1962 Platinum Panamerica Ventura
The Panamerica Ventura was a special edition of the Panamerica 1. It was essentially a road going version of the Panamerica race car with comfier seats, sporting the 307 horsepower Stardust V8 from the race car. It could do 0-60 mph in 4.6 seconds and had a top speed of 180 mph.
The Ventura was named after the Cuban born driver Catalina Ventura, who had been lynched in 1961, following her victory at Sebring. Every example of the Panamerica Ventura was painted black with a single red stripe on the driver’s side, which was based on the livery of the car she drove at Sebring. 200 units of the Ventura were made for the 1962 model year, the profits from which were donated to the family of Catalina Ventura. The Ventura name would later be reused in every succeeding generation as the highest performance version of the Panamerica.
