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1972 De Tomaso Pantera

For those of you unfamiliar with the Pantera…yes, it is a bit of a strange car! It came from a short lived marriage between De Tomaso of Italy, and the Ford Motor Company. These cars were imported into the United States and sold through Ford/Lincoln/Mercury dealers for a few years.

1971 was the first year of the Pantera, and at the heart of the Italian car was pure American muscle…the Ford 351 Cleveland engine that produced 330 horsepower. As with the rest of the muscle cars of that era however, those horsepower figures quickly dropped off in the following years.

Unfortunately the De Tomaso vehicles weren’t known for build quality or a high level of fit and finish, which is one of the reasons why Ford decided to cease importation after a few years. On this particular car it was hard to tell what paint was original and what was re-sprayed, but as with most Italian cars of that era you could tell that the finish was rough, and a far cry from modern paint finishes.

This was not a defect correction job, but rather a simple cleanup to preserve the finish and to add some gloss. The Pantera appeared to have multiple re-paints throughout its life, as I found the thicknesses to vary greatly from panel to panel, and there were 2-3 different shades of yellow. While the overall thickness was good, the edges and seams were very thin with many of them burned through. Especially on old cars like this you need to be extremely careful when polishing to preserve as much of the paint as possible.

After an ONR wash and spot-claying, I worked a few areas with Menzerna 106FA/white/rotary to address some light hazing, and then polished the entire car with Optimum Poliseal/white/PCXP to clean the paint and add a nice gloss. Afterwards I applied a coat of Optimum Opti-Seal, and then buffed off the residue with Optimum Spray Wax.

Even just a quick polish made a big difference in the overall look of the vehicle, and the Optimum combination provided a beautiful gloss as always. Now the Pantera will get tucked away for the winter, and brought out next summer for yet another year of fun driving.

Cleaning up some slight hazing with Menzerna 106FA


Signs of overly aggressive polishing and/or bad paint work during its life




After letting the Opti-Seal cure for about 30 minutes, I’ll buff out the finish using Optimum Spray Wax. This is a very nice looking combination with good durability, and extremely easy to use.


For the interior, I just did a quick wipedown with Megs Quik Interior Detailer but I figured that you’d want to see what it looked like.




Here you can see that you only have a small piece of glass and a few inches separating the driver from the intake on the 351 Cleveland! These cars sound mean…especially when you’re seated this close.


And now for a variety of after-shots

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Here you can see that the hood is a slightly different shade of yellow than the fenders

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Exhaust tips and chrome were cleaned up using Klasse All In One








And finally


Thanks for checking it out.

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

Neat car and write up, definitely can see some differences in the paint, but as always Todd, you made it shine

FirePR2002

excellent work on a beautiful car!

ofusball21

Excellent work as always. What a crazy looking car. I love the old school guages.

princelybug

iTrader: (16)

Nice job, once again!

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

That's gorgeous. You sir do amazing work

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Thanks everybody! Although it wasn't an extensive detail, it was a fun one to work on one of these beasts...

MD03CL-S

iTrader: (1)

Great work as always! One question though...

In the picture below, what are you using to buff out the car? I see what looks like a MF? but are those a "certain" type of gloves you have on?

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

Todd, I almost forgot about these cars. Where did this one come from?

FirePR2002

cotton gloves?

PortlandRL

Looking great, Todd! How are you liking working for the Ferrari dealer?

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Thank you. That's a DI Great White MF towel, and DI MF gloves. They're great to use when doing wipedowns...especially on wide cars like this when you need to lean on the car with one hand.

Umm, Italy?

Actually the current and previous owners are from here in Columbus.

Let's see...I have heating, air conditioning, a lift, lots of space and tools, good lighting, I come and go as I please, and I'm surrounded by a lot of extremely cool cars. Not a bad sub-contracting gig...

Thanks Andrew!

MD03CL-S

iTrader: (1)

Nice, MF Gloves! I always just used an extra MF in my other hand if I had to lean on my car. The gloves is a nice idea. Thanks!