Reborn De Tomaso Pantera could be an actual thing

De Tomaso Pantera. It’s possibly one of the best car names, right up there with Jensen Interceptor and Lancia Stratos.

Well, the Pantera looks about to be reborn. Sort of. As a different car. And a different name.

The Good Oil reported at the start of the year that dodgy exLotus head honcho, the improbably named Dany Bahar, had announced his intention to build a carbon-fibre-tastic supercar reinterpretation of the Pantera through his new company, Ares Design.

News of this goal was greeted with about the same level of comprehension and belief as someone announcing Lotus would build “seven new models in seven years” [cough].

But the so-called “Project Panther” looks to have come to fruition. Well, in camouflagetaped test mule form at any rate.

Together with Ares Design’s technical director Matteo Vezzani, Bahar showed off the first example of the so-called Ares Panther outside the design house’s headquarters in Modena last week. Okay, it’s actually a Lamborghini underneath, with a Lambo V10 in the engine bay. But those squared-off proportions do look 1970s under all that camouflaged paintwork. It even has pop-up headlights, so there looks to be a few nods to the era into which the original Pantera was born.

We just hope the driving position doesn’t require your feet to be pointing one way on the pedals, with your upper body contorted in almost the opposite direction. And for €515,000 ($819,500) we’d expect electric windows at the least.

Ares is only building a handful of Panthers to begin with, although Bahar claims the 2018-19 order book is already full. But then, he would say that, wouldn’t he?

Still, we’re looking forward to seeing the first examples appear ahead of collection by their moustachioed, medal lion wearing, open-shirted new owners.