Any former Pantera owners here?

[Joe Dozzo]

I'm another Viper owner giving serious thought to a GT. But I'm also a former Pantera owner and can remember how bad the engine noise was with nothing but 1/4" (approximately) of glass between driver and some 500+ modified hp.

I'm not looking for quiet, heck I drive a Viper! But I'm also not interested in a repeat of the Pantera.

Comments?

Many thanks!

 

[Gierkink]

Joe,

If anything I'd say the car is too quiet. I have not heard a single owner complain about the car being too noisy in the cockpit but a common complaint is that the car doesn't make enough noise.

Rob

 

[dbk]

Stock GT = too quiet. And I'm not a guy who likes loud anymore.

 

[mardyn]

I had a Pantera for several years... my new GT is much, much better, quieter, faster, cooler, everything than the Pantera... of course it should be... 30 years and an extra $125K does wonders for car design.

mardyn

 

[todd]

I had a 72 and I did not think it was too loud, So its hard to say what you think is too loud. The GT just sits there and purrrrrrs. :banana

 

[Jazz76]

no comparison

As former owner of a 72 and 73 I can say that with the GT there is no comparison.
No cockpit heat coming thru consol and rear glass.
Yes with stock Pantera mufflers, the Pantera is much louder.
GT, totally different in every way for the better.
Here is pic of my old 73 money pit.
http://www.panteraperformance.com/Photo_Gallery_1/Photo_gallery.html

Hubert

 

[Joe Dozzo]

Thank you all very much

I hope to be joining you as a GT owner soon!

 

[AZGT]

Here is pic of my old 73 money pit.
http://www.panteraperformance.com/Photo_Gallery_1/Photo_gallery.html

Hubert

Well, looking at the picture, I do see a place to spend a lot of money - it ain't the CAR :biggrin

 

[Cobraman]

Joe, I also had a 1972 Pantera. Nice car. Mine had the stock exhaust, and it was somewhat on the loud side, as confirmed by local noise meters. The new GT is quiet. On the other hand, my 1966 Covette Coupe, with original factory sidepipes, is much noisier than my Pantera ever thought. And one other nice thing about the GT, you won't have to worry about listening to the tin worms at work once the car is turned off. As a Pantera owner, you know that rust never sleeps!

 

[Dr Robert Harms]

How can you possibly make a comparison of a Pantera to a Ford GT re: noise. Over and above everything else (like 30 years) the Pantera noise is almost always assessed with the windows open (aka ever seen one where the AC and or windows actually worked ??)



Doc 74 L owner from Day 1. Now with the replacement headers and the 4 glass packs

 

[Joe Dozzo]

By no means making any performance comparison between the cars, though my heavily modified car (stroked to 405 CID, fuel inj, alum heads headers, roller cam/rockers and more) was well into the HP envelope of the GT.

And while I spent almost as much time maintaining as driving my Pantera, the windows and AC were both fully functional on my old car

Had side exhaust on my GTS for 4 years and finally went back to rear exhaust to cut down on the noise a little.

550 quiet HP sounds like heaven to me right about now!

Again, thanks for the comments / observations!

 

[B O N Y]

Love Pantera's, especially rust free examples. Buyers better know how to do a PPI on the buggers.

 

[cobrajeff]

Former Pantera Owners

I had one for a dozen years - it was great car in it's time.

I put a BOSS 351 engine in mine, which made it even noisier with solid lifters. I installed 3/4" styrofoam insulation behind the bulkhead trim, and that significantly reduced the noise and heat levels in the interior.

These babies here made some SURREAL sounds in the Pantera - when I cracked these wide-open, it sounded like the engine was trying to suck in the entire earth's atmosphere - it was fantastic! In a Cobra, you can't hear the Webers due to the side exhaust, but in the Pantera, with the Webers right behind your head, they could overcome even the aftermarket headers and "Big-Throat" exhaust.

regards,

Jeff

 

[B O N Y]

I had one for a dozen years - it was great car in it's time.

I put a BOSS 351 engine in mine, which made it even noisier with solid lifters. I installed 3/4" styrofoam insulation behind the bulkhead trim, and that significantly reduced the noise and heat levels in the interior.

These babies here made some SURREAL sounds in the Pantera - when I cracked these wide-open, it sounded like the engine was trying to suck in the entire earth's atmosphere - it was fantastic! In a Cobra, you can't hear the Webers due to the side exhaust, but in the Pantera, with the Webers right behind your head, they could overcome even the aftermarket headers and "Big-Throat" exhaust.

regards,

Jeff

Hey Jeff,
Awesome looking Pantera!! I am a fan of Clevelands. At Concourso Italiano where Jerry-Awsum Gt has set up a Coral for the GT's there is always a major showing of Pantera's. There sure do trick out nicely, sadly they don't hold their dollars to well. See yah in Detroit.
Cheers,
daniel

 

[Fast Freddy]

I'm another Viper owner giving serious thought to a GT. But I'm also a former Pantera owner and can remember how bad the engine noise was with nothing but 1/4" (approximately) of glass between driver and some 500+ modified hp.

I'm not looking for quiet, heck I drive a Viper! But I'm also not interested in a repeat of the Pantera.

Comments?

Many thanks!

that is a great photo :cool so how many panteras were made?

 

[66GT40]

Joe : I currently have 3 Panteras, 1 built Cleveland, 1 423 c.i. Windsor and 1 stock Cleveland, all are louder than the GT. The Windsor car is much louder. The GT really needs an after market exhaust system.
Jerry

 

[Joe Dozzo]

Thanks! The CO Pantera Club used to "exercise" the cars pretty regularly and this was one of the jaunts up to Jacksons Hole / Grand Tetons Wy.

There were something like 2500 (or less) 71 - 74 Pantera's imported / sold through Lincoln/Mercury dealers. DeTomaso sold maybe another 100 in the US after that - more like grey market European cars brought in, since I don't recall that DeTomaso ever actually set up a US sales network.

 

[Beach-GT]

Pantera

I had 2 1971's with Hypo engines and they were basically awfull. The GT is a world better. Buy one.