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The windscreen wipers weren't working - so looked into the electrics and found that the switch itself seemed as though it was stuffed, but hot wiring the wiper motor showed that the mechs were all seized up with the old grease in it as well.

All the terminals on the switch were pretty worn so I re-terminated them all.



So, the whole set up got pulled out, degreased, re-greased and re-installed. The wipers now work when they're hot wired, just waiting for a new switch to arrive and we'll be all good.







I thought I had some photo's of the gear all cleaned up - I'll add them in once I find them.
Michael, if the Lucas wiper drive still gives you trouble, by design that spiral wire is used as a worm drive and it is not hardened enough to do this very long. By unfastening the spiral wire at both ends and rotating it 180 degrees, then re-tightening, you get a fresh surface and another 40 years of potential wear at no charge but a little labor.
I haven't been able to get anything done on the wipers or car in the past few weeks but did order a Marti Report on the car which came in last night enabling a double ended search to start to try and flesh out 1424's history from the brand new end and from the guy I bought if off end.

Hoping this week to get back on to the mechanicals again though Wink Summer is coming so it'd be great to have her rego'd for the nice weather coming!

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It looks great!........But I'm sure that I am biased.......
When I added #4744's Marti Report to Chuck Melton's ProvaMo Registry, (As I'm sure you will soon add #1424's) he asked me to send him a photo of my actual door plate, which in spite of my vin's "Y = October" build date, actually indicates a December build date.
This seems to another one of those DeTomaso mystery numbers, so I'm curious - is yours still present, and if so, what month does it indicate?

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I think I've already put the door plate up on the registry - I'll double check...

My door plate matches the Mari Report so I think my April 71 is still April.

On another note, I spent a few more hours looking in to my wiper problem and I think I've treated the symptom and not the cause in replacing the wiper switch. I disconnected the "screw" wire and just ran the motor on it's own and it's sketchy and only barely working. I've pulled down plenty of motors in my time and thought I'd have a quick look inside and its looking pretty toasted. Nothing that probably cant be sorted providing I have the time to find some new bushes and strip it all down but I've put some feelers out for a replacement that will hopefully take less time to sort...

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Hey Rocky - I believe so.

There were two "driver" cars and two spares from what I've learned so far. I have been in contact with the owner of the other driver and we've I think sorted out who's cars did what where in the scene based on a few tell tales.

His is a single pod dash and has the ridge on the rear deck lid so the one that is lowered down the ramp on the truck has the ridge so that's clearly his - mine has the two pod dash so the interior scenes are mine, I've got the rim rash still showing from the pull (and the sideways scuffs on the tyres) so that's also likely to be mine and I've also go the stone chips in the paint on the guards and rear deck lid from the desert bashing and the barked up drivers (LHS) front guard lip that you can see on the car doing the bashwork as well.

The other car has been restored nicely and is back on the road in LA I believe - It'll be nice when I've got mine back driving as well Smiler.
Some slowgress is being made on getting 1424 on the road over here.

When I got the car the front windscreen apart from being hollywood tinted had a really perished rubber and no trim holding it in - so I've finally stupmed up for a replacement 2 piece trim and have a rubber on it's way as well.

Took the windscreen out on Tuesday and was pleased to see no rust issues around the screen metal at all. Lots of dirt stuck about the place and you can see once again the mulitcoloured history...









So things got real yesterday....

My glass guy wanted the dash "pulled back a bit" so he could get the screen in easier so I figured it wouldnt hurt to get a good look underneath to see what else if anything I should be doing.

Lots of old dust.. But otherwise considering not too bad. Thinking that seeing I've got a month before a new rubber for the screen gets here I'll get all the A/C and heater piping replaced and relocate the bypass valve to the engine bay while I wait.

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It's been a while since I've posted anything up properly on 1424. Mostly through having issues with linking photo's so I ended up giving up.

In that time though - Fast5Pantera has been moving along. Finally registered and in that adds another accolade to its history being the first ever modified LHD car registered in South Australia with the new laws that came in 1 July this year. It's got its plates on - FAST V. It's also been through the paint shop and brought back to looking as close as possible to the way it looked in the movie. The only differences are the passenger side mirror and indicators on the front bumpers.

Pretty stoked with how she looks now. Hope you guys like her too. Thanks to those who have helped me along the way with info, help and ideas.

Next step - interior and engine bay.

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Hi Dave,

No way near as much work as you've done on yours I suspect.

Mechanically - new clutch, rear wheel bearings replaced, handbrake installed (they took it out..), radiator cleaned and new baffle installed, steering rack re-built, new suspension bushes front and rear, sway bar bushes replaced, carby serviced, whole bunch of re-wiring to get it all sorted, new guages, new tach, new speedo cable, new switches. Then the cosmetics, rust removed, re-skinned the front hood, window mouldings and rubbers on the front screen. New SPAL fans on the original radiator - 14" sucker on one side to the drivers side and 14" pusher on the other passenger side of the rad.

Mario the guy here who did my paint was excellent. I charged him to get it looking good but keep as much of the paint history as possible on the car. So the original bronze metallic is still there, the yellow and then the first black from fast 5 then the coat you see now. I think there's less bog on it than there was before which is great.

Body is in gloss jet black and all the trims are in a satin / matte.

Lots to go still yet with engine, engine bay, interior... but one step at a time.

Drives well actually for a 46 year old car. I love getting out in her and feeling how she responds to things. Seeing as she's not really been driven since the movie we're just easing her back into life on the road.

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Originally posted by David B:
I just reviewed this post from the beginning. What a great looking result!

What mechanical work did you have to do to get her on the road? How does she drive?
Last edited by michael1424
I have 1418 which interestingly (to me) was also originally bronze and is currently black.

Did your car have a tag in the engine compartment forward of the emissions plate? How about one over the brake booster VIN stamping under the hood?

Mine has neither, and I do not see any rivet holes to indicate that it ever had them.
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stamped, but I have no way of knowing if it is the original one


* Anyone who knows more than me, please feel free to correct me, but... *

I might suggest that if it is stamped with a 4 digit number on the back, left (driver's side for US cars) of the engine, it's probably the original engine, because....

1. That's wasn't a "standard" Ford stamp - those were put on by DeTomaso (I think).

2. Most of the replacement blocks you would get from either the Ford factory, or that you might pick up in a junkyard don't have a number there.

You should post the number, maybe it is close to other cars in your series.

Regards -

Rocky
I haven't stuck my head in here for a while - Garth, I am lucky enough to have one of the Hot Wheels Fast 5 Pantera's. I managed to get #19 of the 25. I'd love to get my hands on #5 if it ever comes available.

I'll have to have another look at the holes / plates etc. I know the motor has been stamped, I can only assume its the original one looking at the condition of it as it is just now.

From my recollection of previous discussions Rocky you're bang on re: engine # stamping. My # is 0276.

Perry, if your block is stamped its highly likley its still the original motor...

That said, I dont have the factory paperwork so in the current Pantera environment I dont know if my Pantera really is a Pantera at all.... It could just be a re-badged Kia.
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My block is stamped 0271 so our cars are off by 6 and our blocks by 5. Maybe someone didn’t get an engine.


As I understood it, that's pretty common. They would bang out a number of bodies, and get in a number of motors, and poke them in. The motor numbers and body numbers were not precisely aligned.

Anyway - my guess is that you have the original block in there, but you cant guarantee that someone didn't just get his own set of stamps and duplicate the number. And you certainly can't say what's inside the block... You would hope any changes are an improvement.

Rocky

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