"Elvis Presley shot his Pantera when it wouldn't start, and that is undoubtedly how many other owners felt about this enigmatic but slightly dodgy super car.

Alejandro De Tomaso, an Argentinian tycoon who settled in Italy, built his first car, the Cortina-engined Vallelunga, in 1963. It flopped, and while his second effort, the Mangusta, was fast and beautiful, it quickly got a reputation for evil handling.

With the 1970 Pantera, De Tomaso was determined to get it right - and start making some money, too. He struck a deal with Ford of North America whereby they got his Ghia coach building firm (hence the Ghia badge on today's Escorts and Fiestas) in return for selling his new car - powered by a 5.8-litre Ford V-eight engine - through their dealers in the US. It proved a sharp move as 4000 Panteras were unloaded on unsuspecting Americans before Ford shut the door on imports in 1974, beleaguered by complaints about build quality, rust and overheating.

The Pantera was fast in a straight line, topping 160 mph (257 kph), and with that mid-mounted engine the handling was copy-book stuff. It was practical, too: smash an engine in a Pantera and there was no need to take out a second mortgage to replace it because it was just a big, dumb Ford V-eight as found in millions of lumbering American saloons (sedans).

The model lasted into the mid-90s, its image progressively cheapened by boy-racerish spoilers and stickers and ever-fatter tires. De Tomaso, however, had rather lost interest in the car that bore his name in the 1970s when he acquired several new business toys to play with, including Maserati and Innocenti.

ENGINE TYPE
V-eight -cylinder

POWER
247-350 bhp

TRANSMISSION
5-speed manual
3-speed auto

TOP SPEED
150-160 mph(241-257km/h)

NUMBER BUILT
10,000"
Via is-it-a-lemon.com