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DeTomaso Panteras are as 1970s as a performance car can get, and despite Ford cancelling its involvement in the business after just four years, DeTomaso kept building his supercars from 1971 to 1991, totaling 7260 units.
At first, it seemed like a match made in heaven. Former racing driver Alejandro de Tomaso was looking for an engine to power his supercar, and since Ford was still bitter about not being able to buy Ferrari, it was happy to offer a powerplant for the Pantera. DeTomaso's mid-engined wonder was designed by American Tom Tjaarda at Ghia, and powered by a 351 Cleveland V8 linked to a bulletproof ZF five-speed. Ford sold it through Lincoln-Mercury dealers, and all seemed merry until three major factors ruined the picture.
First, DeTomaso used untreated, often already-rusty steel to build the car in Turin to whatever standard they could manage at the Vignale factory. Then, Lincoln-Mercury dealers had no idea how to service them. On top of that, the Oil Crisis hit, raising questions about safety and emissions. De Tomaso commissioned Ghia to come up with a new body quickly, but even Tjaarda's flying buttresses weren't enough to keep Ford involved, which meant the Pantera's factory-backed sales came to an end in America before the calendar turned to 1975.
But these things hardly concern Gary Corcoran, who was offered a $250 automobile allowance by his bosses after three years of employment in the early 1980s. After looking at a number of Corvettes and 246 Dinos, Gary came across a white Pantera at a Ferrari dealership in Newport Beach, and made the only sensible choice—turning the DeTomaso into his company car.
While settling down and changing jobs put the car on jacks for many years, Gary's 1972 DeTomaso eventually made it to Don Byars at Full Throttle Panteras for a complete restoration.
"A paint job and some mechanical fixes" was all he originally intended, but the results speak for themselves. In a dialect Ford V8s only use when put in the middle of a Pantera.
