Torrid Italian Beauty

The Fanfares accompanying new-car debuts usually resound with claims of revolutionary developments; but such claims are more often the product of a copywriter's imagination than of an automotive designer's efforts. There seems little doubt, however, that the Ford Motor Company and De Tomaso Automobili of Modena, Italy--an esteemed constructor of high-performance automobiles in the racing and race-bred molds--have combined resources to create a motor vehicle worthy of an adman's enthusiastic accolades; the Pantera is the first volume-production mid-engined sports car geared specifically to the American market. The low-slung (text concluded on page 168)Torrid Italian Beauty(continued from page 92) (43-inch-high), bobtailed speedster--with all-steel bodywork designed and built by Ghia, magnesium wheels and wide-tread radial tires--looks as if it will run comfortably at 150 mph, and it will, provided the U. S. driver can find a road on which to open it up. Its interior, on the other hand, offers the kind of futuristic niceties found on the sleekest auto-show dream car. Although it has air conditioning, AM/FM radio and five-speed transmission as standard equipment, the high point of the Pantera's space-age cockpit is its furniture: two fully adjustable bucket seats, based on formed aluminum shells, each of which supports 11 individually molded polyurethane pads, spaced to provide its occupant with maximum ventilation and comfort. Additional pads at the sides give lateral support.

Unlike the Corvair and other cars with power plants mounted aft of the rear wheels, the De Tomaso's 351-cubic-inch Ford Cleveland engine is positioned behind the cockpit yet forward of the axle. This gives the machine excellent weight distribution for high-speed motoring. The car's centrally located 24.5-gallon gasoline tank itself aids handling; and changes in the fuel load have little effect on the car's cornering attitude. If the Pantera's chassis layout is similar to that found on nearly all contemporary road-racing machinery, there's good reason; the sleek road machine's builder, Alessandro de Tomaso, has had over 20 years of experience with racing cars--primarily those with power plants located immediately behind the driver.

A few mid-engined high-performance cars were available in the U. S. prior to the advent of the Pantera, but their numbers were strictly limited by their price tags. Such machines as the Lamborghini Miura ($19,250) and the Pantera's older brother, the De Tomaso Mangusta ($11,150), have been on the market for several years. Concurrent with the debut of the Pantera, American Motors unveiled a plastic prototype of its own mid-engined coupe, the 390-cubic-inch V8 AMX-3, and announced plans to build 24 of the rakish machines(two per month) at up-to-$12,000 each. Preceding both this year in the mid-engine derby was the Porsche 914 (and its more powerful sister, the 914-6), whose price tag and performance put it in a different class.

The Pantera, which will probably sell for around $9000, has its first year's production targeted at 5000--a not-inconsiderable number for such exotic machinery. Although the Pantera will come in at a few thousand dollars less than the Mangusta, it offers more for the money--thanks to engineering experience gained with the first car. In addition to a 15 percent increase in the size of the new car's power plant, better rearward vision, easier engine access (because of a hinged and recessed rear deck) and independent suspension and disk brakes on all four wheels, the Pantera has the same haute couture coachwork and all-steel monocoque construction that immediately distinguishes the Mangusta.

It is fortunate for the future of midengined automobiles that the De Tomaso Pantera--a luxury grand-touring machine with awesome performance potential and stunning good looks--is the vehicle by which significant numbers of American car buyers will become aware of the genre, for it is a fine example of the state of the art.