Old Kid on the Block

Back in 1971 I worked for a man that owned several shopping centers here in Topeka,Ks. I purchased a 1962 Jaguar XKE convertible from him and he was trying to decide what he wanted to replace it with (he was as big a sports car nut as I was!). He always made an annual trip to Miami to trade in the Lincoln that he drove daily. This time there was a new Pantera on the L/M showroom & he immediately purchased it & drove it back to Topeka. Naturally, when he returned I found it necessary to "test drive" it for him on several occasions! I knew then that one day I would have to have one. Well, only took 25 or so years, but I now have a keeper!

I saw a beautiful red pantera in Atlanta in 1989. It was idling in front of a nice eating establishment. I was young and on one of my first ever business trips. I had to own one. I bought a yellow pushbutton car last year. My only mistake was that I waited to buy one for so long.

I bought my first one in 1974 at age 22 from Peyon L & M Lincoln Murcury in Long Beach, CA. Drove it off the show room floor and paid 13,100.00 out the door.
Kept it for 3 years and traded it in on a Ferrari. 26 years later in 2000, bought my second one which I have now. A GT-5 which I brought over from Europe.

In 1974, I was 12 years old. My 22 year-old cousin had a 1972 Grabber Blue Pantera. As a kid I recall how the car handled like it was on RAILS! My first car was a 1971 Nova SS, my next car was a 1969 'Vette. Totalled the 'Vette at 23. When I was 26, gainfully employed, but still living at home, it was TIME to buy a place of my own. With $25K in the bank, I had enough for a down payment on a (NY) condo. Keep in mind, interest rates were 11-1/2%! It was then that I saw IT. A 1974 Pantera GTS. Beautifully restored, blueprinted 351C. The guy was asking $21K. ? Buy the Pantera and live at home for a couple of years or do the SMART thing and invest in real estate? I did the SMART thing! The condo market tanked and in 1994 I took a $50K loss! That car would have been worth about $40K today (it was a REAL GTS) Promised myself that by the time I was 40, I would HAVE my Pantera. Well, missed it by a year, but at 41, I purchased #7261 from a guy in Buffalo NY. Eeerily, the car was ORIGINALLY Grabber Blue but had been repainted in Red/Black GTS! It was meant to be! I'm happily married and the father of three GREAT kids under the age of 10. I have a very tight (money and time) budget, and do ALL of my own work on the car. I am a member of POCA, PI, and Jersey Panteras and an active BB member and eBayer. Owning a Pantera goes far deeper than the car itself. I underestimated the friends I would make, the support I would get, and the overall PASSION that Pantera ownership invokes. It's awesome to be part of such a community!

I first saw an Orange Pantera in the Playboy 'Camel' ad, cut it out and taped it on my bedroom wall at age 15. It stayed on the wall until I left home at 23. After college, my mom tore it down and threw it away, telling me it was no longer my bedroom, I had to fly or fall, gulp. So when I bought my first Pantera in 2003, the first thing I did was find that Playboy 'Camel' ad on e-Bay and paste it up on my garage wall. It will always be pasted on my garage wall.

A guy a year older in high school drove his dad's red Pantera to high school and I saw it there at least once a week. Inquiring, I found out his dad was a lawyer, so I became a lawyer, thinking hey, all attorneys must make big bucks. Another story....

So, then a white Pantera was advertized for sale on the other side of town during my high school years, a white one, so I'd routinely cut classes and drive across town to look at it. At least once a week.

Now I have a white Pantera in my garage that I look at and also get to drive. It's scary fast, so it's name is 'veryfast italain'.

quote:

Originally posted by Whiplash:
Our BB has over 1,400 members and is growing. For everybody that joins, there are at least 2 or more people that haven't joined up. We invite all of you to participate by signing up. If you haven't registered, you won't be able to see attachments or otherwise participate. Your privacy rights will be respected. We welcome all new enthusiasts and we hope your experience with the DeTomaso hobby will be a great one. We bought our first Pantera in 1974 from a Lincoln Mercury dealer and have never been sorry. We considered a 427 Cobra and also a Daytona, however, we settled on the Pantera because it was a car we could drive everyday, we loved the looks and we are big Ford fans. Tell us how you got became interested in DeTomaso cars. We think you will enjoy the unique fellowship and enthusiasm that surrounds the DeTomaso marque. Forza! Paige, Linda and Dave Adler

When I was ten years old my brother got me a model kit of the Ford GT-40 Mk IV. I remember how well the car was laid out and how the details made more sense the more you thought about it. I remember growing up through my teen years fantasizeing about driving a GT-40. Finaly when I was in college they had a Pantera at the local LM dealership. My college buddies and I just had to see it. $10,500???? Who in their right mind would ever pay that much for a car?? Heck you can almost buy a house for that!! Or so we thought at the time. Needless to say, out of reach for a young college kid. After graduation I kept an eye on Panteras hoping that a used one would become affordable. I do remember them getting down to about $7000 but not much lower. So later I married, had kids and the mid engined exotic car dream faded in to oblivion. A poor and humble engineer raising a family is not meant to have such things. It is the realm of the elitists playthings that were not meant for the common man.
So one Sunday as we were reading the paper as we had done hundreds of times on a Sunday afteernoon, my wife casualy asks me "Dear, what is a Pantera?" I jumped from my chair, curoiouysly my heart was beating faster. It is an old car I said, why are you asking. She said a local car lot is trying to sell a car that is almost twenty-five years old for twenty-five thousand dollars! It must be a missprint." WHOA!! I was out of the house in a flash!! I had to see it. From that moment on, I was hooked solid. I did not buy that particular car, but one that was in better shape. My wife was against it from day one, but she did not diovorce me. I am a very lucky man.