VIN build date vs. Title Year

THPN "MT" ... the MT indicates a build date of December 1972, not April (in '74 'T' indicated April, but it was a weird 16 month cycle that the letters followed, not 12), so it would be considered a '73 model.

Bumperettes could have been retrofitted by a previous owner, it's not an uncommon modification on 'L' cars.

The dash could have been sitting in inventory at the factory and grabbed when the car your looking at was going along the line.

If you provide a bit more information about your (or the car's) location, perhaps someone local can look at it with you to try to determine what is original and or modified, as well as help you go over any of the critical areas you need to be sure are sound on the car before making an offer.

quote:

4998

That thing was "Born to be Wild!"

Here's what Chuck Melton's registry says about the car.

Build Details

This is likely a 1/73 build date, USA Pantera L model.

History

The following was added on 7/1/2014 when offered for sale with these details and photos:


VIN (Vehicle Identification Number): 874THPNMT04998
Year: 1973
Engine: 351-C 383 Stroker
Drive Type: Z-F 5 speed
Model: Pantera
Trim: Group 5

This 73 Pantera under went an extensive restoration about 10 years ago. Five years ago it was up graded to a 393 stroker motor. Unfortunately I do not have an engine build sheet. She starts right up no smoke noises or leaks. The performance clutch, forward and reverse gears engage smooth. When the engine was rebuilt all of the bolt on accessories were replaced as well.

Water pump, electric fuel pump/ filter, alternator, starter, motor mounts, belts hoses. There are lots of up grades on this car like the aluminum duel fan radiator, cooling tubes and over flow tanks. Big boar headers with Ansa exhaust. Edelbrock intake manifold with a 750 Holley carb. Mallory electronic ignition system. Wilwood calipers/ brakes, master and brake booster up grade, tapered bearing rear hub assembles, Koni coil over shocks, Gotti wheels Pirelli P-7 and Dunlop tires. Group 5 body kit installed and looks great, no cracks or separation.

She is Black so she shows everything and the drivers fender is a little wavy up towards the windshield. There are a couple of chips and scratches but no rust popping through. The under carriage is solid no signs of collision or rust repair and has her origonal floor pans and frame rails. The engine bay spring/ shock towers are fine and show no rust or decay.

Everything works, headlights/ windows go up and down, wipers, brake/ turn lights, am fm cd stereo, all new gauges and upholstery. I have had this car up to speed and more on the highway. You can get in a lot of trouble in this car!

Be sure to click on this link below and watch the youtube video. It will show you so much more than pictures will!

Youtube Video

The VIN number was assigned to the coach in Turin Italy, but the coach was then shipped to Modena where it waited, stacked with other coaches, for final assembly to occur. Final assembly usually took place 1 month to 3 months after the coach was assembled. In a few cases even longer.

The last two Alpha characters, "MT", identify the chassis/coach being built in Turin in December 1972. The chassis number however makes this car an early 1973 Pantera L model according to Ford. Ford considered 4840 - 5899 as 1973 models with final assembly occurring between January 1, 1973 and June 30, 1973. 1973 was a "short" model year.

Many Pantera L models were equipped with the dual pod dash. The distinguishing features of an L model are the impact resistant bumpers, the low compression engine and the Arriva tires. Everything else was just an assembly line change, such changes were constantly made during the years the Pantera was manufactured.

Yup, that's it!

Thanks for the build date clarification, that makes more sense now. A very late '72 would have definitely been registered as a '73 model.

I just did a VIN decoding on Provamo, and it does appear to be a 1/73 build date, L model. The dashboard threw me a curveball! Very interesting to see that dash in a '73 car. The bumpers I've seen swapped back and forth, but the dash was a new one to me.

George, just saw your post, must have posted right when you posted.

That's great info, I considered that one possibility was that they made the bodies in batches, so the date stamps and the serial numbers didn't necessarily line up perfectly. Sounds like that's pretty accurate.

So then it is definitely a '73 L with an early style dash. Thanks for the clarification guys. I love researching this stuff, and the wealth of knowledge here is incredible!

The new dashboards showed up around chassis 5284, May 1973. I had to look that up, took me a few minutes to figure out where to look.

Interesting, so there were around 400 L models shipped with the Pre-L dash then (4840-5284). Or maybe even more, I'm reading an older post of yours that indicates that many earlier serial numbers were actually considered 1973 cars:

http://pantera.infopop.cc/eve/...0052674/m/2990043404

I don't know if Ford recognized these cars as '73 model year cars. But if they did, then '73-registered models were technically from 3853-4268 (pre-L '73), and from 4269-5899 (L '73). The dash change-over occured at 5284, which means that 3853-5283 had the old style dash (1430 cars total - 1014 L '73 models and all 415 Pre-L '73 models), and 5284-5899 had the new style (615 cars).

Not really deal-breaking or deal-making information, but fascinating nonetheless.

quote:

Originally posted by KwPantera:

... I'm reading an older post of yours that indicates that many earlier serial numbers were actually considered 1973 cars ...

Ford officially considered cars from 4269 to 4839 as 1972-1/2 models; cars from 4840 to 5899 were 1973 models; 5900 to 7380 were 1974 models. This is as per Ford documentation, documentation that many owners have in their collection.

Of course July 1 1972 was the beginning of model year 1973 as far as Ford & Lincoln/Mercury dealerships were concerned. Some Lincoln dealers did in fact document the 1972-1/2 models as 1973 models when they registered them. That was what I was trying to get across in that earlier post.

The 1973 Pantera model year was only 6 months long, January 1 1973 through June 30 1973. The Pantera 1974 model year began July 1 1973, and was thus brought into alignment with corporate Ford's model year. This alignment only lasted one model year, and was in fact extended 2 extra months! The 1974 model year was 14 months long! Ford manufactured 1974 Panteras through August 1974, even though it had been building 1975 Fords, Lincolns & Mercurys since July 1 1974.

The history gets stranger than that when you get into it. Ford (operating as Ghia Operations) built the 1973 and 1974 Panteras shipped to the US ... not DeTomaso!

Fascinating ... indeed.

Indeed! That is interesting stuff. Where would one go to find the full history of these cars? I know the general history, but I'm talking the nitty gritty, like options, serial numbers, etc.

quote:

Originally posted by KwPantera:

... Where would one go to find the full history of these cars? I know the general history, but I'm talking the nitty gritty, like options, serial numbers, etc.

You're in the right place.

Options? Exterior color & radios. Perhaps which type of exterior rear view mirrors the dealer installed.

The Marti report will tell you which dealer originally sold the car. ProvaMo has put together information on a lot of cars.

Actually I have a historic over-view to post, but haven't found time to do so. I'll post it right here in this forum as a "sticky" when I get around to it.

I have not used this one, feel free to

quote:

Originally posted by JFB #05177:
I have not used this one, feel free to

I was under the impression that production slowed to a crawl in December 1973, with most cars built after December 1973 using up whatever parts remained in the shop. I was also under the impression that Ford was really cutting the prices in 1974 because it could not move the inventory due to gas crisis, insurance and government regulation.

KW, politics unfortunately gets involved too. A large fraction of Panteras are (or were) registered in CA, which once passed a no-smog-test-required law for seldom-used cars 25 or more years old. The cut-off date was 1 Jan 74 but it was quickly found the CA DMV would accept the 'build date' as the qualifying date. So, many 'original' 1974-registered cars built in late '73 were re-registered as '73s after having the build-date tag inspected at a DMV. In fact, Ford Motor Co themselves re-registered some 40 1974 U.S-spec GTS Panteras as '73s so they could be legally sold in CA- their biggest market. So the oft-quoted number of U.S. GTS cars is not 98 but 138 and not all are 1974s.

The smog exemption law was written with a 'rolling date exemption' but almost instantly, other busybody CA lawmakers began sniping at the statute to delete it, gut it or otherwise 'fix' it so you still had to smog-test all old cars. Its still on the books but dunno what happened to the rolling date exemption section.

One NV friend recently bought a restored big-block '68 Mustang out of CA that had a factory (I think) dual-quad setup, and it sold cheap because NO ONE could coax the thing to both run and pass CA smog testing for registration last year. Here in N. NV, smog laws are by county and in Douglas County, NV near Lake Tahoe, a blown Chevy big-block on nitrous can be street registered without hassle. NV also has a law that says 'if your car was never drilled for a front license plate, you are NOT required to run one'. I carry a copy of the law whenever I cross the border.... Fun to see police read the statute and try to find ways to still write you a fix-it ticket.