1984 De Tomaso Pantera GT5 Coupe

Description

Styled by Ghia’s Tom Tjaarda and engineered by Giampaolo Dallara, Alejandro de Tomaso’s Pantera (Panther in Italian) was born in 1971 as the successor to the beautiful but chronically underdeveloped Mangusta and, with Ford’s backing, evolved into one of the world’s best-selling supercars.  With a production life spanning an extraordinary 19 years, the Pantera stayed true to the original concept of a Latin exotic powered by reliable American underpinings, the 351-cid Cleveland V8 providing plenty of brute force.  Mid-mounted, the engine was mated to an aluminium-cased ZF five-speed transaxle with integral limited-slip diff, while race-bred suspension - comprising wishbones, coil springs, anti-roll bars and telescopic shock absorbers all round – combined with fat rubber provided exemplary handling.  Early Panteras could manage 0-60 mph in 5.5 seconds and a top speed of around 165 mph, dual circuit ventilated disc brakes (inboard at the rear) keeping all that speed in check.  Fast forward to the early 1980s and the Pantera had matured into an altogether more sophisticated supercar, with flared guards covering beautiful Campagnolo rims shod with the widest section Pirelli P7s available, front spoiler and a Countach-inspired rear wing.  Using Australian-sourced 351 Clevelands running a single Holley four-barrel carburettor by this stage, power was up to 350bhp at 6000rpm in standard form (and plenty more with a little tuning), the latest GT5 competed directly with Lamborghini’s Countach and Ferrari’s 512 BBi but at a price comparable with the cheaper V8 exotics coming out of Italy.  Just how many GT5 Panteras were made is the subject of much conjecture but a reliable guess would be around 240, of which only a handful were specified with right-hand drive.  The Pantera story took an interesting turn in the early 1980s when Australian businessman and race car driver Ken Matthews set-up an assembly operation behind his showroom on Parramatta Road, Haberfield, NSW, landing Panteras in Completely Knocked Down (CKD) form from Italy using 5.8 litre V8s stockpiled after local production ceased.  In 1984 Paul Halstead of The Toy Shop fame entered the picture, buying out Matthews and establishing De Tomaso Australia, who continued building GT5s until early 1986, including Dr Geoffrey Edelsten’s infamous pink example – painted to match his helicopter, although cars continued to trickle out of Italy (in revised GT5S form) until 1990.