The Search

While I finish up my Cobra kit car project that I cover on my other blog, I started to think about another project. One project that I kept lusting after was to dive into a Pantera project. I wasn't particular about the year and I was open to a myriad of project scopes (complete rebuilds to simple restoration). The scope I figured would be dictated by my budget and the market. Well, I started about 3 months ago, researching the car, signing up for forums and reading other's blogs about their experiences. I noticed that most panteras were modified in some way or the other with a lot of them being heavily modified. I didn't mind but I found that stock panteras are hard to find. Anyway, during this time, I started a new gig with a company called Sojern out in Omaha, NE. While getting to know the team out at dinner, we started talking cars. These guys are car guys! Our COO "Fish" is especially connected in the car world in NE and we spent a lot of time talking shop. We got around to dream cars and projects and I mentioned that I was looking for a pantera. He pauses for a moment and says "The guy I rent my garage from is into panteras. Let me ask if he knows of any." Well...this is interesting. I head back home and I get an email from Fish saying that in the garage/shop next to him is a pantera...and it is for sale...and from the original owner! Seems that the owner lives in Europe and in Omaha with lots of trips to Brazil. In fact, this gentleman had a pantera in europe and one here in the US. The gentleman that he stored the car with did all the maintenance and made sure it was ready to go when he was in town. I guess this explains why the car has just over 11K original miles. Yup. 11K. So here is what I saw when I went into the shop where the pantera was lurking:

The original owner, Dewey Anderson arrived and I was ready to inspect the car. My expectations were low being that this car lived in the rust belt and although had low miles, was worried about impacts of low milage would have as well. Dewey gave me a history of the car. He originally had a Dino, but thought it was "gutless" and discovered the Pantera while living in Europe. He had been to the DeTomaso factory a few times and even knew Mrs. DeTomaso. He bought one of the first production cars and added this car to his collection back in 1975. He liked to drive these cars at speed. He grilled me on my intentions for the car and then I was able to start the inspection. Here are some pics without the car cover:




In my inspection, I was very surprised to find little if any rust. The interior only had one tiny rip on the driver's seat. The steering wheel rubber I would come to find was deteriorating with age and that the fuel gauge might have a bad ground. The sheetmetal was in good shape given that this is in original paint. There are a lot of dents that should come out relatively easy with today's paintless dent removal. The brakes were frozen and the seals on the engine are weepy (due to sitting idol I am sure). I went through a 5 page check list that I won't go thru here but she came out pretty good for how old, low milage and original paint. We reached a deal and the car was sold. Here is a picture of Dewey:

And here is EJ who is a Pantera lover and caretaker of this Pantera

The modifications that were made to this car were:
- New carb
- New intake
- New cam
- Wider rear wheels and front wheels
- New air cleaner

Pretty much that is it. Dewey gave me the original carb, a host of manuals, the original radio block out plate, some italian manual, dodads, etc. He also gave me valuable advice as well. I want to thank Fish, EJ and Dewey for helping add to my car addiction.