There has been some discussion of this car on the deTomaso list. Apparently it was built, wrecked, and rebuilt by Junior Wilson prior to his building the tube frame car. Here is the gosphel according to Mike Drew:
> In a message dated 3/20/05 22:38:05, kenn_green@yahoo.com writes:
>
> << But this isn't the big motor car I saw in Monterey. I recall someone saying it takes 500 HP to match the wind resistance at 200 MPH, and this does not look like a 500 HP motor. Does anyone recognize this car? Can someone straighten out the facts?? >>
>
>>>>Sure.
>
> Junior started out with the 1971 Pantera as pictured in this auction. It was a plain-Jane street car that got wilder and wilder as the years went by.
> He went from a 351C to a Fontana Clevor and eventually a massive 572-inch (or whatever) stroker based on the 460, all aluminum. That motor made something like 900 hp and 890 ft/lbs of torque.
>
> He blew a tire, which wrecked the rear of the car, fixed it, wrecked it again, and on and on. One day his navigator took the car out onto a side street to do a burnout, lost control and crashed it into a parked car, smashing the hell out of it, and hitting so hard that he was ejected through the windshield
and landed in the street, badly broken (not only was he a total idiot, but hewas a total idiot not wearing the safety harnesses).
>
> Eventually Junior purchased a very, very lightly damaged 1974 Pantera, cut the body away from the chassis, and had a tube-frame chassis made. (Coincidentally I purchased the rear of the chassis which is now in my car). The monster motor went into that chassis.
>
> He then returned the 1971 car to more-or-less original condition and sold it. That's the car that you now see before you. It looks MUCH better than when I saw it last!!!
>
> Mike
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