Dormant Italian performance marque De Tomaso could be about to make a return. A camouflaged car referred to as the Project P and resembling a De Tomaso Pantera was spotted last week in Geneva driving together with an Apollo IE supercar.
The same people behind Apollo, Consolidated Ideal TeamVenture, also own the rights to the De Tomaso name, and they could be planning something special to highlight the latter’s 60th anniversary this year.
Press days…outside the motor show 😉 #ApolloIE #GT1 #DTProjectP pic.twitter.com/zPPRXj4PPD
— Apollo-Automobil (@ApolloAutomobil) March 5, 2019
Making the Pantera the focus of the comeback is a smart move. The car was one of the supercar stars of the 1970s. Featuring knife-edged bodywork from designer Tom Tjaarda and a V-8 from Ford, the car proved to be an impressive combination of Italian style and American muscle and garnered worldwide fame. Even Elvis had one.
De Tomaso eventually went under in 2004 and a previous attempt to revive it failed in 2012. Consolidated Ideal TeamVenture eventually picked up the rights to the company in 2015.
Would be cool so long as Apollo doesn’t help with styling.
Hall Pantera on the west coast builds (or did, I been outta the loop; Aussie GTO guy now) some brilliant resto and resto-mod Panteras, jeez-us, I recall a magazine article in the ’90’s about a 427 SOHC conversion they did with A/C and true 180° headers.
If Apollo is going to "revisit" the Pantera, they’re gonna have to come McLaren big to beat the redone Hall’s out there.
Good luck with that.
-R
Fargo ND