Someone Just Paid $226k For A De Tomaso Pantera Without An Engine

A quarter of a million dollars can get you a lot of pretty sweet supercars these days. The Ferrari 488 GTB, Lamborghini Huracan, and Aston Martin DB11 all hover around that price point. And the Acura NSX, Audi R8, and McLaren 570S all start well below that. Yet someone just paid about that much for a 30-year-old De Tomaso Pantera… without an engine or transmission.

The car in question is a 1987 GT5-S, one of the rarer versions of the Pantera made. It’d normally have a Ford V8 and a five-speed manual, only this one has neither. Yet Bonhams sold it this past weekend for $226,240 – which is more than the $182,560 that someone paid for a similar ’83 GTS with the engine.

So why the big sticker? Well, like the other Pantera, this one belonged to the legendary Carroll Shelby, and was sold alongside several other vehicles from the famous racer/constructor’s private collection. And it also happened to have served as a test bed during the development of the original Dodge Viper.

Apparently Shelby wanted the Pentastar supercar to pack a twin-turbo V8 like the one used in the Pantera. But of course Chrysler ended up going with a V10 –developed with help from Lamborghini, which it then owned, and which (over a decade later) came out with a V10 of its own for the Gallardo.

Along with the Panteras, Bonhams also sold a ’93 Shelby Series I roadster for $313,000, and continuation examples of the ’65 Cobra 427 for $259,840 and ’66 Mustang GT350 for $201,600 – all part of Carroll’s own collection. Other items sold at the Greenwich auction included a 2006 Ford GT Heritage Edition for $412k, a ’59 Mercedes 300 SL roadster for $895k, and a ’65 Aston Martin DB5 convertible for $1.45 million.

Photos courtesy of Bonhams