DeTomaso Mailing List: August 97, Message #37
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Here is a bit of nostalgia reference our favorite kitty: A recent issue of Autoweek Magazine (July 21st) had a short article on the new Ford Puma a soon-to-be released car for the European market from Ford's German operation. That brought to mind the story of the name hunt for the Pantera. >From deTomaso Pantera by Jan P. Norbye: ..."How it came to be called the Pantera needs some explanation. It was strictly a marketing label, attached to the finished product, which had known various other appelations during its gestation. DeTomaso identified it as Type 874, and Ford's code name was MSE (Mid-Ship Engine). Neither of those would be much use as tools of advertising and sales promotion to convey the car's identity to an American clientle. Among themselves,. Ford people referreed to the new car as the Cobra (Ford had bought the name from Carroll Shelby), but that was reserved for special versions of American-made cars. Moreover, the Cobra name carried an implication of brute force as opposed to technical refinements, and it was therefore regarded as undesireable for deTomaso's new car. Ford decided to retain the deTomaso name as the trade mark, but a variety of model names were considered. At one time Puma was the front runner, also considered was a proposal to call it simply '351'. Numbers as opposed to names have worked in the past to provide some magical quality for a car no matter how obscure or meaningless... e.g. XK120, Super 88, F-85, 300SL etc. What really sticks in people's minds however is a name, not a number... e.g. Porsche Carrera (not 356 or 911), Cadillac Eldorado (not series 60 or 70). Consequently Ford rejected the 351 suggestion and consulted Webster's in search of a good name. Ford was big on wildlife in those days. Starting with the Mustang in 1964, they added the Cougar for Mercury to use in 1966. It was the imagery of of Latin American felines that brought forth the Puma suggestion. Eventually the search stopped at Panther, a synonym for Puma, often used as a generic term for the whole race, including the Afro-Asian leopard as well as the South American Jaguar. And the Italian word for panther is pantera. Use of the English word was deemed unacceptable prehaps mainly because of racial overtones, a terrorist group known as the Black Panthers having figured prominently in the news during the late 1960's. Moreover, it lacked the foreign exotic flavour of the Italian translation."... Another slant on the story from "deTomaso The Man and His Machines" by Wallace Alfred Wyss: ..."All the time deTomaso was developing the Mangusta successor, it didn't have an official name. DeTomaso merely called it the "deTomaso 351" in honor of both himself and its engine displacement. At the same time Ford officials were referring to it amongst themselves in 1970 as a "Cobra," since the car seemed to be a natural successor to the Cobra sold by Ford dealers between 1963 and 1967... But there were complications, for they were already using the "Cobra" title on a Ford Torino, (which ought to have taught them the foolishness of "watering down" a good name) and there was the lingering fear of criticism from the outspoken Carroll Shelby, the man responsible for the real Cobras if they used his name on a car developed by his old friend/arch enemy (depending on their respective moods at any given moment...). Shelby could cry "foul" to the enthusiastic press. Ford didn't want to take the chance. Bertone had built a mid-engined racing car prototype in 1969 calle the Panther, and this may have inspired Ford's final choice, for earlier "animal" names like "Cougar" had been successful. To spice it up with the magic elixer called "pizazz," Ford used the Italian translation-Pantera. Even so, their final name choice came too late to head off the plethora of advance-stories written by European correspondents for American magazines, in which the car was given other names like "Cobra."... and finally another slant from"Panteras For the Road" by Henry Rasmussen: quotations are from Rick McBride, the man responsible for the early Pantera advertising photographs ..." I never owned a Pantera, but every time I see one it brings back memories because I photographed it but also because I named it! It's not often that you get the opportunity to name a car! Ray Geddes ( Ford's deTomaso liason man) contacted me while they were still calling it the Cobra II. He said they needed suggestions for another name. They just couldn't call it Cobra! I contacted a copywriter-friend of mine and asked him to make up a list. We met at a restaurant and he showed his suggestions to me. Nothing sounded right. He had only names like "Fiore de Mantova" and so on. My wife was with us and she speaks fluent Italian. I asked her what lion was in Italian. Leone, she said. Didn't sound right. What about Panther? Pantera! I wrote that on top of the list. There was no follow-up from Ford, but I kept a copy, filed it and forgot about it. One day, several months later, someone from Ford called, I don't remember who, stopped by my office and said they were desperate for a name and did I still have my list? I unfiled it and there it was: Pantera! We called deTomaso right away. He liiked it. And that's how it happened!" So ladies and germs... that is how the unassigned styling "exercise" from two of Ghia's top designers Tom Tjaarda and Miss Giulia Moselli became the Pantera. Now... wasn't that easy!? Don M in Miami Florida's "72 UFO" a real Panther plate Yellow Euro pushbutton #1158 W4WJ@aol.com ==============================================================================