Reply to "Push Button Panteras, more questions."

At the concorso Italiano I have the honor of selecting the "Best DeTomaso of Show", the car goes on stage, receives the award provided by the event organizers and it is then judged by the event's judges against the other "Best of Marque" cars, i.e. the best Ferrari, the best Maserati, the best Alfa Romeo, etc. The winner of the judging receives a "Best of Show" trophy from the event organizers.

This is the big time for a DeTomaso. To be judged by a qualified party outside of our hobby, against other concours quality cars. Of course, no DeTomaso has ever won best of show.

It takes time, Rome wasn't built in a day. I am steering the thinking of the atttendees of our shows more towards the mainstream concept of what a concours car is, at least for the owners who present their cars as such. We'll always have the modified cars, I see no problem with that. But my hope is that we will have a few owners who are up for the challenge to present their cars as showroom stock, so we can compete with the other marques and win that best of show trophy. It would gain our hobby a little bit of respectability, we'd be taken more seriously, and so would our cars (values would go up).

Southern California has the largest concentration of Panteras. There is a new show in Southern California, the Los Angeles Concours, where that type of third party judging goes on. This will be a great venue for the owner who wants to compete in that type of show, I hope there are a few who will do so.

George