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This is the documented history of 2263 / 8263 that will be published in several parts over the next days.

First off, #2263 was the very first De Tomaso Pantera Group 4 built. It was kept by the factory and driven by Herbert Muller. It was first shown to the public during an official launch presentation to the press at the factory on the 31st of January 1972.

#2263 was then tested by Mike Parkes during extensive development sessions on track at Modena, Vallelunga and Monza in February and March 1972.

The first race of the car happened during the 24 hours of Le Mans tests on the 18th and 19th of March 1972. Herbert Muller drove #2263 and broke the lap record and top speed for a GT car.

Second race was the Euro GT championship at Montlhery, near Paris on the 15th-16th of April 1972.

Third race was the Monza 1000 km on the 25th of April 1972. Herbert Muller would lead the race in front of the works Ferrari 312 PB under pouring rain until he hit a slower Dino while passing it, and damaged the car in the front right and rear right.

After the crash the car was taken back to the factory. It was then decided by the factory to ask for the total reimbursement of the car to their insurance company which disagreed. They just claimed it was a total loss, whereas on the period pictures it seemed in rather good condition except the front and rear right damages. An agreement was finally found with the insurance company.

The car was then left as is in the backyard of the factory for 7 years. In 1979, the German De Tomaso importer ordered several cars from the factory including a GT5 demonstrator. #2263 was used to build this rather special GT5 demonstrator. It has to be noted that #2263 having being paid back by the insurance company, it should have been destroyed. But it hasn't. Instead, it was stamped with a new number 8263, and converted to street GT5 specs. As such, the factory could claim #2263 was destroyed, which is exactly what they did.

Note that very few Pantera have a chassis number starting with an 8. These numbers were never affected to new cars and used by the factory when they needed to renumber a car. 8263 is as close as it could be from 2263. The number 8263 has not been chosen by accident.

The car then stayed in Germany and Switzerland for more than 3 decades and lived its life as a GT5 road car.

The car as we found it in 2016, in GT5 specs :

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  • AsFound_(1)
Original Post

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I do not care whether or not 8263 was built from 2263 onwards but how do you explain that all, or almost all, the profiles are lightened, are there other road cars with all these lightenings?

Can not we imagine that De Tomaso who declared that they had destroyed 2263, did everything with the documents to scramble the tracks if they reused this chassis? I say "if", I do not say that it is the case I do not know absolutely nothing, I wonder, that's all.

OFFICIALLY you are absolutely right, it's a street car! But technically ??????
Next part :
If the punched holes are a strong evidence that our car is an original factory Group 4 Pantera, we have found further evidences which match that fact.
The fuel Filler. On the factory Pantera Group 4 the fuel filler was located on the right side of the car whereas the road cars had the fuel filler on the left side. When we discovered the car in 2016, it has a left side fuel filler, but removing the right ornament we discovered that the original right side fuel filler hole had been filled when the car had been converted to a road car in 1979. Again this is strong evidence that the car is an original factory Group 4.

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  • Fuel-filler_(1)
quote:
Originally posted by Joules:
Yes I see evidence of a Group 4 car, nothing as yet that leads me to believe it is 2263? How do you come to that conclusion?

Were there any numbers stamped on the underside of the headlight buckets?


If there were they would be 263 or 63 !!!!
quote:
Originally posted by The Reaper:
quote:
Originally posted by Rik911:
It has already been restored to its original 1972 Group 4 specs.


Authentic group 4 parts don't grow on trees. I hope as your thread progresses you'll show us those parts as well, not just the chassis.


You will see the end result of course. And you are right the original Pantera Group 4 parts are very hard to find.
quote:
Originally posted by Denis C:
quote:
Originally posted by Joules:
Yes I see evidence of a Group 4 car, nothing as yet that leads me to believe it is 2263? How do you come to that conclusion?

Were there any numbers stamped on the underside of the headlight buckets?


If there were they would be 263 or 63 !!!!


The right headlight bucket has been changed after the crash at Monza, and the left one has no number stamped on it.
Third part :

We have never denied that our car, the very first original factory De Tomaso Pantera Group 4 chassis 2263, had been stamped by the factory with a new number 8263 in 1979, when it was converted to a road car for the German importer.

We have kept that chassis number 8263 on the car today, because it is part of the history of the car and it would have been a nonsense to erase it.

That said, it is important to understand that 2263 did not have any chassis number stamped in 1972, but only had two unique riveted chassis plates to identify it.

The Pantera Group 4 had been officially introduced to the press on the 31st of January 1972. The car used for the official presentation was 2263. We have found professional pictures taken that day at the factory.

Please note that all black and white pictures that will follow are owned by the Klemantaski Collection. These pictures cannot be copied nor used by any means. They are here only for information purpose.

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  • 1972-January-Official-launch3
The same picture zoomed.
These two plates are quite unique. First, it is easy to see that in 1972 the car was not fitted with the regular chassis plate of any De Tomaso Pantera. Secondly, there was no chassis number stamped on the footbox where it is usually present on a regular Pantera.

Instead there are a De Tomaso Vallelunga plate (on the left, looking at the picture), and a long plate (on the right, looking at the picture) on which the chassis number was probably stamped.

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  • Chassis-plates-period
Now fast forward to 1979. 2263 was supposed to be destroyed after the agreement taken with the insurance company, but instead it was stored behind the factory since 1972. So as to build a GT5 road car demonstrator, the factory reused 2263, stamped it with a new number 8263 and put a regular Pantera plate on it.

Here it is, as found in 2016 :

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  • Chassis-plate-asfound
When we removed the plate, we discovered many holes and even rivets left on the footbox of our car. The following picture compares the period picture of the chassis plates (as published here above) with the footbox of our car found in 2016. There are not only the four holes corresponding to the regular chassis plate fitted in 1979 when the car was stamped with the new number 8263, there are also the holes drilled in 1972 to fit the Vallelunga plate as well as the holes (and rivets) for the long chassis plates where the chassis number was probably stamped.

This shows a strong evidence that our car is nothing else but the original factory Pantera Group 4 2263.

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  • Chassis-plate2
The weldings and unique reinforcement rear bars.

In the photo set from the January 1972 official presentation of the Group 4, there is a very interesting picture showing the engine compartment. It shows two reinforcement bars that are unique to 2263. They are still in our car today.

What seems like a bullet proof evidence that our car is 2263, is the shape of the weldings done in the engine bay around these bars. The weldings were poorly finished so that they have a random shape. You will see on the comparison picture between 1972 and today that our car still has the exact same weldings, with the same shape in the exact same place as 2263 in 1972.

This again shows a strong evidence that our car is nothing else but the original factory Pantera Group 4 2263.

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  • 1972-January-Official-launch7_(2)
quote:
It shows two reinforcement bars that are unique to 2263. They are still in our car today.


Actually, the reinforcementbars are std. to all the Pantera chassis prior til maybe #2700, but I agree the welds are unique and recognizable.

What I find even more convincing are the chassis transaxle mounts - they are not the std mounts but unique fabricated sidemount brackets present both in the 1972 and 2016 pictures.

The sidemounts of the Pantera were introduced on the production Pantera chassis at a later point (I think after 2263) and looked different. Prior to that the Pantera chassis had a single rear mount for the transaxle, and if I'm not mistaken, you can actually see the holes with threads for the rear mount still present in the rear crossmember!
quote:
Originally posted by Olczyk:

In a bus, if a mother strikes her child and no one says anything, you are all accomplices to the beatings that the child has received.


And I find that very well, a slap has never hurt a kid. I have received a number of them and I am very well, I have given some to my own children and they are doing very well too, and they are quite grateful to me for that.

But we move away from the subject .....

It's great Philippe, you are a great philanthropist we have all understood for a long time.
Well I'm not quite there yet, where money and vintage race cars are involved there's a lot of underhand stuff that happens. As the car is not as found and has already been restored to Group 4 it's pretty easy to recreate a few blobs of weld...

What documented evidence is there over the anecdotal?
Now that we have shown you the physical evidences which show our car is indeed the very first original factory Pantera group 4 chassis 2263, let's dive into the documents. We have 70 pages of period documents or copies of period documents on 2263 and 8263 gathered by the former owner and us. It would be tedious to publish everything here but we will focus on extracts that will show you that the factory did modify 2263 to build a GT5 road car for the German importer in 1979 and stamped it with 8263 number.

This is a copy of the cardboard cover containing the internal "Preventivo" (Estimate) to build 8263.
You will notice that next to "Preventivo", it is written by hand "Ex.Muller".

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  • Preventivo-cover
Now the Preventivo (Estimate) itself in two pages :
The document is entitled : "Pantera chassis 8263 G4 red".
Despite building a GT5 road car, the car is referred to as G4 or Group 4.

The first two lines are interesting :
- Labour to substitute the right rear chassis with used parts to be found in our workshop...
- Replacement of two lateral front part type ...
- Replacement rear right fender and rear part ...

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  • Preventivo-page1
The second page :
The most interesting parts are in the first 8 lines of the second page. I translate here for the sake of clarity :
- 1 inner front part (Note : corrected compared to the first page where it was written 2 inner front parts)
- 1 complete front part (only right side, not left)
- 1 front grill
- 1 front spoiler, 1 rear normal
- Bumpers
- 2 fender flares G4
- 1 Air scoop front and rear
- 1 rear right fender (check if it can be repaired : YES)

That internal estimate done by the factory to build 8263 shows that they reused an old car that was damaged in the front right and rear right areas (1 complete front part, right only - line 2 / 1 rear right fender - line 8).

Those damages to this old car are exactly in the same areas as 2263 when it was damaged at the 1972 Monza 1000 Km.

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  • Preventivo-page2
And some pictures of the car stored behind the factory after the Monza crash .

It is obvious that the car mentioned in the estimate to build 8263 is 2263, the Group 4 racer damaged by Herbert Muller at Monza. It is written "Ex Muller" on the cover of the estimate and the damages to be repaired noted in the estimate are in the front right and rear right, the exact same areas the Muller car was damaged on at Monza.

Note that looking at the pictures, it is obvious that the damages were not that heavy and that 2263 was easily repairable.

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  • Factory-backyard
The following documents come from a 30 pages files of hand written notes, meeting reports and factory documents regarding the GT5 road demonstrator chassis 8263 to be sold to the German importer AHI.

The first document is dated 19th of April 1979. This is a hand written report of Mr.Fischer's visit to De Tomaso. Fishcer was the representative of AHI, the De Tomaso German importer.

From the very first meeting between the German importer AHI and De Tomaso it was clear that 2263 was going to be used to build 8263. It is referred to as "Scocca Gr 4 ex.Muller" or Chassis Group 4 ex.Muller.

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  • 8283build-note1
The following document is a telex sent by De Tomaso to Fischer (AHI) which lists the cars ordered with chassis numbers and their price. 8263 is now referred to as "Pantera GT4 rosso".

Interestingly, if it had been a regular GT5 it would have been noted as "Pantera GT5" just like the two first cars of the list. But the factory chose to call it Pantera GT4, exactly what 2263 is and will ever be.

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  • 8283build-note4
This last Telex gives the final price list for the cars ordered by AHI. Note that 8263 is again listed as Pantera GT4. What's more, its price is only 35.500 DM while the regular GT5 (like 9170, 9171 or 9174 on the list) are all between 58.000 DM and 61.000 DM.

Another evidence that 8263 was built on a used car, the old factory Group 4 2263.

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  • 8283build-note6
...those Schwaged holes are beyond what anybody but the factory would do (at least, since each hole requires access on both sides to locate the die used to create the flare, the idea that anybody but the factory made the holes and then cover them over with carpets, is really past belief. Only really believable that the raw panels were schwaged and then welded into a car.

With such minor accident damage to 263 at Monza, interesting that the racing stopped right there...Lee
Rik911 made the same demonstration as eb911 on the Autodiva french forum (Pantera thread http://www.autodiva.fr/forum/v...=2&t=1183&start=1320 ) olczyk was on the forum also, and he was injurious to all people who said that the demonstration was really clear ! The thread is now locked ! But my opinion is that Rik911 made a faboulous job and it is now clear that 8263 was build with 2263 bodyshell;

Somebody here said that main problem was insurance... i am agree with that...
I have to agree, it is nice to see a structured argument and presentation of data and a very interesting piece of history.

Although I concede that 8263 is likely 2263 based on the anecdotal evidence, I don't think the car can be categorically presented as 2263, it is still '8263 with an interesting history suggestive that it was built out of 2263'.
We feel we have brought enough evidences that 8263 is the genuine De Tomaso Pantera Group 4 chassis 2263, the very first group 4 built by the factory. We hope that now, anyone can make his own opinion on our car.

Again, we have never denied that 2263 had been used to build a GT5 demonstrator and that a new chassis number 8263 had been stamped by the factory in 1979. That chassis number 8263 is still on the car today because it is part of its history. But it does not erase its previous history as 2263 with Herbert Muller. Our car is made of the original chassis of 2263, and for that simple reason it is 2263.

The following notion is rather largely accepted today : the identity of a car is defined by its original chassis on which is attached a chassis number. If the original chassis has not been destroyed, the chassis number is attached to the chassis, and there is no reason to split them. If the chassis is destroyed at some point, the chassis number can be transferred to a new chassis under certain conditions.

In the case of 2263, the original chassis still remains today so that the original identity is still attached to it. Of course, the factory has stamped that chassis with another number for some reasons, but it does not in any case erase the identity and the history attached to the original chassis.

The closest example is Pantera Group 4 chassis 2824. It was delivered new with a plate stamped with chassis number 2342 by the factory. Problem, there was another Group 4 chassis 2342 delivered by the factory. It is only in 1996 that the real identity of 2824 had been discovered by its then owner, under the stamped plate. The car is today recognized as 2824, its original identity, despite the factory sold it officially with number 2342 in 1972. Why would it be otherwise ? Saying that 2824 should be 2342 for ever, and that its original identity 2824 is dead, is a nonsense.

We would like to conclude that we are genuine enthusiasts, and have always been in love with the wide body Pantera Group 4. We found this car, rediscovered the history with the previous owner, restored it back to its original 1972 specs for 18 months, so as to be able to be back on the track where it has always belonged. This was a dream come true to be able to race it at Le Mans Classic the same place where Herbert Muller broke the lap record and top speed for a GT car 46 years ago.

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  • LeMans-Record-March-1972
I saw the car at Le Mans this summer on Friday night in the paddock. It looks absolutely beautifull! Right down to the original Gr4 racing seat. It really was like travelling back in time. You said you wanted to get the details right, well you took that to a whole new level.

P.s I also loved the black&white photo you had of Herbie Muller leaning casually against the car.
quote:
Originally posted by Rik911:

You will see the end result of course. And you are right the original Pantera Group 4 parts are very hard to find.



You have proven the chassis was originally 2263. Then you jumped to the end of the process showing pictures of the car on the track. You've skipped several steps. You haven't shown pictures of the other parts that went into building your car. A group 4 chassis without a group 4 engine, group 4 suspension, group 4 brakes, group 4 interior, group 4 roll cage, etc is not a group 4. It is not 2263 until it authentically equipped to its original spec.

When do we get to see pictures detailing the other parts that prove this car has been authentically restored to its original spec?
quote:
Originally posted by MUSTANG66:
i guess that the air in tires is not original


maybe not from 1972 but they went to the Loire region to fill the tires, that would suffice no!

( the standard joke for deTomaso guys is: 'Does the Air Conditioning still work', and the answer is 'it may need a recharge' but I doubt this car has AC)

Welcome to out forum Smiler
quote:

When do we get to see pictures detailing the other parts that prove this car has been authentically restored to its original spec?


We aimed at posting the history of the car here on which we focused, but here are some detailed pictures for you.

Group 4 engine built by Guy Trigaux. 532 HP @6900 Rpm - 422 Ft.Lbs @5000 rpm (572 Nm).

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  • LR180627NKJ027ret
Rik911 thank you for posting the additional pictures. You and your team have done well.

I have two follow-up questions. The first is in regards to the engine, is it equipped with a dry sump lubrication system? The second is in regards to the two uprights in the picture below, yellow arrows pointing at them. Are they attached at the upper ends to the roll bar in the interior, as per the original?

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  • 4051086266_LR180627NKJ027ret

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