Classic Classified: 1972 DeTomaso Pantera
1972 DeTomaso Pantera
From: Hemmings Motor News, December 1983
Price then: $17,500 ($42,300 adjusted for inflation)
Price now: $56,000 – $119,000
Approximate dollar difference: $76,700 (assuming No.1 condition)
Annual rate of return: 3%
1972 Pantera, red, black interior, redone cooling system, new exhaust system, stored last 6 years, excellent condition, $17,500
The Pantera was an ideal mix of Italian exotic and American muscle car. With a beautiful Ghia body and large Ford V-8, it offered both European style and good-old-fashioned American torque and reliability. In recent years, the Pantera has started to receive the attention it deserves, and those owners who resisted the urge to hot rod their Panteras have been rewarded with respectable appreciation in value.
This example is also one of the desirable early U.S.-spec Panteras, which were replaced later in 1972 by a Pantera L model that had significantly less horsepower and more ungainly rubber bumpers. While the annual return on this car isn’t leaps and bounds, 3% is nothing to scoff at. A long-term owner would be well rewarded for just keeping this car looking good and putting minimal miles on the odometer.
