The Modular Pantera
Bringing a 31 year old SuperCar Back to the Future.

This is the story of my three and a half year total restoration of my 1971 Detomaso Pantera. The project started in 1998, the last weekend in May, with an engine pulling party at my place. About 20 friends and DeTomaso listers Showed up to help and enjoy the festivities. It ended in early Jan, 2002 when ZONKEY was selected to be the featured car in the Pantera Owners Club of America's (POCA) Quarterly magazine, "Profiles." I hurriedly finished a few details so that Mike Drew (the Profiles editor) and I could go out and take the pictures below.

The project included an engine upgrade (with some help from Pantera's by Wilkinson ) to one of the best production engines available, the '99 4.6L DOHC Cobra Mustang V8. This is the engine that DeTomaso would have used, had it been available 31 years ago. Recently Dynoed, It showed 290 HP at the rear wheels and an estimated 345 at the flywheel. That's about 70 more than stock from the original 351 Cleveland. The entire project was completed in my garage except for the new leather interior. I hope you enjoy reading about it as much as I enjoyed doing it!