She may deny it, but deep down Andrea will really like this -- the immaculate care, polish, shining, reflections, engineering, and everything else that goes with this beauty. Captured 6/5/10, at the beautiful 25th Annual HB Concours, held at the beautiful Huntington Beach Central Park in beautiful Huntington Beach, California. Better viewed full size. I really like the reflections of the trees in these pics. ---------------- The Pantera was the result of an Argentinian racing driver (Alejandro DeTomaso), Italian engineering and American muscle. The engine was a V8 borrowed from the Ford Mustang and the 5-speed transaxle was that of the Ford GT40. The design of the car was intended to be simple. The reasoning was to mass-produce these easy-to-assemble cars. An ambitious goal of 5,000 vehicles a year was set. Ford aided with some of the financing. Their part of the deal was to retain distribution rights in the US while DeTomaso could have the European market. Ford was the first to back out, after energy crises were becoming more common in the 1970's, coupled with poor build quality of the vehicle. DeTomaso continued but in limited production. The Pantera was designed by Ghia stylist Tom Tjaarda. Giam Paolo Dallara was engaged for chassis and production design. The DeTomaso Pantera was conceived with a full monocoque chassis layout and is built around Ford's then-new 5.7-liter (351 cubic-inch) 'Cleveland' V8. The engine featured deep-breathing heads patterned after the very successful Boss 302 design, 4-barrel carburetion and 4-bolt main bearing caps. The new V8 was mated to a ZF fully synchronized 5-speed transaxle with limited slip, and rated at 310 horsepower (SAE Gross, 1971 trim). The first Panteras were marketed at 'Around $10,000,' as the advertisements would say: the final 1974 units carried prices approximately $12,600. Source: www.conceptcarz.com TTFN, thankx for stopping by, and for any and all complimentary comments and favs.