The Last Pantera (is this silver car it?) | FerrariChat

The Last Pantera (is this silver car it?)

Discussion in 'Other Italian' started by bitzman, Jan 14, 2016.

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  1. bitzman

    bitzman F1 Rookie
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    wallace wyss
    Of course there are many definitions of the word "last" so as to prevent confusion, I'll define it more, I don't mean the Pantera as we know it, the one that started selling in 1971 in the U.S. I mean the last running prototype of a car intended by the factory to be put into production as a Pantera. What got me going on this bunny trail was a story in Italy about some guy who loved DeTomaso cars and who, in 2015, went down to the abandoned DeTomaso factory and appropriated the molds that were used to make the fiberglass body. (Whether you can just go into a factory and appropriate leftovers sounds like some future legal matter to me...) I don't speak Italian but it didn't mention the engine or gearbox so I am thinking all he got was the body moulds (molds?) which is a long way from a real car. But in the Spring 2010 issue of Pantera Int. Magazine they show a side view of a finished silver car on page 19. And I have seen a picture of it being driven which means it was a running, driving car.

    http://www.pim.net/PIMSpring2010.pdf

    In the PI picture, it appears to be the same car that this rescuer has the molds of. So I was wondering if anyone remembers what chassis that car was built on; or if it was scratch built and where the running car went off to? I'd ask what the chassis number was but if it was scratch built maybe they didn't stamp a number onto it; what would be the point if it was just to have something to test and there was only one. Now if there was two, I could see putting numbers on the chassis in case they were identical.

    Thanks for any clues. If it turns out only the body molds exist, I don't think any car built using the molds is worth anything but if it was the last Pantera chassis intended to be the new Pantera that's a car worth talking about...
     
  2. Auraraptor

    Auraraptor F1 World Champ
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    WALDR, the story seems a bit far fetched...
     
  3. DeTomaso

    DeTomaso Rookie

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    That sounds a bit far fetched to me as well. In the factory pictures I have seen, the only molds to be found are the ones used to produce the Guara. I have seen a few pictures of the closed original factory with them in and around it. I am not sure about molds made during Mr. Rossignolo's brief tenure.
     
  4. bitzman

    bitzman F1 Rookie
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    Believe it or not, there is often a real spark to some of these "missing prototype" stories. Send me a PM and I'll send the newspaper article with the picture, photographed off the computer screen from an Italian magazine. I don't know how to post pictures here. It is about a 500 word story
    and shows the mold (mould) on the trailer. But I would like to know where the real car is and what chassis it was on. Wasn't some investor after DeTomaso put in jail? Maybe that left what was on the factory floor up for grabs--I have also seen pictures of a debris strewn factory with two unfinished Guaras. Not a dignified way for an Italian automaker to phase out, I'd say..
     
  5. Pantera1889

    Pantera1889 Formula Junior

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    #6 Pantera1889, Jan 16, 2016
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  6. Pantera1889

    Pantera1889 Formula Junior

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    #7 Pantera1889, Jan 16, 2016
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  7. DenisC

    DenisC Formula 3

    Oct 11, 2009
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    I do not recall where I read but the moulds and 3 incomplete cars have been acquired by one individual and currently stored in Italy.
     
  8. bitzman

    bitzman F1 Rookie
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    So according to my guesstimate at Italian, this guy goes to the factory, loads up the molds and drives
    off. But to me a body mold is a long way from a finished car.
    with so many lined up was there a production chassis?
    If they had numbers on them wouldn't they be the last Pantera? Or last DeTomaso production car? I wonder where the drivable one is. I don't really like the design, looks like some later Renault design, but historically there's a story here
     

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