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Tom Cotter, Davin Reckow, and friends discovered this 1972 DeTomaso Pantera in the last episode of Barn Find Hunter (). After a fast trip to the vehicle wash to rinse off 45 years of dust and animal droppings, Davin makes a valiant effort to get this Italian sports car's Ford V-8 engine going again. Will It Run?
#WillItRun #BarnFindHunter #neverstopdriving #hagertydriversclub
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Like what you see? View our other series including:
Redline Rebuilds|Time-lapse engine rebuilds from start to complete
Barn Find Hunter|Tom Cotter searches the nation for deserted vehicles
Jason Cammisa on the Icons|The conclusive automobile review
Revelations|Unknown Stories About Automotive Legends with Jason Cammisa
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If you do a Redline rebuild I will watch every episode. I promise!!
Agreed
Love the Redline rebuilds
Yes me too
same! pumped
Me three!
Hope you can save the block. When I hear water came out of the coolant lines, I probably felt as bad as the owner. I’ve always loved Pantera’s, can’t wait to see more of the progress.
Time is now to be innovative and aggressive in rebuilding the 351, unless of course the goal is to keep it stock and original as possible.
Keeping the vehicle naturally aspirated is probably recommended but, some internal upgrades would definitely add some spice to this Pantera pie. Balancing the engine components will provide the foundation for an ultra smooth and powerful driving experience.
Looking forward to see what is in store for this amazing Barn Find!
Great series of episodes on one my favourite cars. And the colour is absolutely perfect! Sucks to find out that the engine is locked up, but I’m selfishly excited to see the Redline Rebuild, and the Masters of Time Lapse do the voodoo they do better than anyone else.
Can’t wait to see how this turns out. Finally another Redline Rebuild! This one is special!
Thanks for showing the reality of taking on these projects. Not always as straight forward as most of the restoration programs make it seem. Thanks for keeping it real and relatable! looking forward to the restoration process videos.
Davin is the perfect mix of pleasant media personality while still maintaining his authentic mechanic grumpiness. That Pantera is beautiful. My friend has one and he let me drive it. I found the pedal configuration quite unbearably tight. Maybe if you took your shoes off?
18:14 i think you should’ve put the car in 5th gear and pulled it from the front. Because now the wheels are drive and the engine is driven, 5th gear makes a lower ratio. I experienced this when i was adjusting the valve lash on a Peugeot. Just lifted the car on one side, put the car in 5th and turned the wheel to turn the engine and adjusted the valves.
Sorry for my bad english. I speak persian.😅🙏
Shame (but not surprising) about the engine – but the silver lining is you still have an incredibly original and solid early Pantera to work with, and in a GREAT color, to boot! Like others I will watch EVERY episode you produce on this build/ restoration/ however you want to phrase it.
The engine has the most mechanical advantage in first and reverse gears. If you are trying to turn the engine over by dragging, the most mechanical advantage is in fourth. Rocking the car back and forth in 4th gear might have worked.
True
Actually, use 5th gear!
Im glad it didnt pop free actually, as now the cleveland will get the repair it desesrves.
I’ve been working on and around Panteras exclusively for more than 30 years. They are amazing cars. I just spent the last five days packing up another garage find car today in fact.
Your car has a mismatched front bumper. The left one has a square inner corner—it’s from a 1971 (through March 1972) car. The March-July 1972 cars used the bumpers with rounded inner corners as this one has.
Although the mufflers are original, they are from a different car, a later one with the big bumpers. The tips point straight out the back of the muffler can, rather than tilted upwards as would be appropriate on an early car like this. There were actually three different styles of mufflers used on the chrome bumper cars. The earliest had a much smaller muffler can, the second series had one that was arguably too large, and the third style used the same just-right muffler can as those you have, except with the tips welded at a more jaunty angle.
The European GTS variant used nominally the same mufflers, except with larger diameter pipes and proper 4-into-1 headers. They are still available new (all were/are manufactured by ANSA) but are eye-wateringly expensive. Count on $2500-3500 for a full Euro GTS exhaust system. This car deserves it though.
The early cars had single adjustable shocks made by Ariston, which were license-built Konis. They are identical internally to Konis and can be rebuilt by any Koni rebuilder. They are really quite good and yours are probably in useable condition without any work needed at all. The aftermarket also has loads of options available. (I happen to have a good original set of 1970s Koni shocks with slighty stiffer springs for sale if you’re interested, although personally I would run what you’ve got for now).
Feel free to reach out for free project consulting any time. I’ve driven literally hundreds of Panteras and probably worked on at least a hundred, and I’ve got a house full of parts (and a very tolerant wife who has her own Pantera, making us a two-car family). I was the guy in Jay Leno’s Pantera video which we shot ten years ago (and can be seen elsewhere on YouTube). My contact info is all over the place so I’m easy to find.
How much does a pantera like this one cost nowadays?
_WOW ~ FANTASTIC!_ I’d take a good resto-mod Pantera over _any_ other exotic in history!
Too cool! I love that you know so much about them. Will havta watch the Leno vid.
What a lovely old school gentleman you are reaching out to share your invaluable experience and perspective on these truly magnificent exotic Italian cars I had the great pleasure to run a Longchamp for a few years many years ago and it certainly required a very experienced mechanic to keep it fine and dandy !
@william barry ❗👍
This is the most interesting rebuild you guys have done in a while. I really can’t wait for the next episode. I want to see every step of rebuild and detailing process.
An old boat mechanic taught me that brake fluid eats anything that isn’t metal or alloy. They use it to free up locked or frozen engines. Pour it in each cylinder for 24 hrs. Worked for me 8 times already.
I’ve done brake fluid anti seize for years. An old mechanic taught me that as well. Those old timers knew how to get things done.
Personally, I would have rebuilt it anyway. A 351 isn’t a rare engine and aftermarket parts are plentiful and it’s a straight forward job. I’d port the heads or do aftermarket performance ones. An aluminum intake and a performance carb as well. Technology has moved so far forward since this was built, why not take advantage of that?
Certainly one of the coolest car designs in history, and, historic collaborations. I am looking forward to watching this rebuild.
Me personally I would have pulled the oil pan and you probably can see which cylinders has oil bypassing the rings down the Piston skirts. Then I would have loosened each rod cap and just lightly tapped up on the Pistons and see which ones were free.
I have ’72 that I bought in ’82. Road hard and put away wet (eg 40punds of bondo). This rebuild reminds me of all that I have learned in 40 years of ownership. Be sure to replace the u-joints in the drive shafts. Mine broke at 2 MPH and were a big-time disaster. At speed it can be catastrophic.
I’m so glad to see this classic Pantera get the restoration it needs. I was very surprised to hear him mention Traverse City at the end! I used to live close to Traverse City. I know the area well. I’ve been to Traverse many times. I eagerly anticipate the next phase. Thank you.
Not a mistake by any means.The body is in great shape , its just the engine which needs help.Looking to see this car done up. What a lovely mating of Italian style and a Ford V8 ,its a marriage made in heaven.
Thank you guys for your videos. No criticism from me, how many of us will ever pull a Pantera into our garage and restore or update one. Beautiful. Thanks for allowing us to be part of something that otherwise we could never experience.