The Fate of 9022....

What a heart-breaking story. It would be quite the story to follow it all the way to the present. Unless of course its been sitting in Ga. all these years rotting away.

It would be really great if someone popped up here and said "What? I own 9022!"

My guess is it got scrapped, but you just never know.

It doesn't help discern where it is now, but given the serial number this is likley an 80/81 Pantera, possibly a GT5 that had limited sales routes into the US at the time. Perhaps it was a George Stauffer imported car, although Robert was likely not the first owner having acquired it in July 1985.

Off topic a little, but I have just increased insured values of my cars in line with the market, make sure you have enough coverage to replace you Pantera should the worst happen.

Julian

Hey Julian....

That's what I thought too (with the serial number), but when you look at the Provo Mo site you see that serial number 9023 is marked as a 1977 GTS in a listing from Claude Dubois.

So I'm not really sure that we can be 100% positive that this is a 1980s car. Interesting stuff anyway. Hopefully we can find out more!

Rocky,

You are indeed correct, in looking through the registry it is more likely a 76/77 car, which makes it more intriguing as very few of those early post Ford era cars made it to the US.

Julian

Google him in Kingwood.
A phone number is listed. Maybe he'd answer...

The “year models” of the Post-Ford-Era Panteras are most usually based on past or current owner supplied information. The owners have based the dates of their cars upon the documentation available to them. In some cases these dates reflect when the cars were assembled by De Tomaso in Modena, Italy. In other situations the dates are based upon when the cars were first sold, while other dates are based upon when the cars were first registered.

The "last" Vignale coach Pantera was shipped to the US circa August 1974, chassis number 7380. De Tomaso purchased the remaining un-used coaches from Ford (Ghia Operations). Ford then closed down the Vignale coachworks. The highest numbered Vignale coach known to me is 7554. Those last 174 coaches were assembled by De Tomaso in the time frame of late 1974 through early 1976. When those coaches ran-out De Tomaso turned to a new supplier, Carrozeria Maggiora. The first Pantera with a Maggiora coach was assembled in June 1976, bearing chassis number 9001.

Panteras built upon Maggiora coaches were assembled in the time frame of mid 1976 through 1978. Chassis 9022 is obviously one these cars. As far as I know, all of these Panteras started life as GTS or Group 3 models, although Peter Havlik's registry indicates one L model, and one Group 4. At some point between 1976 and 1979 the ultra-wide 345mm Pirelli P7 tires became available, and De Tomaso offered the wide tires & wheels, plus the Group 4 fender flares, as an option for the GTS model.

The Maggiora coaches were discovered to have insufficient strength in the "torque-box" area, and were thus the subject of a factory recall (at the owner's expense), this would include chassis 9022. The factory ran-out of Maggiora coaches circa late 1978 or early 1979, and turned to a new supplier for coaches, i.e. Carrozeria Embo, which supplied all further Pantera coaches (the first Pantera with an Embo coach is assumed to be chassis 9100).

There were a few cars brought to America by individual owners, but Grey Market importation began about 1980 or 1981. Among the first "Grey Market" dealers (as far as I can remember) was PanterAmerica (west coast), Pantera Miami (Jack Sharkey), and at least one other gentleman on the East Coast whose name I ran across years ago. You guys should recognize Jack Sharkey's name, as he is a contributor to the forums.

George,

Thanks the other two names that crop up in regard to late model Pantera's althoguh I'm not sure what years they were active are Guy Anderson and George Stauffer in the US, then some cars came into Canada via John Scotti.

Julian

I was friends with Rob Doone when he lived in Kingwood, Texas. I met him after the accident and he was driving a red GT5. He later moved to Virginia and we lost touch over the years.

quote:

Originally posted by Rocky:
Hey Julian....
That's what I thought too (with the serial number), but when you look at the Provo Mo site you see that serial number 9023 is marked as a 1977 GTS in a listing from Claude Dubois.

And in Bill Van Ess' original DeTomaso Registry of 1994, #9024 is quoted as a 1978, white, in NY at the time.

I think Ron owns that car. He had it up at Seratoga car Show in upstate NY ,5 years ago. It was also at a Bear mountain show ,The car is in all original condition. I think it has mouse skin covered dash