THIS IS DE TOMASO'S LAST CONCEPT CAR!

Some automakers come and go, especially from Italy's "supercar valley" which is the area between Modena and Bologna which is home to Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and Pagani. From the late 1950's through to the 1990s, it included De Tomaso as well.

Alejandro de Tomaso left this world in 2003, far too young at age 74. But before he left his namesake company behind, he commissioned one last concept. And now that concept car is coming up for auction...

The concept car was called the Nuova Pantera or the Pantera 2000 and was designed by the inimitable Marcello Gandini; who also designed the Lamborghini Countach, Lancia Stratos, Alfa Romeo Montreal and Bugatti EB110 ( to name a few). 

De Tomaso was already well acquainted with Gandini, whom he had hired to revise the original Pantera in 1991 and design several Maseratis and Innocentis during De Tomaso's stewardship of those marques as well.

The Pantera concept was shown to a crowd of 500 gathered for the automaker's 40th-anniversary celebration in 1999, then disappeared into obscurity. One of two prototypes made and the only known survivor, its design was said to have influenced the Bugatti Veyron's, and you can see a certain similarity to the profile and rear buttresses. With no interior, engine, or actual running gear, the mock-up can't actually be driven, so it's limited to display. Have a look at the gallery to see the De Tomaso concept car.