Hi Folks! Just want to take a minute to introduce myself. My name is Pete, and I reside in sunny Tarpon Springs, Florida. I joined the forum in February.
I was a member of PI back in the 90's when I owned a 71 Pantera (THPNLY01613, if memory serves me correctly). Ended up trading the 71 in for a recently restored 1968 Mustang V8 (289-2V) Sports Sprint coupe, and about 9k cash at a collector car dealer in 1996. I was aware of some corrosion on the rockers and driver floor pan, and the engine ran rough on the 71, and I was originally planning a restoration. Had some initial regrets in the trade deal, but the Turquoise 68 Mustang look "oh so sweet" and ready to drive with nothing needing to be done. A few months later, got a nasty phone call from the dealer saying I ripped them off. After their maintenance department began prepping the 71 for resale, they discovered major lower body corrosion hidden by the undercoating and the engine was trashed (abused?), cam wiped, spun main bearings, etc. Not abused by me, I might add......just happy when it would stay running so I could take it around the neighborhood and back home without getting stuck. I let them inspect/appraise the 71 before we struck the deal, so my conscience is clean. So in the end it was a good deal for me, still own the 68 Mustang, and the 9k I got in cash went towards my wife's new car. Remember guys........"happy wife, happy marriage".
In late 1997, I picked up a 1974 Pantera-L (THPNND06626) from a really nice gentleman in Tampa, Florida. Funny thing, although I intended to get another Pantera some day, I only wanted to check it out when I saw the ad in a PI quarterly magazine I just received. But after seeing her, I fell in love. We took her out for a spin and she drove perfectly. The gentleman must have felt sorry for me, so after I pulled myself together and stopped slobbering all over myself, he told me he would drop the asking price, and said "just take her".........and I did.
The last couple of years I have unfortunately become complacent and between changing jobs, getting a new house, moving, dealing with a teenage daughter (please pray for me folks), I did not drive her, at all......"forgive me father, for I have sinned". As a consequence, front calipers frozen, clutch master/slave frozen, and not yet sure what nasty surprises await in the gas tank. Got her up on a car lift I bought from a buddy at work. The left front and back calipers are off, and just finished getting the last piston out of the front calipers this morning. I think I got to the calipers just in time, not as much corrosion in the bores and on the pistons as I feared. I regret not taking before/after pictures during the tear-down and clean-up to share in the tech section. I will try to make it up when I do the R/H side.
Anyway, sorry for being long winded, so I will close for now. This is a great forum and I have learned a lot from the posts I have read so far. I hope I can contribute something useful myself in the near future. Take care folks!
Pete C.
1974 L (THPNND06626)
1968 Mustang Coupe (Sports Sprint)
1979 Mustang Cobra (5.0)
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