When a man decided he wanted an "as new" Pantera, he concluded the best way to get one was to go to the man that built them for Americans from the ground up ....

When Ford Motor Co. imported the Pantera to the U.S. from 1971-1974, you had few options, other than "mandatory" A/C. Later there was the GTS model, basically a trim package with different paint, but the car wasn't on the market long enough for Ford to get serious about having several different option packages.

Then Ford folded up its Pantera tent and a great darkness descended

But even though Kirk Evans officially quit importing his Amerisport Panteras in the 1980's, he still knows more about Panteras than the average bear.

So it was that when Tom Breckles, a Cambridge, Ontario, Canada based restaurant owner (Italian restaurant, naturally!) decided his '87 Corvette convertible was not filling out the need in his life for a sports car, and that he really had to have a Pantera he came to meet Kirk Evans.

You see Breckles didn't want to buy just any old beater but one prepared to the max to be an ultimate daily driver. When he found out Kirk Evans still had a shop working on Panteras, he figured, why not go to the man who built and sold Panteras in America originally? And remember Evans' cars were built often with a customer in mind so were much more individualistic than the ones Ford brought to America.

The two men met and the parameters were drawn up and a budget approved. The car selected as the project car was a 25_year old shell of a car once originally sold by Amerisport, Evan's Pantera-importing company. The car was literally a rusted sheel minus any interior, and missing parts.

The first task was the body. First of all, the body was totally stripped and sandblasted to see where the good metal was and where the bad metal was. Then the rust was attacked and eliminated, by cutting it out and welding in newly formed panels. While he was about it, Evans took steps eliminating all water and dust traps.

The body was reinforced in numerous places so that the doors and other panels would hang or sit right. Then the body was primed and block sanded repeatedly. A big help in the bodywork was being able to mount the car on a rotating spit and roll it over to work on different portions of the automobile. In fact it is safe to say that to execute perfect coach work you must have one of these rotators, but then some cars are too big to put on one (like a Rolls Royce...)

The battery box was moved to behind the passenger seat. More awkward to check, but it creates more room under the hood.

The body was "metal finished" which to those unfamiliar with the term, means that the surface was maximized to its correct shape with the metal itself not with body fillers like the all too common Bondo.

The customer decided he liked red but which red? The answer was two choices of red divided along the beltline, the darker shade on the

bottom, both factory shades that can be easily found and mixed if there's need for it. The bottom half also had "PANTERA" lettering done in shadow lettering. The paint is DP 90 Epoxy plus K200 Ditzler. Basically the whole car was done in the Ditzler Base clear coat system.

There are several routes to go on a Pantera engine compartment one is to go with the original black tarry muck that looks like the underside of a Peterbilt 16 wheeler. The other is to paint it flat black (practical). A more showy way is to finish off the engine compartment panels like they were exterior body panels, which is the way Evans chose to go both the second and third way, that is go flat black in the area next to the engine and then give the inner paneling a high gloss body matching paint job in the section cradling the gearbox area. Polished stainless steel panels were used for engine shields. All the tubing was run below deck, which is Pantera talk for "out of sight." Also added were glass mounted side mirrors with extensions.

The paint job was impressive enough to win both "Best Paint" and "Best of Show" in the Italian Challenge Event in 1995, that event being an annual Concours at the Pocono Italian car extravaganza.

The next step was the wiring. We would not be telling tales out of school to report that Pantera wiring, particularly in the round-button /pushbutton door cars, was dicey. It got better as time went along (After Ford engineer Charlie Misenheimer went over to Italy to the Vignale factory and kicked butt...). But still, we are talking over 25 years old. So Evans meticulously inspected the wiring harness, resoldered some broken connections, and shrink-wrapped wiring where appropriate to prevent damage in the future.

Part of the electrical system was the installation of two high velocity fans mounted behind the radiator. Every motor, and relay was disassembled and cleaned before being reinstalled.

The paint job was impressive enough to win both "Best Paint" and "Best of Show" in the Italian Challenge Event in 1995, that event being an annual Concours at the Pocono Italian car extravaganza.

The next step was the wiring. We would not be telling tales out of school to report that Pantera wiring, particularly in the round-button /pushbutton door cars, was dicey. It got better as time went along (After Ford engineer Charlie Misenheimer went over to Italy to the Vignale factory and kicked butt...). But still, we are talking over 25 years old. So Evans meticulously inspected the wiring harness, resoldered some broken connections, and shrink-wrapped wiring where appropriate to prevent damage in the future.

Part of the electrical system was the installation of two high velocity fans mounted behind the radiator. Every motor, and relay was disassembled and cleaned before being reinstalled.

Next came a more concentrated plan to deal with the Pantera's other famous (or infamous) bugaboo-the cooling. Evans chose a forward laying radiator and installed a larger AC condenser in front of it (where the original. U.S.-spec. Panteras had the condenser in back of the car above the transaxle). The AC lines were rerouted to a special receiver in the front wheel house.

To make sure the coolant moves from the engine to the fat lean-over radiator he added a high output water pump. Evans also installed his GT5-GT5-SCX prototype lift vents on the hood.

Next came the suspension, left stock but updated with new bushes and bearings. Even the shocks are the original type. An oversize sway bar is used in the rear. Evans painted the suspension arms gray, but the bolts were plated with gold zinc for a nice contrast. A Ford dual chamber master cylinder was installed.

The Engine

The 351-C engine runs a modest 9:1 compression. The pistons are forged but the rods and crank are stock. The cam is a Crane hydraulic, the valve train also has anti-pump up lifters, and the springs, retainers and keepers are all upgraded.

Topside, there is a Holley Dominator aluminum intake manifold running an Edelbrock throttle body fuel injection set-up. When Amerisport built their Panteras, they had the engines run on a test stand to get the air/fuel ratio, timing and ignition curve right prior to installation.

To beef up the gearbox, Lock-Tight was used on the Ring Gear bolts. Dana half shafts are in use for increased reliability.

Evans installed his own Bulkhead Reduction Kit, which allowed the passenger seat to move back as far as the driver's seat.

The AC-alternator bracket developed by Amerisport was also used, dramatically improving the charging reliability. Evans still has them in stock. (Bulk Head Reduction Panels for '71-‘74 models are available through Pantera East)

The Interior

Every panel is available from Evans' shop and was covered in the proper material to stock specs, albeit with minor improvements over stock such as the addition of kick panel entry lights, dash displayed alert lights for both water temperature (blue) and oil pressure (red). The original black gauges were used, as well as original switch bezels and an early script "Pantera" that was placed above the glove box.

The seats are recovered Fiero, speaker equipped headrest units. They were used in conjunction with a dropped floor-pan kit, also available from Pantera East.

The radio chosen was an AudioVox AV4230 AM-FM cassette.

Some final details were the fitting of fiberglass bumpers and louvered AC panels from Evans' inventory. The Evans GT5-S Grand Sport side scoops were used together with the front hood vents which had previously only been used on the Evans-built GT5-GT5-SCX prototype.

The front spoiler is steel, but for those who hesitate to have such a easily-hit item be made of such a hard material, Evans has this same one in fiberglass

For a rear wing, Evans chose the low center stop light rear wing, once on his GT5-GT5-SCX prototype but never offered before. Surprisingly with all the 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20-in. wheels on the market, Evans and the owner chose to go traditional with Campagnolo style 3-piece modular wheels 15" tall, running 8.5" x 15" in front and 11" x 15" in the rear. These run B.F. Goodrich /Euro radial T/A's tires, sized 225-50R-15 and in the rear , 305-50R-15.

Evans was able to test the car before delivery and found it to be one of the best stock-bodied Panteras in his memory. He enjoyed doing the car so much he says he will consider coming out with more Pantera products.

Breckles is waiting until spring so he can drive his car, though he says his ceiling will be 1,000 miles a year. At that rate, we at PI think it's safe to predict that it will be still running by the turnover of the next century ....