45 Years of MotorWeek, John Davis' Unforgettable Pantera:

In 1975, before he became MotorWeek's trusted voice for 45 seasons, John Davis had a purchase decision to make: Jensen Interceptor or De Tomaso Pantera? Both were exotic cars with American engines he could actually work on. He chose the Pantera—specifically a two-year-old 1973 L model he found in Norfolk, Virginia.

The catch? A family bought it for their son's high school graduation. The son promptly wrecked it. They had it partially repaired, sent him to the Navy, and sold it to John.

John drove it home and completely disassembled it. Every part. His entire apartment became a workshop—engine components in the kitchen, transmission parts in the bedroom, body panels in the living room.

Italian exotic styling. Ford 351 Cleveland V8 power. American engineering he could wrench on himself.

He rebuilt everything that didn't move. Daily Driver until 1979

Decades later, after reviewing thousands of cars on America's longest-running automotive TV show, one truth remains: "I still miss that car today."

The host who's driven everything shares the restoration story that started it all—complete with apartment management nightmares and why choosing American-powered exotics changed his automotive journey.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:01

But what I really wanted was something, quote unquote, like an exotic car, but that had an American engine that I could work on. I wasn't really interested in doing anything European. It would be way beyond my skills. And there were two particular cars that were making the rounds that were reasonably affordable on the used market at that point. One was the Jensen Interceptor, which had a Chrysler uh V8 in it, and the other was the Di Tommaso Pantera, and before that the Magusta. But the Magusta was nothing but trouble. Of course, so was the Pantera, but less so. I don't remember how I narrowed it down, but I came across a two-year-old, and this is 1975 now, a two-year-old Pantera down in Norfolk, Virginia. So a 73 model, which was what was the first, what they call the L model, which meant it had rubber front bumpers to meet the U.S. safety standards. I went down to Richmond. A family had bought it for their son, you know, as a high school graduation project. And I think he he prompt wrecked it. They got it repaired, they sent him off to the Navy. I drove the car home, completely took it apart, filled up my uh little one bedroom apartment with car parts everywhere, and pretty much rebuilt uh everything that uh didn't move and uh drove that until uh 1979. So, and I still miss that car today.