Alejandro de Tomaso’s journey with Ford began in 1963 with the Vallelunga, his first road car powered by a Ford Cortina engine. This mid-engined grand tourer showcased De Tomaso’s vision. Following this, he partnered with Carroll Shelby and Ford on the ‘King Cobra’ chassis, an Italian-bodied project which, despite its ambition, was ultimately sidelined as Shelby focused on the GT40 program.
These early endeavors caught the attention of Lee Iacocca, then head of Ford North America. Iacocca saw an opportunity for Ford to create a GT car that could be mass-produced and sold through Lincoln-Mercury dealerships, a vehicle designed to surpass the Chevrolet Corvette and other General Motors offerings. Iacocca aimed to leverage De Tomaso’s Italian flair to market this exciting new car.
The concept for this ambitious project was the “Pantera Car,” Italian for Panther. It was envisioned as a steel unibody ‘monocoque’ construction, a departure from the backbone chassis of previous models. Power would come from a robust Ford V8 engine, paired with a production ZF transaxle. American designer Tom Tjaarda at Ghia penned the striking lines of the Pantera, while Gianpaolo Dallara, recruited from Lamborghini, handled the engineering aspects.
Internally at Ford, the Pantera car project was known as M.S.E., for Mid-Ship-Engine, while in Italy, it was codenamed “Tipo 874.” The Pantera was specifically tailored for the American market, with Ford retaining exclusive sales rights there. De Tomaso of America Inc., based in Livonia, Michigan, managed importation, and service was handled by the Lincoln-Mercury Division in Dearborn. De Tomaso, however, was permitted to sell the Pantera car in markets outside of North America.
