Few cars in history have pulled off a transatlantic identity as convincingly as the De Tomaso Pantera. On the surface it looks every inch the Italian exotic — low, wedge-shaped, and dripping with Modena attitude. Pop the engine lid, though, and you’ll find a thoroughly American Ford V8 sitting right where it belongs, in the middle of the car. No engine swap, no afterthought — the Mustang GT-derived small-block was factory-fitted from day one, making the Pantera one of the most genuinely unique machines ever to wear Italian coachwork.
The De Tomaso Pantera was a supercar born from a partnership between Ford and the Italian coachbuilder Carrozzeria Ghia, and it truly represented the best of both worlds. The first-generation model produced over 7,000 units for domestic use and the American market, starting in 1971, but the follow-up, the Pantera 90 Si, is considerably harder to find. Here’s what you need to know about the Italian supercar that runs on American muscle.
Italian Style, American Muscle
The first-gen De Tomaso Pantera began with a design by Ghia’s Tom Tjaarda, who was actually born in Detroit before eventually moving to Europe to work for brands like Fiat, Mercedes, and Ferrari. His impressive credits include the Ferrari 365 California, the classic 1966 Fiat 124 Spider, and American classics like the 1974 Ford Maverick.
The original Pantera packed a mid-mounted Cleveland 351 V8 producing 325 horsepower and 344 lb-ft of torque, with a top speed of 159 mph and a zero-to-sixty time of just under six seconds.
The First-Gen Panteras Were Pretty Hot In The US
In the early ’70s, demand for the Pantera was strong enough to keep the De Tomaso plant in Modena, Italy building three of these a day. Around 75% of those first-gen models were exported to America and sold through Ford’s Lincoln-Mercury dealers. Ford decided to drop the project in 1975 after selling around 5,500 units, while De Tomaso continued to produce the car in smaller runs through the 1970s and 1980s.
The Pantera 90 Si was the product of a redesign by Marcello Gandini — the legend behind more Maseratis and Lamborghinis than we can count, including the original ’70s Countach LP400 and the Ghibli II. The new model packed a Ford 302 V8 along with a revised suspension and chassis. Where the original Pantera ran to thousands of units for Europe and North America, the model introduced in the early ’90s was about as rare as a Ford-powered car gets, with only 41 examples built in total. Two of those were used for crash testing and one resides in the De Tomaso museum, meaning just 38 examples are in circulation — assuming they all still exist.
A Look At The De Tomaso Pantera 90 Si
Engine
5.0L NA Ford 302 V8
Power
305 hp
Torque
333 lb-ft
Transmission
5 or 6-speed manual
Drivetrain
RWD
0-60
5.4 seconds
Top Speed
161 mph
Something worth noting about the Pantera 90 Si: it actually produces less power than the 1970s model. Even so, 305 horsepower is nothing to sneeze at. This model shares its engine with second- and third-generation Ford Mustangs, and had a short production run from 1991 to 1993 before being phased out for the Guarà, another short-run car that produced just 52 units from 1994 to 2004.
While its performance specs may seem modest compared to modern supercars, what really made the car special was its tunnel-vision design philosophy. The fact that the cabin was so spartan and uncomfortable was practically a selling point. The Pantera’s purpose was singular and laser-focused: strap in and blast off. The idea wasn’t so much to build a car as it was to build a stylish rocket ship with a steering wheel.
A Pantera For The New Millennium
The Pantera story doesn’t quite end with the 90 Si. The final De Tomaso ever presented to the public was the De Tomaso Nuova Pantera 2000, a 1999 prototype designed by Marcello Gandini with just two mock-up units ever built. The 2000 was unveiled before a gathering of around 500 people as part of De Tomaso’s 40th Anniversary celebration, wearing a futuristic look befitting the new millennium — one that calls to mind early-2000s sci-fi films like Minority Report.
What Are Your Chances Of Getting A Pantera 90 Si Of Your Own?
Given the car’s scarcity, the Pantera 90 Si is one of those models that even a billionaire would have a tricky time getting their hands on. An auction for a yellow Pantera 90 Si in Coral Gables, hosted on RM Sotheby’s, closed in early 2025 at $313,000. Back in 2020, a black example sold in Amelia Island, Florida for $357,000.
Pricey, but not outrageously pricey for a rare supercar. The trouble is, we struggled to find even these two examples coming up for sale. The most recent one was imported from Europe around 2020, treated to some light refurbishment, and sold five years later. Waiting for one of these to hit the market is like waiting for the stars to align.
The First-Gen Panteras Are Much Easier To Come By
The first-gen models aren’t quite so rare, and they make a heck of a consolation prize for those of us who don’t want to gather a third of a million dollars and watch our hair turn gray waiting for one of 38 people on the planet to tire of their Ford-powered De Tomaso. Recent auction results have seen first-generation Panteras change hands in the $84,000–$87,000 range. These earlier models are rare-ish, but more than five thousand of them were imported to the US, so you won’t have to wait for a miracle to get your hands on one.
Sources: Sotheby’s, Ford.
