The Pantera Build

[HotRodKush]

Thought I'd make a thread on my ongoing progress with this car. It's a '73 Detomaso Pantera that I purchased in '08 with various modifications, mainly to the drivetrain and suspension. This is a long-term project with the end goal being an overall performer on the street and the road course. The car has some major electrical issues, so my short-term goal for next season is to finish the wiring swap from the original antiquated system to the ISIS system, and to finish up the interior with updated gauges and switches. After that I'll let the car talk to me for a season and go from there.

Initial photos during the sale of the car:







The work begins. Dash out, wiring being removed:



Dash under construction:



The vinyl was completely coming apart:









I realized it was beyond repair, so I figured I'd strip it down to better suit my needs:







Only a couple of in-progress pics of this but I covered the dash shell in suede material. It needs another layer just to clean up some of the edges but it looks cleaner than the original foam dash look, and gives me a few more inches of interior room (it's very cramped inside):









Mocking up the gauges - the white marks on the suede is just dust:



Next, removing the stock wiring and the start of the ISIS Power system install:



Once the ISIS system is installed, I'll get the dash back in and have the car at least driving-ready for next season. It'll need more cosmetic work but I'm more concerned with being able to drive it than how perfect it looks at this point. More pictures to come soon hopefully, I've been trying to fit this project in after work but haven't had much time to work on it lately.

[Rallye455]

Nice. What size wheels and tires?

[HotRodKush]

19x13” rear with 345-30-ZR19's, and 18x10” front with 285-35-ZR18's. I get a little bit of rubbing on sharp turns but it's more a problem of the air dam than the wheel size.

[amargari]

Nice. I really like the Panteras. That should make an excellenct PT car.

[HotRodKush]

Thanks, this forum seemed like a perfect match for what I'm looking to accomplish with the car. This site will keep me motivated through the winter to get the car done, that's for sure.

[Mr.VENGEANCE]

i always loved those cars...

[WS6]

It still amazes me that as exotic and modern looking at these cars are that they are actually pushing 40 years old. I love these things. Good luck with it and welcome to the site.

[HotRodKush]

Thanks guys! I'll try to take pics and keep this thread updated as I work on the car.

[454bug]

Hey Aaron,

Welcome to the site!!

That looks like a great platform to start with!

I love the Pantera's... I'm sure with the updates/upgrades you plan to perform on the car it should be a great looker AND performer...

The Pantera's a great track car...

Here's another Pantera track car that ran with us on Texas World Speedway's 2.9 mile road course during our 40th anniversary party weekend for the Texas A&M Sports Car Club... It set "fast time" of the day out of roughly 100 cars participating in the timed event...

[CruizinKev]

nice project!

[Wicked58]

Great car! Funny I was just logging on to do some searching to see who had run the ISIS system as I'm very close to pulling the trigger one. What's your take on it so far?

[Restomod]

Great project!! But just my .02 (not trying to hurt your feelings!!) Step down the wheels size to say 17". The car looks to high with the 18/19 combo...

[Shiro666]

I'm with Restomod on this one.

Great car. Teenage car poster porn.

[69stang]

Great project! Love panteras. I'm doing something similar with my mustang dash. I'll be fiberglassing the center section that drops between the 2 hooded sections on my 69. The FG will extend up and forward of the hooded part to the windshield. Need more pics of the car. Any details on the engine?

[HotRodKush]

454 Bug - I think I've seen that Pantera before, it's got an insane amount of work done to it. THAT is a true race car.

CruizinKev - Thanks, much appreciated.

Wicked58 - I haven't gotten around to wiring it up yet but my initial impressions are very good in terms of quality. I've also been looking around for people who have that system installed, but it looks like only a few people have done it, and even fewer are posting online about it.

Restomod & Shiro666- I actually agree with you, they're too big for the car. It's one of the changes I need to make this winter if I have the cash. They were installed and performed well when the car was doing alot of open road racing, which is primarily straight, level driving at ungodly speeds. However, with road racing comes alot of lateral loads that need to be addressed with increased sidewall meat. Plus I prefer the "meatier" look anyway, just from an aesthetic standpoint. These wheels are works of art to look at though.

I'd love to get my hands on a set of Group IV wheels:









Even the larger reproductions are pretty nice:



We'll see, it's on my long to-do list, hopefully another Pantera owner will pick up those wheels when the time comes and help me pay for new ones

[HotRodKush]

69 Stang - the motor is a 351 Cleveland, 4 bolt main. Some details are, fully ARP studded, forged rotating assy, roller rockers/hyd. lifters, isky cam, edlebrock torquer intake manifold, demon carb, aluminum radiator, big bore headers, the list goes on. It's not quite as fast as an '05 GTO that I had and modified a few years ago, but the pantera has far superior handling. What I loose on the straightaways I gain twofold around the corners. It's a trade-off

Here's a couple of pics from the Silver State a couple of years ago. That's not me in the pics.

[Longchamp]

Nice project, I can see why you would want to upgrade the wiring, this was never a strong point in De-Tomasos'. Worse than spaghetti.
The red no. 77 car looks like the car Tom Upton had built up in the late 90's, beautiful car, the full build was covered in the 1999 spring edition of Pantera International magazine. (the reason I know this is that my car made the front cover)
Once again, great project, these cars never seem to age.