Why can no one resist the urge to mess with these?

"cletus44 aka Clayton Seams" (cletus44) 01/02/2017 at 10:35 • Filed to: None

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I love the Pantera. It’s the last mid-engine 1970's exotic (That isn’t a Merak) you can buy fur under $100k these days. And yet, despite that high price, it seems every single one has been fucked with. People can’t resist putting spoilers and flares over the clean Ghia lines. They bedazzle the workman-blue 351 with chrome Edelbrock valve covers and giant, megaphone exhausts.

It would be unthinkable for someone to put coilovers or retrofit fuel injection on a Miura but for some reason, people think it’s acceptable here. If I ever buy one it will be bone stock. Some things don’t need to be messed with.

bob and john > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/02/2017 at 10:41

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I think ppl do it BECAUSE they can. Coil overs or EFI for muria isnt exactly a off-the-shelf part.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/02/2017 at 10:48

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You answered your own question. Last exotic you can buy for under 100g.

facw > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/02/2017 at 10:50

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It’s the last mid-engine 1970's exotic (That isn’t a Merak) you can buy fur under $100k these days

The Lotus Esprit says hi! (I won’t hear any arguments that the Esprit is not an exotic because they are wrong, especially compared to a car that was sold at your local Ford/Lincoln/Mercury dealer).

lone_liberal > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/02/2017 at 10:50

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Weren’t some of those things, like spoilers, put on by the factory on later models? I always thought they were like Countaches in that they grew spoilers as the years went along. As for fuel injection and whatnot I will never criticize someone for making their cars more driveable. Remember, the Pantera continued production through the beginning of the malaise era and those engines weren’t what they could have been.

Wacko > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/02/2017 at 10:52

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http://www.johnscotti.com/en/used/1974-de-tomaso-pantera-gts-upgraded-to-group-5-specs/6690324/

This was my uncles. Until he passed just over a year ago.

He had it for over 20 years

cletus44 aka Clayton Seams > lone_liberal 01/02/2017 at 10:56

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Spoilers and flares were added for the later GT5 models though many owners have added these to non-GT5 cars. More driveable? I dunno. A properly tuned Ford 351 with a 4 BBL is a pretty tractable engine. It’s not like these are getting blasted through Minnesota winters or anything. Yeah the malaise ones were kinda doggy in power but the earlier ones made respectable numbers. I’m just cranky is all.

Noodles > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/02/2017 at 10:56

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This one has been Edelbrocked but the driver almost Mustangs some bystanders

I don’t know why you’d want to put a wing on that rear

cletus44 aka Clayton Seams > facw 01/02/2017 at 10:57

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I totally forgot about the little Esprit. What a great car.

cletus44 aka Clayton Seams > Noodles 01/02/2017 at 10:59

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That one sounds pretty mean. But yeah, the rear looks best when unadorned.

crowmolly > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/02/2017 at 11:03

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It’s 70's tech that can be upgraded without having to take out a second mortgage. MOAR POWAR is very easily achieved, as is better reliability.

shop-teacher > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/02/2017 at 11:03

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Because for years they were rediculously under-valued. Twenty years ago you could find them all day long in the $20-30k range, putting them square in the budget of people who weren’t afraid to work on a Ford V8, and who thought chrome everything and a bass-boat paint job were good ideas.

cletus44 aka Clayton Seams > shop-teacher 01/02/2017 at 11:06

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I think you nailed it. They were priced in the tacky-corvette and over-chromed-harley realm for too long.

WilliamsSW > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/02/2017 at 11:06

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Agree- it’s too beautiful to mess with, yet it seems like owners do.

I can’t blame someone for wanting to free up the breathing on the 351 a bit though, in the later cars, but I’d keep it simple.

lone_liberal > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/02/2017 at 11:08

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I get what you’re saying and agree to a point, especially about the spoilers, but if some guy wants to put miles on his Pantera and not deal with vapor lock or whatever carb-related ills the car has EFI doesn’t bother me.

shop-teacher > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/02/2017 at 11:12

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Yes! That’s a good way to put it.

V8Demon - Prefers Autos for drag racing. Fite me! > shop-teacher 01/02/2017 at 11:20

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20-30? Try 12. 12 grand for a running, rust free example that needed so.e paint work (it was a 5 footer) and had crappy aftermarket wheels. Had I seen it before I bought my S197 instead of a few months after, I’d have bought it.

cletus44 aka Clayton Seams > lone_liberal 01/02/2017 at 11:25

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If he wants to avoid vapor lock he should route the fuel lines properly. I’ve driven a ton of old carbureted stuff and as long as you maintain them, they run great. I’ll admit, I’ve never owned one that was mid-engined or especially high strung but carbs aren’t automatically bad and EFI isn’t automatically good. Plus, who doesn’t love that sound when the secondaries open up and you hear the air going VRRRHUUUUUMMMM past the venturis. Music.

cletus44 aka Clayton Seams > WilliamsSW 01/02/2017 at 11:26

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Totally. I just love the look of that simple, FoMoCo blue small block sitting in a bay of an exotic car. Cognitive dissonance that I find pleasing.

Nothing > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/02/2017 at 11:31

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Because GT5! The same thing could be side for the original Countach and the flared, spoilered, duct bedazzled 80s Countach. Although there, Lamborghini did it to themselves.

WilliamsSW > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/02/2017 at 11:33

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Ha- I just posted a pic of an Iso Grifo elsewhere on here, and was thinking about how I love all of the exotics that used American V8s.

McMike > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/02/2017 at 11:43

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When I was in highschool, I had a hardon for the GT5. The more wings, flares, and scoops the better. Same with the Countach.

Now, 30 years later, I like the earlier, cleaner models.

Isn’t it weird?

DrScientist > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/02/2017 at 11:44

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you can get a 308 for under 100k. a driver non 4-valve for probably significantly less.

cletus44 aka Clayton Seams > McMike 01/02/2017 at 11:45

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Me too. Something about growing older makes you want simpler designs, less gingerbread as they say.

cletus44 aka Clayton Seams > DrScientist 01/02/2017 at 11:46

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True. But they just never did anything for me.

shop-teacher > V8Demon - Prefers Autos for drag racing. Fite me! 01/02/2017 at 11:47

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Yeah, I was talking about a really nice one. There was a tow truck company owner I used to deliver pizza to in high school, he had three of them.

Dave the car guy , still here > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/02/2017 at 12:54

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Back in the late 70's and early 80's I’d already seen two that were altered to run big blocks. Saw one when in Houston that had a Cobrajet engine after the owner smashed the oil pan and ruined the original motor. The other belonged to a school shop teacher in Virginia Beach and had something like a Ford 427 swapped in. I was trying to buy that car sight unseen on a good friend’s recommendation but he decide to keep the car. Not sure whatever happened to that one. So few of these have been spared the wrenching of the wrong people.

Kanaric > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/02/2017 at 12:59

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I did when they were like $30k not the 60-100k they are now lol

Chuckybas > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/02/2017 at 13:11

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I knew a guy in Livonia, Michigan in the ‘80s. Never drove the car, but I was friends with his son and we occasionally peeked into the garage to look at it. They had money, but I got the impression were always too busy to drive it. ANYWAY, I remember when the son told me his dad was having a spoiler put on the car. And then it sat in the garage even more, as far as I know.

IanZ - limited-slip indifferential > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/02/2017 at 13:15

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There are few things I hate more than tacky modifications of rare/classic/both cars. On the other hand, tasteful mods can really bring out something special.

This is beautiful.

This is garbage.

cletus44 aka Clayton Seams > IanZ - limited-slip indifferential 01/02/2017 at 13:28

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I actually don’t like either of them. Those big chrome wheels look kinda silly. I know they’re the original design scaled up, but Panteras look awesome with lots of chunky sidewall. I’d leave the aesthetics alone.  

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/02/2017 at 13:38

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There are people who want a Pantera, and there are people who just wish they could afford a Countach.

V8Demon - Prefers Autos for drag racing. Fite me! > shop-teacher 01/02/2017 at 22:16

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I’m always JUST behind the curve when it comes to cars that skyrocket in value. I always seem to eyeball them, say to myself “Yeah, I can afford it, but where am I gonna put it”, then a few years pass and they become unobtainium.

I’m working a ton of overtime and widening the driveway this year. I’ll set up a carport and buy something decent and see if I can clean it up and flip it for a profit. I’ve waited too long....

shop-teacher > V8Demon - Prefers Autos for drag racing. Fite me! 01/02/2017 at 22:26

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Right there with you. I’m trying to buy a decent square body Blazer before those get out of reach.

GenuineAlexReid - The Reidus > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/03/2017 at 14:18

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Just gimme those wheels