24' Pantera Style Jet Boat?
 

Anyone know what this is? Looks similar to a pantera.


I have never seen a boat like this with a jet drive.and interested to know how it would perform with the jet.
I have experience with high performance jet skis but know nothing about boats with jet drives. I am concerned tat this thing would cavitate alot and not stay hooked up in the water during rough seas.

Any thoughts?

http://s28.postimg.org/53f2rfxu5/00_...oj_600x450.jpg

http://s28.postimg.org/gg0v0plal/00_..._E_600x450.jpg

http://s10.postimg.org/9arpkup4p/00_...dj_600x450.jpg

Very cool but it will be a dog.. What motor is in it.

Chris

Wow, interesting find! I'd say that looks more like an Excalibur or P&D than a Pantera. I agree it's probably not the best set up or there'd be more like it over the years

All depends on price and desires.
You did not say anything about power.
This type boat was fairly popular on the west coast in the mid 1970's. I think most were used along the Colorado river & Larger lakes.
They gained popularity kinda between the crossover between "Jet powered Day-cruisers " to more "Offshore" styled boat.
I would bet with any rough the boat will take keeping the jet wet should not be a big problem.
Lotsa aftermarket performance add-on avail for jets.
My '74 Cheetah 24' I had to special order the stern drive propulsion.

Looks Like my yellow & white Cheetah 24' jet boat I had & raced back in 1974-5 . It's the same hull as all the many other that copied the original a 24', 7' beam Magnum like this black & white one. As a pleasure jet boat mine was fun to run as it did around 55mph, but racing it in modified class back then not so much fun as ruff water killed it. I later pulled the jet drive & converted it to a IO set up much better feel & ride in choppy water.

Marc,

You beat me to the punch as usual. I was gonna say Cheeta. Looks just like the old Pacifer that Chuck Kimberline used to run with the single outboard. Good west coast boats. I believe they were out of Arizona

Many used this hull even the 24' Sunsation but changed the deck like Pantera did. I still have this 24' Cobra in my collection that has twin 302 Holman Moody engines & Volvo drives. I raced against this twin engine Cobra with my jet boat, it lapped me in a race we were both in. The only real difference in hulls some removed the small pad on the bottom like the Cheetah hull had. Here is some pic's of my Cobra.

thanks for the info guys. It has a 454 in it.

Holy crap. Twins in a 24x7 How tight of a squeeze is that?

yeah i was gunna say, it must be a 24x8 like hells banana

Oddly , no tabs or nozzle trim control. It takes 2 454's and 2 pumps to hit 60 on a 26, that one at least doesnt have the "e" pump like most jet cruisers. Look for 45mph with the contemporary peanut &logs bbc ,990'sand some gils or 496 manis and a dial with at least a cable trim system should get you around 55 or so

It's the same 7' beam hull & it is a little tight but 302 Fords do fit.

Andy here is a pic of Chucks boat.

Is cheetah a well built boat? If that is infact what it is? I did some searching and im not finding anything built by cheeta that looks like this.

Any Ideas on what someting like this might be worth?

HIN ?
Quality?
Depends on who built it where it was built and what drugs were in vogue at the shop.
My 24' offshore was rock solid but I watched them build it with extra lay up, in Orange, CA. (1974)
Good Luck
PS I paid $ 12,000 cash 24' Cheetah Offshore/Hardin 454/MDS outdrive

I believe Cheetah later became Panther,, here is there info from back in the later 70's.

h2oboater - Any more info you can give me on that 24-7 Magnum? My friend owns a 24-7 Magnum that was a jet drive and it was converted over to a Bravo drive, I believe his is a 73 or 74 model year.

Update: Just checked with him, my friends Magnum is a 1973...

Do you have the hull Vin #,, I have my doubts that it is a Magnum. My two 27' 1973 Magnums have Vin hull # so if Magnum made a 7' beam 24' it would have one. Many have tagged there 24' hulls with Cigarette & Magnum decals.