I would like to know from where I could source out authentic DeTomaso factory documents or Ford / Lincoln Mercury factory documents. I am not looking for fake counterfeit documents which also seem to be run of the mil these days.
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First of all, welcome!
You've made a good start familiarizing yourself with the resources available.
As for documents, yes, their all multiple sources. The documents from obtained from the DeTomaso factory at some time so they are out there but not easily available and not cheap. You can get a Marti report for information about the car if it was in the US.
There's very little in the Prova registry. Only the administrator can grant you access. Its been difficult to reach Chuck (the admin) for a while now. There are only a few pictures from 9/2020 with the car on a trailer. The only thing of note is that it was one of 3 cars with an experimental paint color (emberglow - a copper-ish color) that changed with the light. Its interesting that he notes the car as "destroyed".
Roland Jaeckel is the primary source of parts in Europe. I haven't seen chrome bumpers for sale in a while. It looks like the damage on yours is repairable. I'd do that if I were you. They need to be re-plated anyway,
If you join POCA (Pantera Owners Club of America), they have LOTS of technical documentation, newsletters (focusing on technical topics) and general interest stuff that can be downloaded from their server.
There's lots of information that can be found and downloaded just by doing google searches. You can also buy lots of stuff off Ebay with a bit of searching. The prices can vary wildly.
I thought Roland had retired? Perhaps one of our European buddies can confirm?
Anyway, good luck with your new car.
Rocky
Yes, from what I know Roland Jaeckel has ceased his activity and that's a shame. He would have sold all his stock of NOS parts to a Swiss but I have no further details and have never seen any announcements of sale of these parts.
It is difficult to have a complete state of corrosion without stripping the paint completely because our American friends are the kings of combo and we see that it has been repainted several times.
Good luck for this great project.
I would definitely research the emberglow paint. Unfortunately I think you'll find the information on it is lost. Ford had a similar color in the mid-sixties.
You likely have local craftsmen that can pound out dents and rechrome stock unobtainium-bumpers. They are quite thin and un-dent easily. Warning- they also dent even easier! Shops make a lead mold matching the inside & outside, and use those to erase dents with small hammers. This also works for dented ss body trim, too. There are reproduction bumpers of stainless steel & fiberglas, but rarely original chrome-on-mild-steel. There are 2 versions (rounded inboard edges vs sharp inboard edges) if you decide to replace them instead of repairing.
Check & thoroughly clean behind the fuel tank- which will require pulling the engine and ZF to get the tank out. Perfect opportunity to refurbish all three assemblies. If they've never been disturbed, all WILL need it. If someone has been in there before, check even closer! All or most parts are readily available from U.S vendors, including refurbished stock magnesium wheels. None are cheap.
Save your money on factory doc's. The factory Euro build sheet will tell you when your car was built, the factory paint color, tire brand & size and the stereo brand & serial number (if one was factory-included). That's about it- for $200 or so. Marti reports apparently only cover cars sold in the U.S (maybe Canada). Ford scrapped most of their records in the previous century. Your car was likely built in Aug or Sept 1972- coming up on 50 years ago. Welcome & good luck.