Classic test: DUCATI’S PANTAH: MOST IMPORTANT ORIGINAL
That first Pantah produced 52bhp, less than a quarter of the Panigale V4’s awesome 211bhp output, but it was one of the most important models that Ducati has ever built. Not only did the Pantah itself do much to revive the firm’s fortunes, but its engine layout formed the basis of models including the 900SS and Monster right through the Nineties.
The Pantah’s impact was particularly crucial because it helped restore Ducati’s image and point the way towards a viable future during perhaps the darkest period of the company’s history. A few years earlier, in the mid-Seventies, the firm had been struggling financially and under government control, its status as a motorcycle manufacturer under threat. Its bosses had decided to produce a middleweight parallel twin to compete with Laverda and the Japanese firms, much to the dismay of chief engineer Fabio Taglioni.
The legendary creator of so many successful desmo singles and V-twins had reportedly refused to have anything to do with the project, and threatened to take early retirement unless he was allowed to continue work that he had already begun to develop a mid-sized V-twin. Despite Taglioni’s protests Ducati had gone ahead with a range of parallel twins, designed by other
