1972 Detomaso Pantera of Ross Jackson

Regular VHRR event goers will know of Ross Jackson’s strikingly beautiful 1972 De Tomaso Pantera which he has owned since 2002. Ross even still has the magazine he read at age 11, which caused him to fall in love with the Pantera. 

The Pantera was manufactured in Modena Italy (the same town where Enzo Ferrari was born) by automobile manufacturer De Tomaso. The car made its world debut at the 1970 New York Motor Show, and would go on sale the following year, selling over 7,000 units world wide in it's 20 year production run. Ironically, over 70% of sales occurred in the U.S and sold by Lincoln-Mercury dealers given its Ford power plant. 

The Pantera (Italian for “Panther”) was the first attempt at blending Italian body-styling with American muscle, and designed by the famous American-born designer, Tom Tjaarda at Carrozzeria Ghia, (then owned and run by Alejandro de Tomaso himself) and using a steel monocoque design, the first instance of De Tomaso using this construction technique.

When you look under the rear lid of this beast, it instantly raises your eyebrows. You just don’t expect to see a thumping big 351 Cleveland V8 with over 500BHP sitting in a mid-engined, European sports car! Let alone a transaxle V8! 

Ross is a regular at VHRR events, and has competed in over 400 races in this beautiful car, and until last year it had never had a serious crash. The odd spin and panel rub was the most it had suffered. 

However, last March that all changed at the Phillip Island Classic where Ross did what so many have done at Phillip Island and paid the price. 

Ross says “I knew it was the last lap so the red mist descended in the final turn and I stayed out wide, three abreast which put two wheels in the grass….applying over 500bhp thinking I could pick up a place or two resulted in a hard turn left and straight into the unforgiving pit wall.

I was fine, the car was not. Apparently I bent the entire pedal box but fortunately had washed off a fair bit of speed.

But thanks to tireless work by Mark Johnson of MJR Motorsport Engineering (including sourcing most panels from the guy in the US who makes them to order, having bought the De Tomaso factory dies etc….) we got the car back by Sandown in November. I do have a much lighter wallet though!

Unbelievably Mark found a Pantera bonnet in Victoria….that alone saved thousands.

Anyway by December my son Chris (embarrassingly faster than me) and I could once again share the drive at SMSP in the Group S 'enduro'. And he even put it on pole in the shorter race.

Needless to say I won’t be doing that at the Island this year, but I am sure looking forward to running once again at one of the best tracks in the country….and treating the final corner with the respect it deserves!”

You can witness this incredible car in all it's glory and step back in time, at the 2026 Phillip Island Penrite 100 Classic along with over 350 incredible historic racing machines.

March 13^th – 15^th 2026. Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit. Tickets available on-line or at the gate. Patrons under 17 enter free, Friday is free for all.

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