On the road!

Just south of Battle Creek, MI on M-66, there is a hotdog/ice cream stand that has become popular in the B.C. area the last couple of years. They close for the winter, but just opened for 2014 the other day.

As I was coming home yesterday evening (Sunday) I saw one of these parked outside:

DeTomaso-Pantera-red-1972-05G70151817811A.jpeg


I didn't have my camera with me, so that pic is just one grabbed off the internet, but it did look like a real old DeTomaso and not a kit car to my untrained eyes :shrug:
 
Jbird said:
Just south of Battle Creek, MI on M-66, there is a hotdog/ice cream stand that has become popular in the B.C. area the last couple of years. They close for the winter, but just opened for 2014 the other day.

As I was coming home yesterday evening (Sunday) I saw one of these parked outside:

DeTomaso-Pantera-red-1972-05G70151817811A.jpeg


I didn't have my camera with me, so that pic is just one grabbed off the internet, but it did look like a real old DeTomaso and not a kit car to my untrained eyes :shrug:
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Cool Pantera.


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I got to drive a friends Pantera back in 1972.....WOW!!! you wanna talk about a fabulously quick car. I've had the Pantera jones ever since. maybe some day.

also one of my "conversion" dreams has been (for a looooong time).....would be to swap out the 351 Cleveland in a Pantera and replace it with a 429 Super Cobra Jet.....and then see what it would do.
 
also.....one of the FEW super cars of that day that got the TIRES right. big honkers in the rear to keep it going straight.
 
mongooz said:
I got to drive a friends Pantera back in 1972.....WOW!!! you wanna talk about a fabulously quick car. I've had the Pantera jones ever since. maybe some day.

also one of my "conversion" dreams has been (for a looooong time).....would be to swap out the 351 Cleveland in a Pantera and replace it with a 429 Super Cobra Jet.....and then see what it would do.
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That might not be ideal for handling. I'm not sure how much more a 429 weights, but I'm guessing a lot.


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reverend1 said:
That might not be ideal for handling. I'm not sure how much more a 429 weights, but I'm guessing a lot.


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around 180 lbs difference. that kind of difference didn't seem to bother the GT-40 too badly when they switched from the 289 to the 427.....very similar engine location to the Pantera. if you've never been in one, the seats in a Pantera do not have very much adjustability, esp. for tall people. the back of the seats are AGAINST the engine bulk head, so very much mid engine. besides, the Pantera was never in the same game as a 911 in the tight handling game.
 
mongooz said:
around 180 lbs difference. that kind of difference didn't seem to bother the GT-40 too badly when they switched from the 289 to the 427.....very similar engine location to the Pantera. if you've never been in one, the seats in a Pantera do not have very much adjustability, esp. for tall people. the back of the seats are AGAINST the engine bulk head, so very much mid engine. besides, the Pantera was never in the same game as a 911 in the tight handling game.
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I actually have been in one. My Dad had a '71. Right before the 5 mph numbers ruined the car. I was 4 but it still counts. I know it's a mid engined car but it's still not something is want to try.


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I wouldn't hesitate for a minute to try the swap. the only thing that I would have to do some research on would be the torque capacity of the ZF tranny. but i'm pretty sure that the ones they used in the Pantera were pretty strong units, and it wouldn't be getting the kind of slams that a drag type launch would produce.

if I was really going to undertake that kind of a conversion, I would certainly be consulting guys like Doug Nash about any tranny mod's needed
 
mongooz said:
I wouldn't hesitate for a minute to try the swap. the only thing that I would have to do some research on would be the torque capacity of the ZF tranny. but i'm pretty sure that the ones they used in the Pantera were pretty strong units, and it wouldn't be getting the kind of slams that a drag type launch would produce.

if I was really going to undertake that kind of a conversion, I would certainly be consulting guys like Doug Nash about any tranny mod's needed
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I know that when he sold that car in '83 he basically gave it away. Now they are bringing pretty good money.

I'm just not a mod guy. I like to keep them as they came from the factory.


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If it's the same Pantera, I got the scoop on it tonight at work.

I told a guy I work with who is also a car enthusiast, that I had seen one. He told me "those are pretty rare, it's not every day you see one. I know of a guy in Sturgis, MI who owns a candy-apple red one (same color as the one I spotted).

He also told me this guy's dad, had bought it brand new, drove it around for a year or so and put it in a barn. When he passed away, his kids didn't even know he had a Pantera until they went through the barn. I guess there was stuff piled on top of it so you couldn't see it. Needed the hood replaced as it was dented in, and some other stuff replaced.

My co-worker grew up in Sturgis and remembers seeing it in the early '70s when he would go cruising with his older brother in his bro's Mustang. And then he saw it at one of the dealer (Ford?) repair shops when the original owners kid was getting stuff repaired on it.


I can't imagine there being too many candy-apple red ones in the area, so it's probably the same car, as Sturgis is only about 25 miles from Battle Creek.
 
One of my Dad's buddies had an early Pantera for a few years, but sold it since it spent so much time in the shop. I still like 'em. You see one or two at each Mecum auction.

You don't see one of these going down the road everyday. They are moving the NASA 747 from Ellington Field to Space Center Houston, where the shuttle model will be placed on top of it. I'll get my own pic's later today.

plane-email1.jpg


20140428_bigmoveday2_cjd_06.jpg


20140428_bigmoveday2_cjd_07.jpg
 
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i had one of those back in the early 80's. mine was green and a 1968, with the soft top and the V-6. unfortunately.....it really needed more help than i could afford to give it .....but i had a blast driving it for a year or so.
 
mongooz said:
i had one of those back in the early 80's. mine was green and a 1968, with the soft top and the V-6. unfortunately.....it really needed more help than i could afford to give it .....but i had a blast driving it for a year or so.
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I pass that one every day but otherwise I can't remember the last time I saw a jeepster in the wild
 
I was just coming back from Battle Creek about 15 minutes ago, and one of the new (2015?) Mustangs passed me. I didn't think they were out yet?

Not that that makes any difference, as I saw a couple of the new Fiestas driving around before they were released, back in 2010 (2009?) and before the new model of Ford Focus was released a few years back, I had 4 of them pass me on highway M-60 between Three Rivers, MI and interstate I-69. All four were white & black cow colored. And I mean 'cow' colored, like a moo-cow :tongue:
 
been nearly 40 years since they made those....here......and they're STILL a gorgeous car.

(i know they've been made more recently in Australia......which has nothing to do with this hemisphere)
 
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