One of the highlights of the MPH Classic show which opens at Earls Court on Thursday (2nd November) will undoubtedly be a stunning and unique De Tomaso Pantera, one of the finest and most developed examples of this evocative Italian supercar. The attention-grabbing Pantera will be one of four powerful sports cars being presented by London Design and Tuning House Autodelta at the MPH Classic, three of them which are cars that took part in last month’s Autodelta European Tour 2006. MPH Classic is a brand new section of MPH06, and it will see more than 400 important classic sports cars gathered together to form a fabulous and valuable gallery of motoring greats.

The evocative and unique De Tomaso Pantera belongs to enthusiast Roger Coates–who along with his wife Melanie–took part in last month’s Autodelta European Tour 2006, which saw a select group of high-performance sports cars travelling from London, across Europe, and to a finish in Monte Carlo, with overnight stops in Holland, Germany and Switzerland along the way. The other two Tour cars at MPH Classic this week will be the Ferrari 348TB (car 05) and Alfa SZ Supercharged (car 10). During the Tour, the Pantera (car 07) certainly won the award as the loudest entry, the rumble of its specially-built Roush V8 shattering the early morning peace and dragging locals from their beds on an almost daily basis.

The Pantera is undoubtedly the classic De Tomaso model, most probably due to its initial commercial success deriving from the deal with Ford. The replacement for the Mangusta, it was introduced at the New York Motor show in 1970 and was marketed through Ford's Lincoln/Mercury dealer chain in the USA. This saw 6128 examples being produced by the end of 1973, a volume which was reduced to the more normal exotic car dribble in 1974 when Ford withdrew from the deal.

The Pantera used the same mechanical layout as the Mangusta, with a mid-mounted 5769cc V8 driving the rear wheels, but the chassis was much superior, being developed mainly by Dallara. Independent suspension and disc brakes were employed on all corners, whilst the body was of unitary construction, designed by Tom Tjaarda of Ghia. The accommodation was also roomier, and had such luxuries as air conditioning as standard. During the extended production life of the Pantera various levels of engine were used, from 266bhp in the most emission strangled US unit to 500bhp in the GT4 version. In 1990 a heavily revised version was released. The mechanicals remained effectively the same (although the engine was now a 4942cc unit with 305bhp and various changes were made to the brakes etc) whilst the external styling was facelifted by Marcello Gandini. A 450bhp twin turbo version was also offered. Only 38 of these final versions were built. Total production had reached 7260 cars when it ceased in 1991.

Roger Coates is a car enthusiast who was bitten by the Pantera bug 25 years ago–at the tender age of 19. “I was on holiday with my parents in France,” he says. “There was a Pantera parked outside the hotel right opposite our campsite. I was hooked. I thought I will never be able to afford one, but from that moment on I desired to own one.” Fast forward and Roger is now a successful businessman and garage owner. “A friend in car sales called me up and said he’d just taken a Pantera in part-exchange. Anyway, the result was that we quickly did a deal. It was a rot box and mechanically unsound, and so I spent 10 years slowly restoring it. The engine was rebuilt and fitted with a twin Magnussen supercharger, which turned out to be a pretty unreliable arrangement; particularly as due to the lack of engine bay space a shaft had to be run to the back of the engine, a set-up that had a tendency to regularly shed belts.”
 

Never one to choose the safe option Roger then bought another Pantera, This was a basket case which came with 20k’s worth of new parts; the car was sold but the parts retained and they were used on his third purchase, which was the “Lamborghini Orange” finished car which took part on the Tour. He bought this Pantera from a customer who came into his garage for a service, and again it was another long-term ‘strip-down and rebuild everything’ job. The car was painted in a brand new blue paint, which changed to green depending on the light it was viewed in. Disaster struck spectacularly when a brand-new tyre blew out on its first test run, spinning it on a roundabout and seriously damaging the car, with 25K of damage occuring. Undeterred–and a new front and rear end, wings, bonnet and boot later and another lengthy period of time–and the Pantera was back on the road again. However there was to be another disaster still lurking round the corner: “Last Christmas,” says Roger, “I heard an almighty bang from the garage. The row of fitted cupboards right down one side of the garage had come away and landed on the car–and one side of it was somewhat dented.

Time for a different approach. “I decided to rebuild the car, but chose to fit while the work was going on a new engine supplied by famed US engine builder Roush. “A friend put me in touch with John Christian from the Roush racing division. He was a serious Pantera enthusiast and oversaw the build project. The 539 bhp (511 lb/ft torque) Roush-built 6.6-litre V8 was shipped over and fitted, and the restoration in fact was completed just a week before the Tour was due to begin. To match the look of the new engine the gearbox was chrome-plated–the result is a truly awesome visual feast; every time Roger lifted the tailgate during the Tour a crowd quickly clustered around. And while the engine was being built Roger also took a new approach to the bodywork: carbon fibre bumpers, grilles, spoilers and door mirrors were designed, fabricated and fitted, replacing the “goldplated” components used during the first restoration.

“It was pretty tight timing,” says Roger. “We only drove the car only once before the Tour. My son Andrew is at Wolverhampton University, so Melanie and I took the car over from our Leicester home to visit him. We did the journey in 40 minutes flat, but the car was baking hot so we spent two days replacing seals and recharging the air-con system.” Roger was now ready for a 1,400 km race across Europe.

“The car ran faultlessly throughout the event,” he says. “The only minor problem we had was a carbon fibre door mirror falling off – the incorrect adhesive had been supplied. It was simply lovely to cruise in, at around 80 mph, although it was a little bit rough at idle.” This was due to the existing carburettor having not being set up exactly correctly for the new engine, he says. “Since returning from the Tour I have spoken to Roush, and John [Christian] went straight to the company President to discuss the issue. The net result is that they are now building a carburettor which will be perfectly set up for the engine, and tuned for driveability and performance. I have to also add that I have never dealt with such a good, responsive company, and in particular John has enthusiastically embraced my project. The engine quite simply speaks for itself.”

The car caused a sensation on the Tour, always heard long before its sleek bright orange form hove into view. “On the Autobahn at one point we strolled by a DB9–which was pushing it–like it was standing still; this car is peerless, well worth the efforts and heartaches,” concludes Roger.

The Autodelta European Tour – and the De Tomaso Pantera - will be represented at MPH Classic at Earls Court (2nd-5th November), on the first floor of Earls Court 1, Stand No CS04.7 The new Autodelta Brera J5 3.2 C will be on display on Stand No S21. Jano Djelalian and the Autodelta team will be on hand to discuss the car and answer questions. For further information on Autodelta visit www.autodelta.co.uk/. For further information on the Autodelta European Tour visit www.autodeltatour.com.