*UPDATE*DeTomaso- to go on the block

If I had that kind of money burning a hole in my piggy bank, I wouldn't hesitate to buy it and produce a new Pantera.

I guess I have until the 28th to fatten piggy up!

Michael

It will be interesting to see who buys the rights to the name. I would like to hope that this investment would be for new production.

But, please no company with plans to build in China! Sorry I digress but have had enough of every friggin thing being produced in China. It has become virtually impossible to buy U.S or North American manufactured products anymore. Even Craftsman branded tools are starting to be produced in China. Shame on Sears but I am sure this is just for them to survive.

But the “GREAT NEWS” is that we just might see new DeTomasos again!

Well, 2 mil Euros for the name and 8 mil more for the footprint in Modena - and I bet about 100,000 sq ft of parts.

Not a high price to pay. Think we could take up a collection?

I would be most curious to see who ends up bidding and would take odds that they do not meet their reserve.

Hey ...is it on ebay?

I am curious if a major European marque will buy the name, just to sandbag it -- like forever. I do not want to rain on anyone's parade, but this is exactly what BMW did to Triumph. They sold off Rover to Ford, but kept Triumph and some other dead British marques; REASONING? To never have to compete with those marques ever again. Very sad. I hope this will not be the fate of DeTomaso.

I am all for the collection idea. All we need is 10 million contributors or so.

quote:

Originally posted by DeMopuar:
I am curious if a major European marque will buy the name, just to sandbag it -- like forever. I do not want to rain on anyone's parade, but this is exactly what BMW did to Triumph. They sold off Rover to Ford, but kept Triumph and some other dead British marques; REASONING? To never have to compete with those marques ever again. Very sad. I hope this will not be the fate of DeTomaso

I hope FIAT won´t be thinking of this...

All that would need to be purchased is the rights to the names. Although an Italian factory would be ideal for the new cars heritage, it would not be necessary to move the marque forward.

Michael

Let's see who buys it!!! I wish times were different and Ford or an American consortium would take an interest in it. Let's hope for the best.

Ford would be the perfect owner for DeTomaso. Use the Ford GT platform/ drive train and pop on the new Pantera body. Sadly, Ford is not now or in the near future able to take on this debt.

Hey, anyone know where is Lee Iacocca? He could pull this deal together.

Random thoughts on this subject.

Alejandro was a business entreprenuer, he made a quick dollar turning around companies like Benelli, Moto Guzzi and Maserati. Is there an entreprenuer in Italy ready to do the same thing with DeTomaso? If not, then I don't think a new Pantera will be built in Italy. If anywhere, most likely in China or South Africa. Therefore I would expect to see somebody make a bid on the Logo & Name, separate from the property.

The newest exotic car companies founded by entreprenuer businessmen have all used the name of the businessman, not an established name like DeTomaso. If an entreprenuer is to save that name, it will be somebody with a sentimental memory for the marque. But then you have the situation with rising fuel prices, which is not the market situation you want to introduce a new exotic car into.

I see the Pantera name best serving Lincoln/Mercury, if they had a desire to build a competitor for the Corvette. Lincoln Mercury seems to always have trouble attracting foot traffic into their dealerships. Such a car would do that for Lincoln/Mercury. However, it would be built on an inexpensive uni-body, and use as many parts as possible from the Mustang/Thunderbird/Lincoln LS parts bins. It could not be hand built in England like the Ford GT was. FYI, Ford still owns Ghia, and could put the Ghia name on any new uni-body designed for a new Pantera.

I do agree with the earlier comment that there is not an ice cube's chance in hell that Ford will do this, given Ford's economic situation and the market situation.

Tata Motors of India just purchased Jaguar from Ford, I don't know anything about Mr. Tata, but perhaps he would like to have that name & logo available for a future project.

cowboy from hell

You guys are all daydreaming. The name will be bought by a tennis shoe company or ceral flake manufacture. The factory will be bought for a land fill or some such thing. Get over it, we are dinosaurs to be Pantera fans. 99.9 percent of the people alive today never heard of DeTomaso. Even the Pantera rock band is long ago defunct and only ageing drug addled satan worshippers remember there even was a band named that. It has become no world for old men.

Here's an idea: it would only take 450 of us Pantera owners to dish up 5 grand each to buy the name.

Wow, my idea of fun: 449 partners.

We'll just put all the decisions up for a web vote. Heh.

R.

If the 450 members put up the dough, to do it right, there would have to be a board of directors that would operate this as a business with fiduciary responsibility. So there would be a board of directors overseeing the President, Treasurer, and Secretary of this new found business venture. The President would have to be someone with balls the size of grape fruit to really make this work properly -- plus have some more financial backing to do ........ something with the name.

Sounds complicated, doesn't it? Welcome to the business world.

O.K., so who's going to be the President? Hey George, what do you say!

More importantly, who is going to go find the additional money it would take to actually do something with the name?

How many t-shirts do we have to do to make the name pay for itself? :-)

R.

Wasn't Tom Tjaarda trying to buy DT when they first went BK? What would be the value of the name Pantera to anyone but him? He is the spiritual father of the car. It would be a career topper for him to do an updated Pantera. Imagine using the same concept as the original using some parts from here and some parts from there. Isn't that what Panoz or Noble did? Both used Ford powerplants. I always thought the Noble was the real successor to the Pantera. Maybe the new owners of Noble could buy the name and put a Ford V 8 in the car and call it a Pantera. That would make the cover of every magazine and be worth the cost of the name in publicity alone.

Yes, Tjaarda, along with some other investors, did try to buy DeTomaso. They weren't the only group of who tried. Santiago wanted a ridiculous amount of money. Hopefully Tjaarda and his partners can get back into action now and take this company.

No doubt the existing "factory" is useless. You are only buying the name and logo here. That, and the Pantera name are really the only valuable things. The best bet for construction is South Africa. It's the only way to keep costs down, and I think you have to sell a new Pantera for somewhere around $100-120K to make it sellable. How much does a new Noble or Superperformance Daytona cost? Something like that I would think.

Just wanted to set a couple of things strait. For the record, Santiago did not set the price of the sale of the company. For the last couple of years, the company has been in court, and it is that court that set the price. As to the Factory, I was there last month, and you are correct all the "mechanical" production is gone. The draftsman's offices are exactly as they were when I saw it last in 2006. It is my understanding that stuff will go to the new owner, who I am sure will not be a car person. All the people who came to look at the property in the last couple of years have been developers. So, all that stuff will hit the dumpster. Santiago and i talked about trying to save it, but the court does not want any of it to be moved before the sale. We will try to work with the new owner to see if we can save it.
As to FORD, they rejected an offer to sell them the name back in 2005, for a LOT less than 1.5

Wellis,

If the information under your user name is correct, then your insight on the situation has to be considered among the most correct postings on the forum

Per several posts on the "other" forum there were no bids for the Detomaso/Pantera/Guara names. Per the post 1.78 million Euros was the starting bid.

Does Qvale own the rights to the Mangusta name they affixed to that gawd awful mutant Mustang?

Here's a couple of interesting quotes from Mike Drew on this subject:

quote:

The De Tomaso logo and name would only have value to a very small
(microscopic) element of society; even within automotive circles, the marque name isn't
particularly respected, thanks in no small part to the Machiavellian actions of
De Tomaso over the years.

Given that the company hasn't produced anything of any real significance for
more than 20 years, it's virtually a 'dead' marque.

quote:

ask anybody in the USA if they've ever heard of a De Tomaso and
you'll get a blank stare from most people. A few people will twig to the idea
of a Pantera, but the De Tomaso name means almost nothing here in the USA.
The name is much better known, and unfortunately almost universally derided in
Europe. I'm not saying it's right, but that's just the way it is.

Here's the direct links:
http://realbig.com/pipermail/detomaso/2008-June/096606.html
http://realbig.com/pipermail/detomaso/2008-June/096635.html

So, can I start printing cool Pantera t-shirts without worrying? :-)

R.

so umm... any news?????

No bids on the property either..

No news here, just trying to see if anyone knows of any "new" developments.

A Pantera owner told us that he was informed by one Pantera vendor that the DeTomaso factory is still busy making the parts that they market with Santiago DeTomaso overseeing operations at the factory. When I tried to verify this through a former DeTomaso employee who we know, she tells us by email that there are no operations taking place at the factory although Santiago is frequently there. Has any DeTomaso enthusiast visited the factory recently that can verify one way or the other if any parts are coming out of the factory? If the factory is not grinding out parts as suggested, where are the "factory-parts" coming from?

Brazil, China or Mexico? The usual suspects?

Hi Dave,

This is probably not new info for you, but for the other owners....

Well, many months ago I spoke with Steve W. and he mentioned the new parts coming through the pipeline; a venture in conjunction with Santiago.

We were specifically talking about the new stub axles, and when asked about their source, he replied Santiago had requested that topic not be discussed. I did learn most of that production had come to Steve, but some had gone to Santiago.

I imagine there may be some connection to De Tomaso family still in South America, if any?

Failing that, I'm with Dennis - the usual suspects.

Larry

quote:

I imagine there may be some connection to De Tomaso family still in South America, if any?

Very likely, I had it on good authority that Wilkinson's new stub axles were coming out of Argentina.

quote:

Posted January 17, 2009 09:48 AM Hide Post

quote:
I imagine there may be some connection to De Tomaso family still in South America, if any?



Very likely, I had it on good authority that Wilkinson's new stub axles were coming out of Argentina.

If that is what you heard from Larry S., Steve specifically denied that in our conversation. He said he had told no one where they were coming from, and stories otherwise were therefore not valid.

True or smokescreen? Who knows.

Larry