VIN: the works Jolly Club De Tomaso Pantera Gr.4 chassis 2873
/ Ben Tyer
HISTORY OF CHASSIS 2873
One of the last two Gr.4 Panteras built, both of which were completed in December 1972, chassis THPNMR02873 was allocated to the Jolly Club in Milan who would run the car on De Tomaso Automobili’s behalf throughout the 1973 season.
Signed off on December 13th 1972, chassis 2873 made its competition debut in round one of the 1973 European GT Championship, a 300km race at the Nurburgring which comprised two seven lap heats. Unfortunately, Luigi Colzani dropped out early in Heat 1 and the Pantera did not take to the grid for Heat 2.
Jolly Club skipped round two of the EGTC, the Paris Grand Prix at Montlhery, but were back for the Trofeo Bevilacqua at Imola, on this occasion with Mario Casoni behind the wheel of 2873.
Disappointingly, Casoni failed to even start Heat 1 owing to engine problems and did not appear in Heat 2. Fortunately, De Tomaso’s blushes were saved by Mike Parkes who took a pair of dominant wins driving a works Pantera.
Remarkably, yet more engine trouble, this time at round four, the Nivelles Coupes Benelux in Belgium, meant Casoni and 2873 failed to start again.
Having missed the races at Estoril and Thruxton, more promising was 2873’s outing at round seven, the Preis der Nationen around Hockenheim where Casoni finished the first 20 lap heat in fifth. It was a familiar story in Heat 2 though as the Pantera retired with an overheating engine.
Chassis 2873’s final EGTC appearance of the year came at Monza for the six hour Coppa Intereuropa. Here, Casoni was joined by Pino Pica and the Pantera started from pole but ultimately posted another DNF.
Although chassis 2873 was not entered for September’s EGTC season-ending Tour de France, the car did appear at Italy’s equivalent: the inaugural Giro d’Italia.
Held between October 25th and 28th, the ‘73 Giro comprised a mix of circuit races and hillclimbs interlinked by regularity sections on public roads. However, considering chassis 2873’s poor reliability thus far in 1973, the likelihood of it seeing out four days of hard running seemed unlikely.
Miraculously though, Casoni and his navigator, Raffaele Minganti, defeated a strong field to include works teams from Lancia and Fiat-Abarth to take arguably the biggest win ever achieved by a De Tomaso.
Chassis 2873 was subsequently sold to Odoardo Govoni who raced it with considerable success over the next few seasons.
In 1984, chassis 2873 was sold to renowned Wisconsin Ford collector, George Stauffer, who retained it until 1998.
Notable History
De Tomaso Automobili (Jolly Club)
Red & Black
31/03/1973 EGT Nurburgring (L. Colzani) DNF (#103)
03/06/1973 EGT Imola (M. Casoni) DNS (#105)
24/06/1973 EGT Nivelles (M. Casoni) DNS (#31)
26/08/1973 EGT Hockenheim (M. Casoni) DNF (#2)
02/09/1973 EGT Monza (M. Casoni / Pica) DNF (#??)
28/10/1973 IND Giro d'Italia (M. Casoni / R. Minganti) 1st oa, 1st in Gr.4 2.0+ class (#457)
December 1973 sold to Odoardo Govoni, Italy
Raced extensively over the next few years
1984 sold to George Stauffer, Wisconsin, USA
1998 sold to Marcel Schaub, Switzerland
2000 sold to Germany
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Autosprint - https://www.autosprint.it/
