De Tomaso Pantera

I hope I spelt that right...

Anyway, does anyone remember this car running in the British GT's a few years ago??? I think ADR ran it.. I saw it at Thruxton, which it nearly won. But I haven't seen much of it since. Does anyone know what happened to it?? Or does anyone have any photos??

Cheers.

De Tomaso. Let me enlighten you all to one of the best-looking, best sounding cars to have run in the BRDC GT :

http://www.british-motorsport.co.uk/photo/grand_touring/track/pantera_abbey2.jpg

http://www.british-motorsport.co.uk/photo/grand_touring/track/pantera_yellow.jpg

Sorry, I only have one photo of the original orange colour. And I haven't scanned it coz it's **** .

AAAARRRRGGGGHHH. I can't remember the name of the bloke who used to drive..... ah, just remembered : Thorkild Thyrring and [damn damn damn] ... err ... hang on, it was ages ago ... Vann ... Kristian or Christian.


PLEASE don't say that car is running at Combe this Monday. I will have to be there if it is. I'm drooling now!

I've just remembered more : it had a Ford 5-litre engine and was run by SuperSport or SuperPower (I forget which) Engineering or Motorsport (I forget which) :)

Hang on... I'll dig out a programme ... okay, I'm back with the Spring Trophy 1997 programme. 'Twas SuperPower Engineering who ran it and I was right about the engine.

Hey, just looking at the entrants it is soooooo much more varied. Storm, XJ220, Harriers, Ultima, Venturi, McLaren, De Tomaso, Mirage, Porsche, Marcos, CAE Corse, TVR :). Why can't we have that kind of variety nowadays? It's become too big, I reckon.

By the way, I don't think Thyrring and Vann have been the only ones to have campaigned this monster in Brit GTs.

I also saw it nearly win at Thruxton, which I think is when I took that other pic. Are we talking about the orange-paintscheme Pantera who battled with the silver/ dark maroon Delloite and Touche TVR Cerbera for most of the race? That was a great battle.

Err... me again. The last I heard of it was when it was advertised for sale in Autosport at the end of the 1997 season. For £100,000 inc. spares. "Who wants to be a Millionaire, I do..."

I know it's going off on a tangent to the original, but, don't you think that the Privilege Championship is improving and getting back to where it should be in terms of the different cars taking part.

We now have Lotus in both GT and GTO the promise of an Elise to come in GTO

TVR also in both GT and GTO

The Ultima is back

A ferrari

A lister

A Lancia Stratos replica

Quite a few Marcus's in both GT and GTO

Plus the normal Viper and Porshe

Its a shame the Caterham is a no show

We're slowly but surely getting back to where we started. But it's a cycle. When the championship becomes popular and gains some attention, the big manufacturers come in with stupidly expensive cars. When they've pushed out all the smaller teams due to cost of running a competitive car, they suddenly look at the bill and think "Christ, better get out quick". Leaving the smaller teams to clear up the mess.... until next time.

Cheers for the photo... excellent car!! So no news of it since 1997... 100 grand would seem a sort of bargain.

Reason it didn't win at Thruxton - was it that it hit a Partridge out near Church and that it shattered the windscreen??? Is that right, seems ages ago now..

This years GT series is now getting back to the standard of the early days (1996 / 1997) when you had a really good mix of cars..

But how come the GT class at Le Mans seems a bit of a Porsche benefit again???

I don't quite remember why it didn't win. Or whether it retired. It does seem a long time ago. Maybe there are results on a site somewhere that gives the cause.

I think Porsche 911s should be banned from racing. Isn't anyone sick of them yet? Boring shape, boring sound.

The British GT is getting better still, a Ferrari F40 has joined the Party.

Lets hope they all get round the first Lap tomorrow.

Wounder if they still want 100 Grand ?

Dan,

Think you'll find it was ADA and not ADR. Phil Andrews attempted to tame the beast.

Andy Wallace shared the car with Thyrring on one or two occasions.

Yes it had a 5l Ford, was built from one of the 39 roadgoing "Nuove Pantere" - was driven from Italy to Britain, then modified to GT1 spec. by ADA engineering. Later appeared at Le Mans (briefly), was taken over by Superpower and modified again, still GT1 but for Brit GT competition, XJR15 front suspension, 962 rear suspension, but still the old 5l V8.

Superpower folded in 1999. The car then briefly appeared in the AutoItalia series, but seems to be (have been?) owned by someone who is more of a Ferrari afficionado than anything else, and had no inclination of putting the car to good use.

My absolute ABSOLUTE all time favourite GT.

;)

This thread is over 4 years old!

oops :eek: - how the *ell did this pop up as "new"?

I couldn't resist to edit the title, though...

Amazing ! :eek: PRF, you answered a four years olf post ! Doh !

like this thread, old De Tomaso's never die.

I agree, the Pantera has a legendary and still modern shape.

4 years old, and still decomposing....

I know a man who once owned two Pantera GTS' back in the late 70's. The models before they fitted the wings to them. One red, one blue, both lethal at more than 140, front ends used to get very lifty, and the rivets felt like they were going to fall out too!

They say that Elvis once owned one, and it was such an animal that he shot it.

Early ones also suffer from tin worm in the rear subframe. ZF gearbox is pretty strong too.

Italian style (and rust) American muscle. Crude but effective.

Rob.

Rob.

Originally posted by Fab
Amazing ! :eek: PRF, you answered a four years olf post ! Doh !

Stimulated some interest!

my de tomaso pantera was my favourite matchbox car... white with a pale blue base, and yellow roundels for the numbers!

i remember seeing a maroon one, a late model,(with that funny spoiler at the base of the windscreen) parked half on the pavement in Muswell Hill (Muesli Hell)... any obstruction it was causing had to be balanced against the sheer joy of sharing the sidewalk with 14" rear rubber


gawd i'm such an anor*k

I've seen an rhd Longchamp, Deauville round here too

I think that there is still one sitting in a garage near here, in dark blue with roundels, cage, a few gently dinged panels, but probably not been run for a while.

Used to be raced by John Jordan in the early 70's, after he sold his GT40 which he used to terrorise the Anglias and Lotus Cortinas with in the closed wheel libre races!!

But yes, still a joy to behold.

I nearly bought one a few years back as a rebuild project (rear subframe rotten and MOT failure) and for under 10K. Didn't have the spare, so missed it. Dagnabbit!

Rob

dominic chappel putn the ada pantera into the gravel at the second mulsanne chicane in 94 (or is was it 93) on the first lap i think.

imho it was a cr4p car vis a vis everything else.

Originally posted by PascaLM
a legendary and still modern shape.

Christie Brinkley?

I drove a couple of Pantera's years ago. It was almost like a hooligan car. Understeer and oversteer at the same time, you could spin the rear wheels at will at anything under 60 miles per hour. Copious heat boiling up from the gear shift gate (the radiator lines were routed through the tunnel and were not insulated).

I recently saw one on the rotisserie at a local car restoration shop, having the full business done. Don't know where you come out at the end when final tally done, but you would end up with a still modern looking car with pretty healthy performance. Rolling Thunder.

Sorry to ask, but is this a Pantera, or a Lambo Marzal ? Or something else...

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Other view...

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Definitely not a Pantera or a (the) Marzal

It looks very much like a Maserati Khamsin

Originally posted by Graham Goodwin
Definitely not a Pantera or a (the) Marzal

It looks very much like a Maserati Khamsin

It is indeed ! Silly me :rolleyes: Thanks for that Graham. :)

Yep and I'll give a vote of confidence - it's a Khamsin.

Still a lovely, lovely car.

Here's one I snapped at Castle Combe...

http://www.pbase.com/image/4910240/medium.jpg

*drool*