My wife and I live in the Santa Cruz area of California in our mid thirties. We are both Silicon Valley professionals, although lately my wife has been working in real-estate. For a period of time during the "dot.com" days, we were making enough money to entertain the idea of owning a sports car. The idea was to buy a sports car that I could fix up as a hobby, and drive the car on a daily basis while doing so. We entertained the idea of purchasing a 70’s Corvette, Mustang, and other muscle car types. The problem I had with these cars is they are too common and really not great handing cars. I want something that was fast, beautiful, and unique. I talked to my brother in-law, Nick, who mentioned the Pantera. I had remembered the Pantera from growing up. I had only seen the car in posters and books, never in person. At that point I started researching the car and looking for any information I could find about the car.

It wasn't too long before I found out about the Nor Cal Pantera club (which is part of POCA). Somehow I found Jack DeRyke. At that time Jack lived in the California Bay Area and we set up a time to see his car. The idea was to just see a Pantera in the flesh and have Jack give us a tour of what to look for when purchasing a car. This was very helpful in us avoiding a bad buying decision. We showed up at Jack’s house and introduced ourselves. Jack opened up his garage to show us his mostly stock beautiful Pantera. The Pantera's rear end was facing us. The first thing you see is a very muscular rear end, with large tires and four exhaust pipes sticking out. I think the rear end shot of the car conveys strength and power. Nick and I were immediately mesmerized. While we were still in a trance Jack started up his car which immediately filled our ears with a thundering V8 through four tailpipes straight at us. With most of our senses on overload I realized this car had captured my imagination and my heart.

After our show-n-tell with Jack, I started looking for a Pantera to purchase. I immediately purchased a full manual set for the car to help me with identifying parts and problems with the car. My budget was around $20,000 which was not much. We didn't know too much about the value of the car, nor the condition of a car that would sell for that price. The idea was to spend the $20,000 on a Pantera and drive it with minimal improvements just to keep it on the road and in good condition. I had a budget of about $1200 per month to allow for improving the car and fixing up as I drove it. Certainly in retrospect this was a mistake. I now know that it takes a good $30,000 to purchase a solid running car in good condition. Also to think our financial situation wouldn't change over the years it would take to restore the car was naive.

After a few months of searching I came across a car in California which was in the process of being restored and was described to me as "just needing to be assembled". Nick and I rented a trailer, hopped in a truck and started our eight hour journey with $18,000 cash in my pocket. The owner insisted on getting cash and no checks, cashiers or otherwise would not do. We got there late on Saturday and stayed at a local hotel. Sunday morning we went to meet the owner at his house in a nice neighborhood. The owner told us the car wasn't at the house but at his auto body shop in the town next to his house. Feeling a little sketchy at this point, we agreed to take the truck and trailer down to the auto body shop to inspect the car. Before doing so he showed us some of the parts he had already purchased for the car, which included exhaust system and some motor parts. We ended driving into an industrial section where the neighborhood was a little seedy. We pulled into the small parking area with our truck and trailer and started inspecting the car. The first sign of trouble was when we noticed the car had just come out of the spray booth. Literally that morning the auto body folks had just painted it. We went ahead and inspected the car. Since the body was a shell we could see all the areas that a Pantera has rust issues. We noticed that there was a lot of patch work done on this car and not in way consistent with the factory body. There were large angle iron pieces welded to the firewall to strengthen the sub frame. Also the shock towers had large crude metal welded over the (supposedly rusted) factory metal underneath. It took us all of five minutes to realize this wasn't the car for us. I kindly told the owner that it was too much work for us and I was looking for something that was more together. At this point he started to get a little offensive and stating that he had taken time to prepare for us and complaining about how we had wasted his time. Things get a little weirder at this point, as we shake hands and prepare to leave. We get into our truck and prepare to back out when we realize we had been blocked into the drive way with some of the owners friends. We ask the owner to have his friend remove his vehicle. At this point my mind is reeling, did we bring a gun? Where did I put that cash? Is the cell phone 911 ready? After a long delay the owner complies and removes the car. Needless to say we high tailed it out of there as fast as we could and never looked back. A couple of lessons learned from that experience, trust your instincts, if it feels wrong then walk away. Don't bring cash when you make large purchases to people you do not know or trust.

I was much more careful after our first experience. At the same time we were looking at the previous car, another car in Bend Oregon came on the market, owned by Ron Jensen. The car serial number is 2245. The car has been owned for a year by Ron. Completely stock, running and driving, lots of miles and some small rust. Sounded like what we wanted. I use a couple of free air tickets and Nick and I flew up to Bend to look at the car. The problem with going through great expense just to look at a car for sale is you need to be prepared to write off your expenses even if the car is not right for you. If the car turned out to be what we wanted we would drive it back to California. If the car was not what we wanted then we would have to find another way home. We arrived in Bend Oregon airport and Ron picked us up in his very nice Cadillac. He took us to his house which had a very large garage/shop where he housed about six cars. Ron was a car collector of sorts, and was used to getting his cars at very good prices, holding on to them then reselling them. He told us this car was picked up at auction at Hot August Nights in Reno in 1998. The auction house was Silver Collector Car Auctions based out of Spokane Washington. The previous owner was a Carson City, Nevada resident by the name of Albert J Briggs. I believe Albert owned it for only a few months, possibly purchasing the car in Feb of 1998. If you have any information as to the history of the car please contact me.

We spent a good hour going over the car. We came to realize it had more then just a "little" rust. Below is the post I made to the Pantera list after inspection.

" This car has been driven into the ground. Somebody drove this car day in and day out for years. The engine has what looks to be the original air cleaner with an Edelbrock performer manifold and a Holley vacuum secondary carburetor on top. The valve covers are "DeTomaso" aluminum valve covers. The rest of the engine looks stock. The engine feels strong and pulls very hard at any rpm, top end yet unknown. My guess is that a cam has been added. It has what looks like stock exhaust. I am guessing as I have never seen a stock exhaust system on a pantera. The system is steel with four individual pipes coming out of the head like headers but then coming together quickly in a "web" formation. The size is relatively small and one of the mufflers has been replaced. The system is rusted and needs replacing. The engine doesn't burn oil either past the rings or through the valve guides.

Nick and I talked it over and realized that for our budget we were unlikely to find a better example of the car. We came to an agreement and purchased the car for $17,000 in September 1999. If we purchased the car we were planning on driving it back to California, which was about 600 miles of freeway driving. We made the decision lightly at the time, knowing what I know now about these cars that may have been a reckless decision. However it turned out to be the right one. We loaded up our gear and left Bend, OR in the late morning. I drove first and had trouble getting used to the clutch as it didn't seem to engage/disengage properly. The car was also very darty because it had loose tie rods, ball joints, and steering rack. We stopped off for lunch at I5 and I had trouble getting the key into the ignition. I realized that I was using the wrong key. However it would slide in, just not turn. Nick took control of the wheel after lunch and we found ourselves cruz'n at 100mph down I5. We got all the typical questions at our gas stops ... Is that a kit car? Is it real? Lamborghini right?. We continued on without any incident. Later in our drive we caught up to a Cobra replica car, 427. He was in the slow lane cruz'n when we flew by at 100 mph in fourth gear. He caught up to us and stomped on the gas. We dropped into third gear and caught him and passed. At this point he was disappearing so we slowed down and let him catch up. We got a big thumb up and then he dropped the hammer again and pulled away. Again we caught him and we were both running about 120 mph. At this point we were still in fourth gear but he was already near his max speed and redline. We snickered a bit, dropped the car into fifth gear and flew off! It was great fun and one of the most memorable drives in the car. We were starting this relationship off right.

We arrived in Scott’s Valley about midnight and put the car into the garage. The next morning after a breakfast we went out to look at the car. After inspecting the car for awhile Nick noticed that one of the caps on the u-joints had worked its way almost completely out of the u-joint! Needless to say the axle was about 10 miles away from flying apart! Either the car loves us or we are just really lucky people. The car lasted 600+ miles but couldn't go any further. The day after our trip Brigitte ( my wife ) was able to see the car. She immediately fell in love with the lines of the car and the styling. The Pantera has the ability to capture the heart of all types of people no matter what you appreciate about automobiles, the style, the technology, the power, the ability to modify, the history, or the pure beauty.

I drove the car after our repairs for a couple of weeks until we discovered the fuel tank had started leaking from about 2/3 full and up. We decided to pull the engine and transaxle out to replace the fuel tank. While we were at it I added a camshaft, carb, manifold, timing set and roller rockers. The fuel tank was replaced with a remanufactured one which didn't have rust holes in it. After driving several weeks in that configuration a connecting rod bearing went out and I realized the bottom end of the motor needed a rebuild as well. The was a turning point in the project as the car would either sit like this for awhile or we would throw out the $1200 per month budget and come up with the funds to fully restore the car. At this point Brigitte and I discussed it and budgeted $20,000 for the restoration of the car. Unfortunately, for both our finances and our marriage that was $20,000 under what I really needed (restoring a car will put a significant strain your finances and your marriage). The restoration started in January of 2000.

By the end of February I had the car dissembled and off to the paint strippers. The car was chemically stripped then media blasted. I hired a metal body working man, Jimmy Stix to replace the entire rusted metal, fix any dents, and make the body modifications I wanted. I had to make a decision on what body modifications to make to the car. It was clear that the bumpers did not contribute to collision protection as they are decorative only. I wanted to clean up the car to remove some of the cluttered look, so I decided that the bumpers should be removed. This included the blinker recesses that are built into the body. The flush mount windshield also cleans up the lines of the car because you remove the protrusion from the windshield frame. I also wanted to incorporate the hood vents to add some detail to the hood. I blacked out all the door and window trim and allowed the chrome only on the door handles, front grill trim, rear emblems, and the wheels. This makes those parts stand out more and balances the car of chrome. The fish gills were removed and replaced with decorative scoops, again powder coated black. The fish gills have a dated look, and incorporate too much detail which takes your eyes from the body lines of the car. I also chose to leave the door frame yellow and not replace the stainless trim, althought I may change my mind later on this one. I believe this adds a litte more detail to the door frame area. The only thing I regret not doing is to remove the door rain gutter from the body. Besides making wind noise it protrudes from the body drawing your attention away from the lines of the car. When putting the lines back into the car we were very careful to make them very sharp and even. My goal was to take things away from the body that distracted your eye from the lines of the car, and try to enhance the lines of the car. What we ended up with was a very clean looking, non-cluttered, sculpture like car.

The body work started in August of 2000. On the list was, replacing the front valance, fixing two rust spots in both front fenders and lower door corners, repairing rust in the door posts, fixing stress cracks in roof pillars, replacing both passenger and drivers rocker panels, repairing rust on the drivers side quarter panel behind gas tank, repairing rust in the rear shock towers both sides of car, installing reverse air scoops in hood, patching antenna and wing holes in body, patching all bumper and running light holes, replacing firewall, installing flush mount windshield, installing sunken battery box, and installing lowered floor pans. The body work was finished March of 2001, total time was eight months and total cost was about $6000 ($2000 over budget).

It would be a year later that I was able to take the project to the next level. A few things changed in our personal life during this time. We moved from our house in the Santa Cruz Mountains to a new house in Santa Cruz itself. Also we were reduced from a two income to one income family. We also sold our Mercedes SLK 230 for a Honda S2000. The S2000 was my commute car and also my fun track car. I had the opportunity to track the car and frequent auto cross events with it. It is a very impressive car, with a 240hp four cylinders, 50/50 weight distribution, and very good handling. It was important from a Pantera perspective as I realized I needed to get the Pantera close to the ability of this little sports car the Honda S2000 or otherwise I would be disappointed. I was actively auto crossing the Honda and taking it to track events. The duty for my Pantera changed to include track duty and auto cross. Certainly they are different cars but there is no reason why the Pantera cannot perform in the same league as this car. I made a conscious decision to put more effort into the suspension and braking system of the Pantera moving forward. At this point we had a shell of a car in primer that still needed the lines put back into the car and final sanding for paint. I hired gentlemen, Cliff Sniatowski who has a beautiful Austin Healy. He and I agreed that he would get the car prepped for paint. The work started in April 2002. Even though the metal work had been done, the body still needed work to clean up the body lines, fix any gap and fit problems, and also paint the engine bay and all jams. The work took two months and $6000 ($4000 over budget).

Soon after the body work was complete the car was painted by a friend in Honda S2000 "Spa Yellow". This is three stage paint where the first layer is a pale yellow, the second is a metallic/pearl/tint blend, and the third coat is clear. The cost for the materials and spraying was $1000. I was happy with the paint job, however the color didn't turn out as bright as I was hoping. It turns out that more of the second tinting coat should have been applied to get the color of the Honda S2000. The Pantera was painted in June of 2002.

Once the car had been painted the fun started. I was able to start assembling the car with all the new goodies I had bought for it. I also started making serious decisions about what components the car would have. First order of business was getting the car undercoated. I removed any loose undercoating and resprayed the car with new undercoating in all the fender wells and underbody. I then started with the suspension. All the stock a-arms and other components were powder coated black. I purchased poly bushings, adjustable upper rear a-arms, 3 way adjustable shocks, 1" sway bars front and rear, 700lb springs rear and 450 front, Wilwood II 4 piston brake kit with corvette rotors, and spherical sway bar end bushings. I spend about a month installing all the suspension components. In addition to the running gear I installed updated transmission mounts, a full body stiffening kit, Fluidyne radiator with two sucker fans, ZF rebuild with wired ring bolts, GTS exhaust system with custom headers and Jet Hot coating, and Boyd Coddington 17" wheels. Next on the list was the dash. I purchased a carbon fiber dash from Wilkinson along with the gauge panel and console. My car had an original two pod dash and I preferred the look of the updated late style dash. I also installed a four point roll bar in the car at this point. Some of the other interior pieces where installed at this point. I decided on using a black interior artificial suede material. The idea being that soft suede would contrast nicely with the hard, shiny carbon fiber. I made a headliner panel and had it upholstered and installed the window and door pillar interior panels. Next on the list was the wiring harness. I debated whether to use the original or replace it with a generic one. I now regret the decision of using the stock one. With all the modifications I made the electrical system I should have started with a new one. I also modified the gas tank for a -10 ( 5/8 ) pickup and a -6 ( 3/8 ) return line. This was done to make sure the tank could be converted to EFI use in the future.

Over the years of restoring the car I had picked up several engine components. From the beginning I knew I wanted a stroker motor tuned for more grunt then horsepower. I had collected Ford Motorsports A3 heads, SCAT 4" stroker crank, Eagle H beam connecting 6" rods, and various intake manifolds. I sent all the stuff out to a local motor builder who had done some other Pantera cars, Al Liest. Al is a very interesting guy and I now know that some folks had varied levels of success working with him. He agreed to do the machine work and assemble the motor for me. He used all the parts I had and added Ross custom pistons ( 10.5:1 ), Comp Cams steel roller rockers, decreased oil capacity pushrods, timing set, Comp Cams mechanical roller lifter camshaft ( lift .406 intake and exhaust at .050, gross lift .702 intake and exhaust, duration at .050 256 intake and 260 exhaust, separation 110 ), ARP bolt set and stud sets for crank and heads, TSR ring set, aluminum flywheel, Manley stainless valves, Comp Cams valve springs, and custom neutral crankshaft damper. I added to this a stock oil pump, Mildon 9 quart oil pan, crank scraper and windage tray, Edelbrock water pump, Holley electric fuel pump, Holley 750 double pumper carb, Electromotive distributor less ignition system, and Roush A331 single plain intake manifold. With the labor and parts all told the motor had about $10,000 ($4000 over budget) into it and it took about 9 months to complete. We fired the motor for the time in May 2003.

After the milestone of firing the motor for the first time, we continued on working on the electrics of the car. I installed a relay kit from Rick Mosley, a Honda S2000 starter button. New switches from Wilkinson and removed the ignition switch from the system. We also wired a few other relays to reduce load on some of the circuits. At this point the car was fairly close to drivable, so I took the plunge and signed up for the upcoming Concorso Italiano show. I wasn't sure I would make the event however it motivated me to continue working on the car until it was done. The car moved under its own power from the shop to my house in July of 2003. I had a month to get the car in a complete enough state for Concorso. I still had a lot of exterior work to do include installing the door trim, interior door panels, and grill trim. As it was the car showed very well at Concorso and nobody was put off by the lack of external trim. We parked next to Gary Hall's Purple Passion and received comments on the car all afternoon. It was a milestone for the project and we enjoyed ourselves tremendously.

After Concorso our next major event would be Pantera Fun Rally 2004. During the time I drove the car fairly often, taking it to an alignment shop, an auto cross event, and to an auto import show at Laguna Seca where I won third place for best European car. The import car show was a really eye opener for me as I realized just how many people were not aware of the mark, especially young people. I encourage any Pantera owner to frequent events that a Pantera would never show at. These types of events are where you will "enlighten" the most people. So we struggled to get the last bits together for the April event. I installed new Spicer drive shafts, new BMW external thermostat, door panels, exterior trim pieces and some more minor cosmetic things. Due to the newness of the car despite it having been running for over a year (having only put a couple thousand miles on it) I felt it best to tow the car to Las Vegas. I spent two days at the track event in Las Vegas, where the car handled and drove beautifully. The car turned out very neutral which is a double edged sword but a lot of fun to drive around a race track. The brakes were remarkable and the power was way more then mere mortal could ever use. Several times we had to justify spending more money on the car then originally planned. It is very tough to cut corners in some areas of car restoration. In the end I felt it was necessary to run over budget, especially in the metal working and body preparation area. These types of expenditures you only ever want to do once on a car. For the record I thought it would be useful to potential or existing owners to list out the total cost of the car and restoration.

The car has exceeded my expectations, and although a completely different animal then a Honda S2000, it is a very performance oriented updated on an Old Italian beauty. A race driver once told me that the Pantera needs to be driven like a Porsche. There is lots of truth in that statement. Even though at rest the Pantera is near a 50/50 weight distribution as is the Honda S2000, there is more transaction available on the rear wheels when you are accelerating in the Pantera versus the Honda S2000. This is when the Pantera is the must fun under acceleration!

After my episode at the Vegas track, I still need to work out a couple of bugs in the cooling system and adding more comfort creatures to the interior. I also plan on replacing the a-arms with aluminum counterparts for adjustability. The only other thing to do after that is to put as many miles as possible on the car. It’s time to play after all that hard work!