De Tomaso Pantera

De Tomaso Pantera

The De Tomaso Pantera is the car credited with putting the Italian marque on the map--if only briefly. Having been in production from 1971 all the way up to the early 1990s, the Pantera could be found in showrooms all across the globe and even ended up in the garage of rock legend Elvis Presley.

In the U.S. the car was sold though Ford’s premium Lincoln dealerships and featured, at one point, the Blue Oval’s 351 Cleveland V-8 engine. Sadly, the oil crisis of the 1970s and the dismal quality of some earlier models led to Ford cutting its ties with De Tomaso and the Pantera ending up back in niche status.   

Fast forward to today and De Tomaso is back, thanks mostly to former Fiat exec Gian Mario Rossignolo and the Italian government. At last week’s 2011 Geneva Motor Show the rejuvenated brand unveiled the SLS concept car, which was later renamed Deauville after the original De Tomaso model and is destined for production along with two other models including a new sports coupe--the Pantera successor.

According to a new report, a concept version of the Pantera successor will be unveiled as early as this November’s 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show. No other details have been revealed but hopefully it will be powered by the 550 horsepower V-8 engine previewed by the SLS/Deauville concept.

Stay tuned for an update.

[Piston Heads]