The De Tomaso company is just more than 60 years old and was founded by the Argentine race car driver Alejandro De Tomaso. His goal was to produce precisely engineered high-performance sports cars housed in beautifully styled Italian bodies. Prior to starting his own company, he was a test driver for OSCO, an Italian manufacturer of race and sports cars.
Apparently, some of that was the case with De Tomaso and Ford, as Ford stopped importing the Pantera to America in 1975 and now both companies seem to be doing fine. What is it that sells cars? Price, certainly, but is it features? Comfort? Performance? Size? Style?I suspect that several of those factors weigh in on buying decisions for many of us but not all of us. For Livermore resident Ken Levin, style was his only reason for buying this edition’s 1971 De Tomaso Pantera.
Months passed, and Levin was working and saving money when the Pantera bug bit again. He started looking at Panteras and went to the dealership. They had one on the showroom floor, but the sales associate apparently didn’t think Levin was a good prospect because he was young and dressed like a college kid.
That proved very helpful in his successful negotiation for this used 1971 Pantera at at the price of $8,050 . I asked Levin for and got a ride in this fire-engine-red sports car. It’s so low that it is almost like sitting on the ground.