'72 #3427

January 2009: Jaime finished the Pantera seats this past week! We bolted them in and took it for a drive this evening. This is the first time that it's been on the road in over a year! :O Time sure flies when you're having fun. I also haven't ever taken a new photo of the white on black switch labels either, so here they are.

July 9th, 2009: Time for some serious work to be handled by the Guru's over at PIMotorsports. This is stuff that I don't dare mess around with myself. They asked me to visit the shop regularly, to give feedback and make sure that everything is going just as I'd like it to. How cool is that? Here's a run down of what's going on in the pics.

Just getting started here. Paint has been taken off where the steel Group4 style fender flares meet up. Notice that the line overlaps the side marker lights. Those will be filled in, and new side marker turn signal indicators will be placed behind the front wheel arches, similar to a lot of cars you see on the road today.



This is one of the new wheels test mounted in the rear. They are a more modern interpretation of the Group 4 style wheel. 18x12's for the rear. 17x8's for the front. The rolled lip on the wheel creates a huge deep dish look. Wheel centers have been painted a dark metallic silver to visually push the centers back, make the disk brakes show up more, and tie back into the dark carbon fiber hood, deck lid (coming soon) and the blacked out chrome. Tires are Nitto 555R's in the rear, 305/35/18's. Nitto 555's up front, 255/40/17's. The tire sizes were hard to find, but they have a great look to them. The rears look beefy and have a tall side wall.



Front bumper area is being prepared to be smoothed since I moved the turn signals behind the grill years ago. Also notice that the lower valance has been removed. It didn't take much. It was so rusty and curb crushed that it almost fell off. Radiator support underneath has also rotted away. The radiator support is being rebuilt and new valance welded on.



The rear end has been smoothed. The rear bumperettes will not be going back on, nor will the Pantera emblems.



I installed door poppers a while back. Now the door handles have been smoothed. Here you can see the new metal that has been welded in.

July 10th, 2009:
The new wheels and tires were bolted on one side, and the fenders temporarily fit to the body. We're checking fitment here and decided to bring the rear wheel out another 1 3/4", and the front out another 1". The wheels have to be sent off, the center weld cut so that the centers can be moved and rewelded. Then the wheels will be repolished, and possibly repainted. Can't go this far, and then not do it right.





This is the new front valance top, and the old one below. Not much left of the old one besides rust and bondo. I bought the replacement piece on ebay a while back.

July 17th, 2009:
Drip rails have been removed and the body welded up.





Radiator support has been rebuilt (thought you can't see it anymore) and the new front valance has been put on.



Got the wheels back after having theirs welds cut, centers moved, and re-welded. Check out how much lip is on the rear wheels now! :O
The paint will need to be touched up where it was bolted into the machine that does the cutting.

July 25th, 2009:
Flares are welded up.









Bought a new big brake kit from Pantera Performance in Colorado. Wilwood calipers, two piece rotors, stainless lines, new master cylinder, proportioning valve, etc. I disassembled the calipers, painted them blue, sanded off the Wilwood logo and reassembled. These will go on the car once I get it back from the paint shop.



Our own Auger Resources/Pantera Electronics LED tail lights with clear lenses have now been smoked. I think they're going to look great with the Carbon Fiber bits on the car and the dark wheels.

August 22nd, 2009:
Fenders are done. I really like the fender vents in the front of our Lotus that help alleviate the high air pressure that builds up in the front wheel wells, so we decided to do something similar on the Pantera. We wanted the vents to follow the lines of the new flares. We originally only planned for one, but after cutting the first, Josh drew out a second and I really liked the shark gill look it created. The holes will be filled with an embossed screen mesh that will fit flush with the fender (same style as what Jaime and I made for the hood vents). In this first shot, you can also see the new mounting hole for the side marker lights that will fit nearly flush with the body.



Rear Quarter: Check out how much lip that rear wheel has. Amazing. I have a new carbon fiber deck lid that should be arriving in another week or so. It'll partially be painted body color. More on that later.





Rear: The car must be a foot wider now. Crazy stuff. Those Nitto Drag radials look fantastic. I'm thinking about having the exhaust ceramic coated so that I don't have to fuss with the black Paint burning off. Not sure though. Maybe that'll be too glitzy.

Nice work Bro! Maybe we will finally have another nice Group 4 in the OC area! Cars & Coffee?

For sure! Your car was one of the biggest influences on my decision to go the Grp4 route. Thanks!

Will be headed to paint in the next week or so for the rest of the paint to be stripped.

Whats the color going to be, pearl orange or lime lambo green?

Hahaha, wow, you're good! Sunset Pearlescent Orange. Mitsubishi Eclipse color.

Looking awesome! Love the wheels. Where did you get your rollbar and flares?
Mike

Thanks!!!

Rollbar through Precision Pro-Formance.

Flares are being done by PIMotorsports. Not sure where they get em, but I'm really glad that I didn't try to tackle that job myself. It's an insane amount of work to fit them, especially the lower pieces.

Got to ask why you would remove the script from the back of the car?
I like people to know what I'm driving and am proud of what it is.
tom

Freakin' beautiful.

Love those vents in the flares! Nice interior too! Yes, go for the ceramic coating on the headers. Zero maintenance. Just get nice polished or powder coated tips if black is what you want.

Wider is better - so fill up those flares with your beautiful wheels and fat boots. Don't be afraid about being tight to the lip of those flares. A tough suspension shouldn't travel that much.

MacMan,

Beautiful car. My car #3428 was built right after yours. It's also red. I'm currently redoing the engine, drive train and other mechanical systems. I just got my ZF back from Dennis Quella and engine is at the builder now. Hopefully, I'll be back on the road soon.

Dennis

quote:

Originally posted by new&slow:
Got to ask why you would remove the script from the back of the car?
I like people to know what I'm driving and am proud of what it is.
tom

I hear ya. I'm also proud of what it is, but I'm just not fond of the way the Pantera script looks. I'm not a big fan of script on cars at all really. Removed the "Dodge" and "Viper" scripts from the rear of my Viper as well.

Hopefully I can find a better way to display the Pantera name.

quote:

Originally posted by DW:
MacMan,

Beautiful car. My car #3428 was built right after yours. It's also red. I'm currently redoing the engine, drive train and other mechanical systems. I just got my ZF back from Dennis Quella and engine is at the builder now. Hopefully, I'll be back on the road soon.

Dennis

Right on. After this I'm gonna drive mine for a while, and save up some money. Then get to the engine bay.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by David B:
Freakin' beautiful.

Love those vents in the flares! Nice interior too!QUOTE]

Thanks!!! Still a bit more to do in the interior. Gotta hook up the A/C and recover the dash, but at least most of that is just hard work and not as much money.

Ha I knew it had to be pearl orange, I could feel it in my bones, nice! I love the sleek look myself on all my cars, no script or bumpers or wipers or any such stuff. Thats how the retrorods are done now. I actually get more people stopping me without the script asking what is it? It is more fun that way. Have you seen those shots of another Group 4 here in southern CA that is pearl orange?

Oh no, are you serious? There can be only one. It's not too late to go lambo green. I have at least a week to change my mind.

Yup, I don't have any wipers either now (I think I just heard a couple people faint). If I ever happen to get caught in one of the two SoCal rainstorms per year, Rain-X will do just fine.