Designed by the Italian firm Ghia and a team led by American-born designer Tom Tjaarda, the De Tomaso Pantera debuted in Modena, Italy in 1970 and was then displayed at the New York Motor Show. It would prove to be much more popular than the preceding Mangusta, particularly in North America, where over 5,000 of the 7,260 built were sold.

Some Panteras, however, are rarer than others—and the Pantera 90 Si is among the most exclusive of them all. To update the Pantera for the 1990s, De Tomaso commissioned Marcello Gandini to restyle the car. Gandini, known for his work on the Lancia Stratos and Lamborghini’s Miura, Countach, and Diablo models, gave the Si a contemporary look. De Tomaso also lightened the chassis, modified the suspension, and installed a new engine—a 5.0-liter, 305-horsepower Ford Mustang V-8. It featured electronic fuel injection and modified cylinder heads, intake manifolds, camshafts, valves, and pistons mated to the five-speed ZF manual transmission. The Pantera reportedly topped out at over 150 mph and was equipped with four-wheel ventilated and drilled disc brakes with Brembo calipers that were shared with the Ferrari F40.

A victim of the weak market in the early 1990s, just 41 Pantera Si models were built. Two were used for crash testing, and one was reserved for the De Tomaso Museum. As such, only 38 were sold to the public, of which four were converted to Targas. Further, no Pantera 90 Si examples were sold new in North America.

The Pantera 90 Si offered here is one of the scarce few to have ever come to public auction. Accompanied with a trove of documentation, including copies of De Tomaso order and build information, its warranty book, and invoices, chassis 9617 was finished in Giallo over a Nero leather interior—just as it presents today—and delivered new to Germany. It would remain in Europe for much of its life, accruing limited mileage, until it was acquired by the consignor out of Belgium in 2020. After its arrival in the United States, it benefited from the fitment of a new carburetor (the fuel injection system having been removed under previous ownership), a new distributor, and other ignition components to ensure reliable performance. It has seen limited driving, however, and at the time of cataloguing it displayed just 18,763 kilometers (~11,659 miles). It remains today very much as first sold to Germany, showing minimal signs of use inside and out, and would be ideal for further presentation.

Among the rarest high-performance automobiles of the 1990s, commissioned by De Tomaso and designed by Gandini, this Pantera 90 Si is a pedigreed and striking example of Italian car engineering and design—a true exotic worthy of a place in a sophisticated sports car collection, and a bold machine in which to see and be seen.