Lejandro DeTomaso began manufacturing cars in 1959 from a factory at Modena in Italy. Throughout the 1960s, various DeTomasos were produced including a number of radical and successful F1 machines.

The Vallelunga, the Mangusta and the Pampero were road cars however, and it was the Mangusta which ‘evolved’ into the Pantera in 1970.

The Pantera was in essence a blatant attempt at creating an American Ferrari

At the time, Ford was known for supplying its engines to various small manufacturers around the world (including a certain Mr.Carroll Shelby) and the Pantera was a direct result of an agreement between Ford US and DeTomaso. The cars were designed and semi constructed at the Ghia coachworks in Italy and it’s no coincidence that many a Ford has carried Ghia badges from that day to this.

As a matter of interest, Mangusta is Italian for Mongoose - as David Attenborough would tell you, the Mongoose is the deadly enemy of the Cobra - and the Mangusta did indeed cause a few embarrasing moments for Shelby’s Cobra on the race tracks of America !

Yet the Pantera upset more than the occasional snake - it gave dancing stallions a hard time too.

Aimed primarily at the North American market and with an all-American 351 Cleveland V8 out the back, the Pantera took on and beat Ferrari and others on US soil.

With its obviously low drag coefficient, the Pantera could rocket from 0 - 60mph in under 6 seconds and reach a top speed of 270kmh. Even today, these early Panteras are raced in the USA and serious engine packages are produced by a number of specialist outfits.

One of these uses twin turbos to produce 700hp, while the SVO stroker kit produces around 550hp.