SuperFast80

Sunday morning food for thought......

I would argue that in terms of the whole performance and looks package, the only car that compared for the time was the Pantera GTS. OK, OK, I know 'Ford this and Ford that' but the 351C was a very competent motor and this mid engine car must have just ahve been a beast on the course. I realize reliability and availability were an issue but wouldn't you just love to have a sexy Italian car with solid American muscle?

I would still choose a solid lifter BB bumper car but I'd be in a bind if I had to choose between this and a SB.......

NOTE: Yes, I do know that these are pricey cars




[Modified by SuperFast80, 11:36 AM 1/26/2003]

SuperFast80

gdh

Tim Horton thought so, until he fell asleep at the wheel on the QEW on the way back to Buffalo outside of St. Catharines. :sad: At least he left us a great legacy of coffe and donuts. :thumbs:
btw the 351 Windsor was a competent engine, the 351 Cleveland was a great engine, had one in a Mustang vert. and that thing flew.


[Modified by gdh, 12:20 PM 1/26/2003]

Metal Wulf

:cool: :thumbs:

MoMo

Well, there were three others actually, and they were within GM during the C3 Corvette's reign.

The LS7 found its way into the Chevelle but never in a Corvette. It was supposed to go into the Vette the following year, but was axed. The best 454 the Vette ever saw was the LS6. Back then, the Chevelle wore the crown as the most bad-arsed GM car.

When the LT1 350 small block with solid lifters was installed in the Corvette, it was also installed in the Camaro. And in the second generation Camaro, it made that car slightly quicker in 0-60 and quarter mile times. That was when the Camaro earned the title, "The Poor Man's Corvette".

The third example was the 455 Superduty Firebird/Trans Am. When that came out, it so blew away the competition that it was the ONLY muscle car left. 455's rebuilt to similar spec's today are still strong 12-second cars, with a MILD cam.

Cajun99

Comparable cars is certainly a debateble item but GOD I love those Panteras.

I have always thought they were some of the coolest cars ever made. Wish I had the green to get one :cry

SuperFast80....is this one yours or a friend's??? It's gorgeous!!

Twin_Turbo

me too, love the pantera. Saw one for sale locally, asked price, fainted and walked away.

VegasJen

panteras rock! i actually had one pass me on the street last week. very unusual to see on on the street. my wife worked a pantera HPDE last year (unfortunately, work prevented me) and even she was impressed by their looks. she is not one to be impressed easily by cars, and she hates mine. :rolleyes:
momo, i think you might be missing the point of superfast's post. yes, there were faster cars out there, in shear brute acceleration. however, none of the cars you mentioned were on par with the corvette out of the box in handling and braking. i think that is where the pantera comes in. i suppose outside north america, there were some exotics that were there. the countach started out roughly the same time the stingray debued, and had a lifespan just as long, or longer, than the c-3 (don't remember the total years for countach production). they were way out of the price range of all but the wealthiest Americans too. besides, in real world performance, i think they were on par. it wasn't until somewhere on the nether side of 140 was the countach vastly superior.
i don't really think ferrari was doing a whole bunch. the dino was in production and in '68, i don't even think the 308 was on the drawing board yet.
porsche, maybe in europe. here, they couldn't breathe enough to keep up with a 'vette on a straight road. besides, you had to be an accoplished and familiar driver with rear engined cars to take the 911 to the level of a ZR1.
BMW had the M1, very elegant car and very capable. i don't think more than a few hundred ever made it over here due to emissions requirements. so they are pretty much a non-issue.
i still like the camaro and especially the SD455. i would still like to own a '73-'74 SD455 some day but those prices are paralleling the corvette in collectible value.
just as an aside, i recall a story back in '73 (i think) some pontiac engineers took what would become the '74 SD455 to the cannonball run and finished third overall in an unproven car, counting a couple times they had to stop on the side of the road for repairs. as the story goes, had the car run solid from start to finish, they would have likely won the race with hours to spare. my details of the story are probably off since it's been 10+ years since i read it but still fairly accurate.

PatsLs1vette

Heres x-otics from the forum this car rips,gonna be fuel injected soon if he ever gets off his butt.





[Modified by patsnitrovette, 3:51 PM 1/26/2003]


[Modified by patsnitrovette, 4:16 PM 1/26/2003]

45ACP

There was also Jaguar's XKE.

Jaw-dropping looks, brilliant handling (fully independent suspension), very good 6 and 12 cylinder powerplants . They don't have the forward thrust of the C2's and C3's but are - at least from what I have been told by several E-Type owners - very, very capable sports cars.
http://www.jaguar-e-type.net/
http://www.jag-lovers.org/e-type/

BUT, I certainly like the Pantera, too. I would hate like hell to have to choose between a Pantera and an E-Type . . .


[Modified by 45ACP, 4:23 PM 1/26/2003]

Cali,68,L-79

Loved Panteras since I first saw them. there are 2 of them that participate weekely in the La Mesa shows. One with a 400+HP block and is it a looker with those wide meats and nasty raspy exhaust all rapped in that sexy Italion body.

:cool:

SuperFast80

No, unfortunately this is a car I found on ebay. Yes MoMo, there certainly were very strong cars from GM and the others. I think that I was comparing the overall package though. :) I certainly would love to add any of the cars you posted as well as a 351C or 429CJ Ford or any BB Mopar but I don't think they would be my choice for overall competition to the Corvette.

garagedweller2

ISO Grifo- another hybrid (427 BBC on late cars) Cost a fortune though

SBR

Momo, I am pretty sure that no car received the LS7 motor. The 1970 LS6 was the strongest motor available in 1970 with 450HP. The strongest motor in 70 for the Vette was an LS5 rated at 390HP. In 71 the Corvette received the LS6 but its compression ratio was lowered to 9 to 1 and was rated at 425HP. :cheers:

norvalwilhelm

My friend Dave has a Pantera. He bored and stroked the 351 to 396 and installed 8 injector stacks. He changed the rear end and it cost him $8500CDN . He also installed 6 piston front calipers and custom 17 inch rims. He also owns a Galloway corvette, a hemi cuda and a few other rare cars.
I do love his Pantera and it appears at most cruise nights.

Schmucker

Yeah, a guy around here has one that he take to cruises and shows. Neat looking car, good power, but it'd still rather have a Corvette.

rainman69

I'd rather have the 426 Hemi powered car that someone made shortly after the Pantera came out. I can't remember its name... Less than 10 produced, possibly only 4 or less produced.

I'll look around for it.

SuperFast80

:iagree: The LS7 was rated at 460hp for 1970 but never made it into ANY production vehicle. It was available for some time over the counter though.

Chuck Harmon

Superfast,

I have always loved the Panteras too, especially the early ones. They are one of the most unjustly under appreciated cars out there. Truly a civilized version of a GT40, my all time favorite car.

What is great is that the guys who have them tend not to care a hoot about needing to be original. Webbers, FI stacks, cams, etc. are generally the rule to there current configuration. These guys love to improve and tweak. My hat's off to them. :flag

The biggest drawback is that if you are 5',10" or taller, your head is against the roof. Saw a guy who rewelded his floor pan to accommodate his 6',3" frame. He did a real nice job!

Another very competitive car to the Vettes was the HiPo AMX Javelin. They had a very short wheel base, no back seat, 390 cubes, very light, and a license to fly!

Chuck

MARKUS_P

Clutchdust, you really compare a Countach to a vette? :eek:
Donīt take me wrong, I love my vette, but I would never DARE to COMPARE it to one of the fastest, ever made production cars with a midengine V12 capable of over 450HP!!
Here is some technical data about the 5000QV:
5000QV:
Magazine: Fast Lane
0-60: 4.2 sec
0-100: 10.0 sec
1/4 mile: 12.5 sec
Topspeed: 190 mph !!

Wake up, Clutchdust! ;)
Corvettes are cool and fast, but donīt compare them to Lamborghinis
:mad