-Red with Tan leather interior and Tan carpeting, 21,000 showing, 5-speed ZF manual gearbox, Modified 4.6L Alloy 4-cam Cobra V8 producing 450 HP, Group 5 style metal bodywork, No expense spared custom build-restoration.

Alejandro De Tomaso founded his auto building firm, De Tomaso Automobili, in Modena, Italy in 1959. Like many race car builders, he hoped to emulate Ferrari and build road cars that would embody the qualities of his racing cars and be fast, excellent handling cars. De Tomaso's hallmark was a well-designed sportscar featuring exotic styling on the outside, but always have an off-the-shelf production engine underneath. Today, Panteras are among the most bulletproof of exotic Italian cars on the road and, as a result, they are far cheaper to run and own than Ferraris, Maseratis and Lamborghinis due to De Tomaso and Ford's choice of an off-the-shelf Mustang V8 engine, the 351-Cleveland.

Starting with a standard 1972 model year Pantera, it was taken to a bare metal shell and built to its current Resto-Mod specification. No stone was left unturned and the result is exceptional in every way. Cosmetically, the body has been restored to Group 5 look with metal flares and obligatory large rear wing. The interior has been retrimmed in Connolly leather throughout in true bespoke fashion. The dash has been equipped with custom White-faced VDO gauges, Recaro sport seats and must be labelled as sumptuous in comparison to when original. The engine bay and undercarriage are excellent in every way, detail and ready for show.

The 4.6-liter Cobra V8 features an aluminum block and cylinder heads, Motec programmable fuel injection, polished valve covers, stainless steel tuned headers-exhaust manifolds as well as a stainless steel four outlet sport muffler.

The suspension has been uprated to Koni shock absorbers with coil-overs and swaybars. The stopping power is provided by Wilwood four-piston calipers with cross-drilled rotors at all four corners. Last, but not least, this Pantera has been fitted with a set of Gotti-Etoile wheels (17x10 front, 17x12 rear) with 275/40 front and 335/35 rear Michelin Pilot tires.

A wonderful build in every way, we recently drove this Pantera approximately 300 miles from its previous owner to Autosport Designs. It was a wonderful opportunity to road test to address any issue or dialing in that may have been needed due to lack of used in the recent years. Therefore, we have nut and bolts the entire car, service the air conditioning and heating systems, adjusted the shifter linkage, supplied and install a correct right angle drive for the speedometer to work accurately and finally supplied and install and uprated crank pulley, one which will be able to withstand the acceleration this Pantera provides.

Enjoy our video road test, it is a true testament to the build quality of this resto-mod Pantera. At the same time, it shows the versatility of a vintage sportscar turned modern. It is at home cruising around town with ample power on tap when your right foot is angered. Available for sale for a fraction of its build cost.