Reply to "1982 DeTomaso Pantera GT5 in North of the Border"

Well 393, I think I will offer an opinion ...

Deeb has one of the best GT-5s you will see. I agree that flared cars look "bitch'in". He has also owned an earlier car. His advice is sound.

I own an orange '74. I have had it, and driven it very regularly for around 14 of the last 16 years. After a changing the all the A/C hoses and doing a number of other things, it is back on as my second car. I think, (although I do not really know because I changed the speedo from miles to km years ago) I have put about 50K km on it. I shopped for years before buying it and believe I paid a little more for it. I had very strict buying criteria and there were many cars I walked away from. My car was almost stock with original paint when I bought it. It had 100% original engine, P7s, a clutch job, and the driver's window gear replaced with a brass one.

The first thing I did before shopping for a car was to buy the DeT Pantera Technical manuals. Parts manual, Shop Manual and the Technical Service Bulletins. I got to know how the car was built and what to look for. I spoke to Parts Vendors to give me advice on what to look for or watch out for. (In those days there was no internet) Now, this can be done by searching the web.

The criteria that I believe is most important is exactly what David said: Get a solid chasis - any year. DeT cars can be modified to suite your heart's content and, unlike other exotics, are accepted and appreciated for those modifications.

Which leads me to another criteria that has been touched on in this post: Try to get the full history of the car. That is a great starting point. In addition, if you know the serial number, you can call some of the DeTomaso parts vendors in the U.S. and see if they will be able to tell you the parts they sold to the car. They did in my time and it worked great for me.

Although harder and harder to find, try to find a car with original paint that has a solid chasis. Pay particular attention to the edges of lapped joints to identify incipient rust. Recall, you are dealing with uni-body construction.

And last but not least (I know this may be controversial): It takes all of 2 minutes to disconnect the speedometer/odometer. In fact, if you want to go further, there are instructions in a technical bulletin on how, very simply to adjust things. When I was looking for a car, most owners didn't know how fast they were driving anyway. The mileage on the "clock" was more important if they were ever considering selling the car. Finally, a new speedo with minimal mileage can be bought for a few bucks. Message: I NEVER paid attention to the odometer reading when I was looking at cars. In fact, I still don't. When someone tells me the mileage on their car, I just say: "Oh, thats nice"

So, my advice is just to underscore deeb's: Solid body/chasis, solid body/chasis, solid body/chasis ... Then you will end up with a car you are most happy with.

To quote one of my favourite lines on the back of a GT-5 "Eats Porsches for Breakfeast and Ferraris for Lunch". A Cobra kit still doesn't quite do it fo me either. A GT-40 kit on the other hand, I would have to think about ...Hmmm, But where would I put my briefcase?

Yours, "andriyko"