Reply to "Original yellow?"

Daniel:

The body colour tag, which is a sticker, was affixed to the front of the car under the front trunk lid near the driver's side hinge. However, since your car has been repainted, it's almost certain the body shop will not have taken the trouble to remove and replace the decal.

One way to know for sure is to get the build sheet from the factory. I've been trying to get mine for a couple of years with no success, but maybe you will have better luck.

I'm glad to hear you are finding out what many or most of us GT5 guys on the PIBB already know; the car creates a sensation wherever it goes. I see you are also finding out how impossible it is to resist the temptation to upgrade the motor. My one suggestion is to talk to the guys at MME again, and ask how much it would cost to get you to about 550hp. These days it is not difficult to get a naturally aspirated, streetable, reliable 550hp+ stroker that will not overheat or cause other problems. I have two reasons for suggesting this. First, in the greater scheme of things, a 550hp motor will not cost all that much more than a 450hp one (I will leave the exercise of justifying this to your wife to you). Second, at 550hp your power-to-weight ratio will exceed all but that of the carbon fiber hyper-cars. This means you can run with the big dogs.

As a final note, you can take comfort that a GT5 does not require a lot of upgrades to handle a 550hp motor as long as it is in overall sound mechanical condition. The cooling system and brakes are entirely up to the task already, so just make sure you have your U-joints inspected carefully and you should be ready to go. The one upgrade you may want to consider is a chassis stiffening kit so you don't twist and crack your body.

Also, and regardless of how much horsepower you intend to run, be sure to do something about the lower rear control arm attachment points. They are notorious weak spots in late model Panteras like ours. Finally, you may want to consider modifications to allow you to dial in more caster to reduce or eliminate the tramlining inherent in all the wide body Panteras(I'm running 4.2 degrees and plan to increase that to 5.5 degrees). If you want some more information on any of this, let me know.

- Peter