adds a nice touch and of course is accurate.

Since the car is a 71 I want to stay somewhat true to age and stay with a group 4 look. I like the racing idea so I'm going to do satin black bottom, hood and deck and some type of block lettering for the PANTERA. Although it is not acurate I might do the PANTERA in some type of gold or subdued yellow that will not clash with the interior. Even though the interior is unique I kinda like it, I know the red is not accurate either. I like the idea that I can do what I want without worrying about staying original. Thats why I didn't by an original car in the first place. There are to many fun options this way.

Exactly Snoopy. I like to fantasize on how I want to do my car. And from those fantasyies occasionaly one will stick, and I start to work toward it. I am going to leave mine as a euro GTS. But if I ever do manage to pick up one that needs a full restoration, I am gonna go hog wild on it. And no I am not talking dubs and neon lights, I am talking fast and wild and super high tech. Of course the Powerball lottery would certainly help a lot by letting me hit all the numbers just once.