Back in 1971, if you were thinking about buying a sleek Italian sports car that looked like it was going 100 miles per hour standing still, you probably wouldn't think about going to your local Lincoln Mercury dealer to get it.  But that's exactly what you could have done and you would have driven out in a very powerful car called the Pantera, powered by a 330 horsepower Ford 351 cubic inch V8 engine.  Lee Iacocca, Ford's president at the time, got to know the owner of the company that designed the Pantera, Alejandro De Tomaso, through racing.  Iacocca and De Tomaso agreed to jointly produce the Pantera and market it through Lincoln Mercury dealerships.  The car was built in Italy using a racing style chassis known as a monocoque frame which literally tied the entire car together under the body.  The car was supposed to be a direct competitor for the Corvette, and a prototype debuted at the New York Motor Show in 1970.  Originally, Ford thought that they would produce about 10,000 vehicles a year, but engineering setbacks reduced those numbers dramatically to a peak of 2,033 in 1973.  However, those who purchased a Pantera got an exotic, 2 seats, and mid-engine sports car capable of reaching speeds up to 160 mph.  It was priced at $9,995 in 1971; a relative bargain considering its Ferrari counterpart cost two and a half times as much.  Due to the evolving safety standards imposed by the federal government, the Pantera was taken off the market in the United States in 1974. The car continued production to be sold in other countries through 1991.  Since a relatively small number of Panteras were sold in America, they became instant classics sought after by car enthusiasts.