The Si Pantera was first presented to the public at the Turin Motor Show in 1990. The factory produced only 41 cars of this type (#9601 - #9641) between 1990 and 1993, 2 cars were crashtested and the last car produced is sitting at the factory museum in Modena. So only 38 cars were sold to customers.
4 of these 38 cars were converted to Targa Top cars. They were built as a normal Coupe, then sent to Carozzaria Pavesi of Milan to open the roof and stiffen out the whole chassis, then they were sent back to Modena to be completed. 2 of these cars (#9637 and #9639) were equipped with a Getrag 6-speed gearbox, sourced from the Audi RS2. All other Si's had the same 5-speed ZF unit like all Panteras before.
The roof of these cars is easy to open and also easy to store. It is hanging on the underside of the rear deck lid with enough space for the luggage under it.
One of these 38 cars was converted to a race car by british ADA-Engineering. They had no luck at Le Mans, but could win the british GT Chamionship in 1994.
One car was originaly built as a RHD car. This car was converted to a twin turbo car by british importer Emilia Concessionaires of Silverstone.
The Si was not only a facelift from the original Pantera like the GT5 and GT5-S, it was a complete new car. That's why you cannot import such a car to the US.
The restyling was made made by Marcello Gandini, who also penned the Countach, Diablo, Lancia Stratos, Maserati Shamal and many more. All body parts except the roof section and the rear deck lid are new, even the doors and the windshield are different.
The chassis is heavily modified with a complete new tube subframe in the rear. The suspension is all new, made of oval tubes instead stamped sheets and has a much wider track. 4 piston Brembo brakes with huge, ventilated and cross drilled discs were used all around. The wheels are 17" cast Magnesium type from Fondmetal. Modern tyres are Michelin 235/45 ZR 17 in front and 335/35 ZR 17 in the rear.
When you remove the new and larger boot in the rear, the whole engine room looks new. Handcrafted Aluminium wheel houses, the electronic fuel injected Ford 5,0 Liter V8 engine and the 6-speed Getrag gearbox. The new fuel tank has a capacity of 100 Liters and is located right of the engine instead left. Left in front of the rear wheel is located the factory oil cooler and the battery. There are also new stainless steels exausts with catalytic converters. There are 3 spreader bars now instead 1 and the AC condenser is gone. It is located now under the right front fender.
Under the front hood you can see an all new lay down radiator with 2 big sucker fans, all new electrics and fuse box.
All new also in the cabin. New phantastic seats with space enough for your legs, thanks to the redesigned inner wheel wells. The steering wheel is a new Momo unit with stalk mounted switchgear, left for the lights and right for wiper (3 speeds) and washer. The dashboard wears 8 air outlets now and has all new instrments from Maserati. Also Maserati sourced is the perfect ventilation and AC unit with a modern touch screen panel. The car offers power windows, perfect placed electrical removeable rear view mirrors, central lock and anti theft device.
It is the perfect car for fast long distance riding, comfortable and quiet inside with enough space for your luggage in front and rear. The rev level is very low at the 6-speed cars. At 3000 rpm in 6th gear you can reach 180 km/h (113 mph) and at only 4000 rpm you will reach 240 km/h (150 mph).
Cornering is much more fun thanks to the new suspension with the wider track. There is nearly no understeer. High speed stability is is perfect thanks to the improved aerodynamics and breaking is phenomenal with the F40 sourced Brembo brakes. You need heavy feet without an assist, but there is absolutely no fade.
Prices have been increased dramatically in the past 3 or 4 years. Today most of these cars are in the hands of car collectors and not for sale for any price. If you have the luck to find one, you have to pay about 70.000,- to 80.000,- Euro (91.000,- to 104.000,- USD) for a normal 5-speed Coupe.
Last year I got an offer about 145.000,- Euro or 188.000,- USD for my blue Targa, but it is not for sale at the moment.

Our car, #9637, was built in 1993. It was the factory showcar for several european car shows in 1993, like Paris, Brussels and Frankfurt.
November 1994 it was sold by the factory to a sportscar dealer in Germany, where it was their demonstrator car until 1997.
July this year it was first registered in Germany and deregistered only one day later. For the next six years it was part of a private car museum in Bavaria, from where we bought it in June 2003. It was in perfect shape and had only 1000 km on the clock.
There was a big international De Tomaso meeting in Austria last year. About 70 cars from whole Europe were registered for this meeting. Most of them Panteras, but also some rare cars like a Vallelunga, a Mangusta, a Deauville and some Guaras and Longchamps. Santiago De Tomaso voted for the best cars of the meeting and my wife Gerda could win the trophy for the best Pantera of the meeting.

This car was also featured in the December 2004 issue of the british "Auto-Italia Magazine". Six pages and the front cover.
For back issues go to:
www.auto-italia.co.uk

TECHNICAL DATA:
MODIFIED MONOCOQUE WITH NEW TUBE SUBFRAME IN THE REAR
OVERAL LENGHT 4365 mm
OVERAL WIDTH 1980 mm
OVERAL HEIGHT 1100 mm
WHEELBASE 2512 mm
FRONT TRACK 1560 mm
REAR TRACK 1563 mm
WEIGHT 1480 kg
FRONT WHEELS 8.5Jx17 WITH 235/45 ZR 17
REAR WHEELS 12.0Jx17" WITH 335/35 ZR 17
ENGINE FORD 302 V8
HYDRAULIC LIFTERS
COMPRESSION RATIO 10.5:1
ELECTRONIC MULTIPOINT FUEL INJECTION SYSTEM
ELECTRONIC IGNITION
HORSEPOWER 305 AT 5800 rpm
TORQUE 451 Nm AT 3700 rpm
GEARBOX GETRAG 6-SPEED SYNCHROMESH PLUS REVERSE
DIFFERENTIAL SELF BLOCKING
CLUTCH HYDRAULIC CONTROLLED DRY SINGLE PLATE
NO PERFORMANCE FIGURES AVAILABLE FROM THE FACTORY FOR THE 6-SPEED CARS.