This is an interesting one.

Great Thread & Pics, Jo..
 

..thanks for sharing & keep 'em coming! :cool:

This is a picture of a 1999 28 Pantera that I built for BJ Maher a member of this board at the 1999 Key WEST World championship running out near the wall in 6-8 footers wide open.

JO

This is a pic.of a 1978 24 powered with twin Johnson 235 HP outboards.Brown and tan were popular at the time.

JO

JO,

You were such a cute kid. What the hell happened to you?

This is a pic of a 28 my father raced in 1980 powered with triple Merc. outboards.That is me in the center of the 3 man bolster.

JO

This is a pic of my father in the 24 with Ralph Linero going out Pt.Pleasant Beach inlet in 1978 alongside of World champion Betty Cooke in the Kaama 38 Scarab.

Jo

This is the last pic . for today.

This picture was taken at Pt. Pleasant Beach, N.J. race in 1980.

JO

Hey Brownie,


I am still cute as ever, just a little older.:D :cool:

JO

Hey Guys,


In case anybody wants to know whose idea for this thread to be started. The credit should go to Fred A.K.A. TOO OLD.


JO

Great job, Jo !!! Croom anytime soon? Dave Warden

This is one of the most impressive photos of a Pantera in race action.

This is my Father on the outside leg of the reef at the 1980 Key West World Championships.

If you look closely you will see the 28 starting to come out on top of the water after being completely submerged.It was powered with triple Mercs.The boats rub rail on the port side was completely torn off.My Father lead the race until a motor let go.


JO

This is a pic. of a 28 powered by twin small blocks at a Miami race with Mike Thomas from TNT CUSTOM RIGGING on the throttles.

This race was held in 1986.

Look at how far the boat had been flying before it starts to land.You can tell by the no wake behind the boat.

JO:D

This is a pic. of a 1988 Pantera powered with twin 600 HP big blocks by Hawk Marine with speed master drives.


This pictured was taken at a Sarasota National in 1992.

JO

This is a pic. of a 28 Pantera owned now by an Offshoreonly member DLG.

It is now powered with twin 300x Mercs.


JO

Hey Wardy,

I will let you know this month on Croom.I am looking for to riding up there with you.I have been racing here at Air Dania every Saturday night.I heard they added a Supercross track now with some great jumps there at Croom.


I will email you a week before.

Regards, JO

Jo, No supercross track that I know of....I was up there a couple of weeks ago and just the sand pit and the woods stuff. REAL muddy tho !!! My son had a great time until he had to clean the bikes !!! But it was one of the best times we have had up there. Let me know, we are going to do a camp out thing up there when the weather cools down abit. Dave Warden

And another one....

Hey Wardy,


This is a picture of me at Air Dania a few months ago on my TM 250 Italian works bike.


I will let you know when I will be going up or let me know when you will be riding.There the word down here that the pit had been changed to a Supercross track.

I enjoy the whoop section.

JO

Hey Wardy,


This picture was taken last month at Imokalee track near Naples.It is a big double they have there.

I wiped out last week on the Grandstand Jump at Air Dania and I am all bruised up , but happy I walked away from it.

It is 75 feet across and the face is approximately 12-14 feet high.:D It is a leap and a half.It is the biggest jump at any track that I have ridden at so far.I enjoy getting away from boats with this hobby.

My friend Mike Girard that raced the Sloppy Joes 46 Skater and owns the 35 Survivor on my website ran into my bike after I got thrown off it.He is all banged up also.He will most likely ride up at Croom with us.

Thank you for your pics.Is that your son with you there ?

Regards, JO

Hey JO,
Thanks for the history lesson, the pics are awesome. loved the photo of the check..... good thing you guys build a great boat.
and of course Daytona 2000, one of my favorites.

Jo, the Imokalee track looks just like the sand pit. There's no supercross track but it still has a little of everything. We try to hit the sand pit during the week when it's not as crowded or if it's real crowded we just go back into the woods to the hill climbs. Let me know when you want to ride. My son's football ends in November so after that i'm wide open. Are you going to the Worlds in the Key's? Dave Warden

P.S. Hey Jo, Can I still get the 1979 price on the 24' with 470 HP Merc for 22K ????:D :D :D Wardey

This is a pic .that was taken at a New York race around 1980.28 powered with triple Merc. outboards.We would mount them on the transom back then.


This boat was cored with Airex.

JO

This is a picture of a 24 Sport cockpit in 1977 - 78.Check out the cockpit floor made out of teak and cabin door.The bucket were also very popular at the time.They were swivel mounted on a slide.

Check out the covico wheel.Still being used today.

Also the Mercury throttle .

This boat is still around located up in the Seattle, Washington area.


JO

Wardey brought up a good point. With all the insane cost of new boat and depressition of them. If you look at the price these boats when they where new. They are bringing just as much used and 20 years old now. Shows you can't go wrong with a good quality boat.:) :)

Brian

nice pics,cool thread
pls keep'em coming

Totally Awsome:) :) Great History Lesson... Thanks Jo.......

Great pics, Jo. Your family has a lot to be proud of!

Is Too Old a closet Vanilla Ice Fan? Didn't he have purple interior in his Pantera too? :D

JO,

Your pictures, especially the Family collections, bring to mind the "good stuff" about America. With all the horrid things taking place today, like the innocent people gunned down in Maryland etc., Here on these pages you present the essence of Americana. A hard working Family, working together, staying together, building a quality product that you stand behind.

You deserve more than congratulations, for within your Family at least to me, is alot of what the Red White and Blue stands for.

So glad to have met you and your Family, raced against you, and yeah, beaten by you :)

Take care,

Steve David

Steve, You have made me feel 10 feet tall, indeed I am a blessed man! When you have a strong family unit you can face anything, as I have. I have had the fortune of having the best son and daughter a dad could hope for, and on top of that I have a wife that makes me so very proud, for it is her that that has made my life, the best life a man could hope for!!! Yes I am a lucky guy!!! You are correct: GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pepe Pantera.

Pepe and Jo, I always have had the upmost respect for your boat's, and now that I have learned through this board a little about your Family and that your a Family owned business (Much like my own) I have even more!!

I hope to own one of your boat's one of these day's!!

I was at the Miami Boat Show and drove by the shop, now I wish I would have stopped by, Next time I will!!

Fred (not too old) Was your boat the "Ice, Ice Baby" Boat? Or did it just have the same color interior?

This is a pic. of the first canopied race boat ever built.I have another pic.of this 28 on the first page of this thread.

It had sitdown Recaro seats with shock absorbers,air oxygen tanks,and 5 point harness belts.

We began work on this concept in 1984 and showed up at the Miami race in 1985.APBA told us it was to far ahead of its time and needed time to consider it.

A few months later a few Superboats began using the concept.

JO

And we have a start!! Going out the cut at the Miami race in 79.

This pic. was taken at a race either in Ft. Myers or Sarasota.

It has my Father in the background in the black boat with another Pantera 28 called boats unlimited and the Seahawk of Willy Falcon and Sal Magluta and a 30 foot Sutphen called Magic Gems.


JO

This is a pic. of a 1977 24 Pantera powered with twin 6 cylinders and Alpha 1 drives.This boat is still located here in Miami and seen quite often with original gelcoat colors.

JO

This pic . was taken at Lake X in 1978.If you look closely you will see my fathers 24 way in the background having R and D work done on the first 2.4 Mercs. built before doing the record run.

Betty Cookes 38 Scarab is also pictured. ( Kaama ).

My Father entered a few races that year before the record run was made and the motors would not last at any race he went to.


Since My father was not to confident the motors would last on a 1300 mile trip to New York they ate all the food they had with them before they arrived in West Palm Beach 2 hours North of Miami.:D

The motors survived the trip and had a powerhead let go a few miles away from New York City.:rolleyes:

JO

This is how the Pantera race team got started in 1975.

This pic. was taken here at a Miami race in 1977.The Pantera team is getting ready to go and race to Bimini and back.

Jo

This picture has My Father giving me some input on how to throttle a boat.:) I was 6 years old at the time.

Now I give my Father some input on driving the boat sometime when we race together.:D :p

JO