Pantera #9008

Hi

I have vin 9053.

Kjeld pedersen
Denmark

Welcome,

Peter Havlik is the authority on the late model 9000 series cars and may have information, send him a PM his username is 'Peter H'

Your car has an entry in the Provamo registry with a picture of an Observation sheet in Italian, no photos of the car. Contact admin@detoamsoregistry.org to get some photos submitted and access.

#9008 should be a 77-80 car, my 1981 GT5 is #9178.

You haven't seen much because relatively few such cars were built, and none were officially imported to the U,S. due to decades of restrictions. #9008 was, in the original paper DeTomaso Roster printed in 1994, another of the 'secret' Panteras in which nothing was ever submitted by the owner. That's fine for those who so choose, but it sure makes tracing things difficult for subsequent owners! By definition, all series-9000 cars were built 1978-onward for DeTomaso at Carrozerias Maggiora or Embo in Italy.

After 1974 when Ford pulled out and sold the Pantera rights back to DeTomaso, the factory would supply anything in the Euro-GTS Supplemental Catalogues as original equipment if requested, including club-racing GT-3 and real-racing GT-4 parts, sun-roofs, special paint and the like. So your car is (as all 9000-series are) very likely to be unique among narrow-body Panteras, especially in the U.S.

The best bet for owners of 9000-series cars like yourself is to go to Peter Havlik's web site in British Columbia (www.peterhavlik@me.com), where he lists (with photos when available) 316 of the 602 total possible series-9000 cars, right up to the last Pantera Si.

Unfortunately, #9008 is not shown in Peter's 9000-Roster, either, but #9001 and #9007 are. As a SWAG, car #9007 should be a 1978-built Euro-spec GTS, of which at least 90 were made through 1989.

Wow, thanks for all the information, and so quickly! I’m going to check out the guy you told me to, and keep you all updated if you’d like! In the meanwhile, I’m posting one photo which I got before I left Europe. It looks like a GTS, with the body kit and spoiler, I’d just like to find out if it was converted or was originally this way!

The coaches for chassis 9001 through 9100 were assembled by Carrozzeria Maggiora, Panteras built upon these coaches were assembled over approximately a two year period beginning mid-1976. There was insufficient strength in the torque box area, and these cars were the subjects of a recall, at the owners' expense. Carrozzeria Maggiora and De Tomaso had a falling-out, and the coaches of all subsequent Panteras were assembled by Carrozzeria Embo.

The Pirelli P7 tires for the wide-body Panteras did not come on the scene until about 1979, i.e. after Panteras built with Embo coaches had gone into production. I believe ALL Panteras assembled using Maggiora coaches where originally assembled as GTS or Group 3 Panteras. The GT5 coachwork of your Pantera was most likely a factory retrofit ... perhaps performed at the same time the car was taken to Modena for the recall. Therefore you are most likely correct, your Pantera was originally built as a GTS.

The front spoiler of your Pantera appears to be a transitional spoiler between the "flat blade" spoiler of the 1970s era GTS models and the spoiler that became standard for the GT5 models. If it is a factory spoiler then your Pantera's historical interest is heightened for me and other history buffs as it captures a design in transition.

Keep in mind the historic truth is what Peter, Chuck, and everyone else are interested in.

Has the car participated in the voluntary recall?

That would be an important fact to know.

Vouker:

I regret that I am unable to add any information to what everyone has written above. Your car is a Maggiora Carrozzeria coach and, as George has written, likely a GTS modified later to GT5. I say "likely" a GTS because De Tomaso would build cars to custom specifications and so it may have started life as a Gr3 or other variant of the GTS. The one thing we can tell you with certainty is that, with a VIN of 9008, it was not originally built as a GT5.

There were no more than 100 Maggiora cars produced at a rate of roughly 30 per year, and therefore it is a rare car.

If you provide us with more photos we may be able to say more. Did any paperwork come with the car that could shed some light on its provenance? What did your father tell you about it?

- Peter

Peter -

That piece of paper is really cool, no matter what it says!

You would think Al would assign the tech with the best handwriting to complete the "Obzervazion" report, though!

Rocky

Peter,
Thanks so much for the information, and for the picture that you posted!
I sadly don’t have any other pictures, i will ask my father to send me some of the interior and around the car in General, and post them when I do! My father did not tell me much about the car, except for the fact that he found it with a for sale sign on the side of a road in italy, where it had been for a few months unmoved.

I want to thank the whole forum and community for getting all this invaluable information about this car which I just found out is one of the rarer panteras out there, and for helping me learn more about the production run of the vehicle.

Interestingly enough, the papers registered to FIA declare the car as a 1977 deTomaso pantera GT5/GTS, which I see is partially wrong!

More photos to come when I get them!

Vouker