Pantera #5159 - Series/Year?

Dashboard and center console are from the seventies, the doors and seats look non original.

Early 1970's seventies interiors were made of plastic and were all back with the exception of the headliner, which was white.

Later model interiors were leather and could be had in any flavor the customer desired from the factory, so in later years it's hard to tell what's factory or not.. The factory also pulled what was left on the shelves so they mixed and matched years...

Regardless, I'd say your interior gets two thumbs up!

Kevin

Kevin
My car is a 76 GTS,as far as the regisration papers say.
Don't ask why but I can't find were the year model is stamped.
It's even got the oringinal Detomaso Australia sticker that tell me it's GT-5
Does the interior of the car give you any clue.
Dennis

Dennis,
I can see your car being a GTS and not a GT-5. It may be one of the first cars to have a leather interior. Or perhaps the previous owner installed it. Regardless, it looks nice.

It's difficult to say what de Tomaso did during the post-Ford years...

Kevin

Kevin,
All the interior look definately original to the car, but am just wondering what year it is.
What year did GT-4 and GT-5 start?
or even the GTS
Dennis

Your dash looks the same style as mine, though mine is a darker colour.
I'm pretty sure I have seen pictures of late 70s cars with a this exact interior.
DeTomaso copied that pleated style on the door trims from Maserati after they bought them in the 70s.
Can't really see the seats well enough to comment - have you any more pictures of the interior we can look at?

p.s. They are 4 Panteras for sale on http://www.autotrader.co.uk at the moment - (two 1980s GT5S and a 78 GTS) the 78 has a picture of (black) interior.
I have attached it.

The first GT5 was shown at the Turin Motor Show in 1980. Chassis number was 92??.

Rapier
Were abouts does It say the year model of my car?
I will take some photos of my interior tommorow.
Send me your email address and I'll send them to you!
PS What year model is your car?
Regards Dennispitt_tech@optusnet.com.au

Dennis,
It looks to me that your interior matches your car. But I need to rummage through a few of the Detomaso Drivers Club UK magazines to be sure.

My email is (I've chopped this up to avoid the spammers - I get plenty of spam already)
"derek" and a dot
"harrison" and a dot and an @ then
"pursuit" and a dot
"co.uk"

so backwards it is ku.oc.tiusrup@nosirrah.kered

My Pantera is #04012, VIN shows it was built in December 72, I have been told that is the 1973 Uk Car Show car.
I took some pictures the day I first saw the car, these are in the gallery on this site.
See http://pantera.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3350045562/m/1300016933

Derek/Rapier

Further thoughts... your interior looks more recent than that 1978 GTS on autotrader.
It looks more like the interiors I've seen in GT5S cars from the '80s.
But this is from my unreliable memory - I will look further when you send me the picures.

It would be interesting to know what the whole history of your car is. It wasn't built as a GT5 by the factory, since the first GT5 was a 1980 model, serial #9250.

5159 would mean that is was built in Italy in 1973 or so. Importers sometimes play games with the date on the registration - such was the case in the US with the 1974 cars for example. There are even a few Panteras registered as 1975 in the US, even though none were imported in that year.

Simply a hunch - I'd guess it was imported into Australia in 1976 or so. I would guess that DeTomaso Australia upgraded the car to GT5 specifications. Do you know who was "DeTomaso Australia"? Can you contact them and find out?

You car has to be an earlier GTS converted to a GT5 for the following reasons:

a) GT5 cars hadn't been "invented" in 1976, so it couldn't have been factory original
b) The serial number places it as a 1973 model
c) As mentioned, according to the factory the first GT5 car was #9250
d) The interior has been upgraded in crinkle leather, but the heater/ A/C console is an early 70's type - the factory GT5 cars got the later Maserati-style controls

What does this mean? Looks like the P.O. did some upgrading for you! Looks like they did a nice job too.

Hope this helps, but it sounds like you'll need to talk to the P/O and/or DeTomaso Australia to know who did what!

Charlie
Thanks for your help! Im just trying to find out more about my car's history.
No matter what I love it to death!
Can't stop opening the garage door, just can't believe I own one!
It's been a big dream for me and I pinch myself every day.
Regards your mate from AUS

quote:

Originally posted by Downunder:
Charlie
Thanks for your help! Im just trying to find out more about my car's history.
No matter what I love it to death!
Can't stop opening the garage door, just can't believe I own one!
It's been a big dream for me and I pinch myself every day.
Regards your mate from AUS

Dennis,
I feel the same way!!

Beautiful car.

Kevin

Me too, I've wanted one since I was ten years old (it's only taken 27 years to save up the money )

It's definitely a great feeling to own (and look at) a Pantera!

Michael

Rapier,

On the AutoTrader link you supplied, they're asking for a postal code as a requirement to search. I put my US postal code in, but it didn't recognize it. Can you give me a postal code to plug into it? Thanks.

Michael

quote:

Originally posted by Cyboman:
Rapier,
On the AutoTrader link you supplied, they're asking for a postal code as a requirement to search. I put my US postal code in, but it didn't recognize it. Can you give me a postal code to plug into it? Thanks.
Michael

Sure thing - try SN13 8NF, that's the postal code of the one of the dealers selling a GT5S.

Thanks Derek.

Michael

quote:

Originally posted by Si Targa:
Dashboard and center console are from the seventies, the doors and seats look non original.

Mr SI - boy, you come across as snobbish.

nice interior Dennis!

JK,

SI Targa (Franz Krump) is from Austria. His English might not be as good as ours, so his responses may be limited.

He has, however, owned just about every deTomaso car made. He's also active with European events, so he does have an idea of what to look for.

I'm not knocking you, JK, I just don't know if you were aware of those things.

Michael

quote:

Originally posted by Cyboman:
I just don't know if you were aware of those things.

Michael

Thanks Michael. I'm aware of all you wrote. And I think Franz' English is better than you give him credit for.

But, I apologize to Franz since I know Pantera owners could never be snobs.

Josh

Hey guys
Took this photo today!
Hope it can help you determaine approximately what year you think the interior is, also if it matches the age of the car.
Dennis

looks identical to my 82 - except the steering wheel is on the wrong side!

Actually, it is indeed identical...

quote:

Originally posted by deeb:
looks identical to my 82 - except the steering wheel is on the wrong side!

Isn't your steering wheel on the right too!
Or am I going mad!
PS You have great taste!
Dennis

Hey Deeb, those floor mats look just exactly like mine.

Hi Dennis,
I looked through every picture I have and this is what I found.
(Guys, please feel free to correct my mistakes!)

I checked you VIN against my workshop manual (which is published September 73) and it dates your chassis to January 1973.

Your seats look exactly like mine (which is a 73 model with original factory leather seats).
So your seats could be anything from 73 to about 1980ish.

That dash design was used from about late 72 to about 1983.

I can't find any pictures of door trims like yours. All the pleated trims I've seen have the pleats all the way to the top of the door, and these were all GT5 and GT5S cars from 1984 or later.

That pale interior colour seems to have arrived sometime in the early eighties.

So I'm with Charlie McCall on this one. I'm convinced that your car is a 1973 that has been converted to a GT5 (I know of at least one such car in the UK). This must have happened after 1980 (as this is when the GT5 first appeared). As you have a DeTomaso GT4-GT5 sticker then it seems that DeTomaso did the work.

Derek

For deeb,

Derek
That looks scary!
Had to double look at that one!
Thank you for the info!
Dennis