Cruisin' OC 5/17-5/20

Mark,

If you decide to go, give me a shout (m)240-432-4257...

Bill

Here's a picture from last years Cruisin' OC. The inlet show is a 4 day event and one of dozzens of scheduled car shows throughout the 4 days. There are usually between 4000-6000 registered show participants and another 10,000-15,000 (pre-1976) cruisers driving the 10 mile strip of Ocean City, MD. I've driven my 66 Shelby and 66 Fairlane over the years and have not once seen a Pantera on the strip. This year, it will be different, especially now that I have freshly gutted ANSA's

Bill

Looks like a lot of fun Bill. I REALLY appreciate it when owners take their Panteras to non-Pantera & non-Italian car shows. It exposes new people to the Pantera.

I'll climb on the soap box for a moment and remind everyone, the Pantera sells itself. People like us fall in love with it when they SEE it. But people have to see it first before they can fall in love. So taking it to shows where there is a mix of cars & a mix of car cultures & a mix of ages helps bring new owners into our hobby.

So Bill, I mean it with my whole heart my friend, thanks for taking your car to this show. If you happen to win a trophy, please email me a pic of your car at the show, a pic of the trophy and a pic of you with your car. I'll give you recognition in the magazine.

The same holds true for anyone who enters their Pantera in a broad spectrum car show like this. Thank you.

cowboy from hell

Just had a big "Classic Car Show" here in Topeka last Saturday afternoon & evening - anything 1977 & older. Cars had to be street driven with proof of insurance & current registration in order to attend. Our main street downtown as well as every side street for one block each direction was closed off for 6 blocks & even with cars parked down the middle of the street we still didn't have enough parking for all the cars that wanted to attend - they had to stop entry to the show at 1500+ cars. Spectator attendance exceeded 8,000. Luckily, I had been invited by some of my SCCA friends (I'm not a member) to display my car in an area reserved by the National SCCA headquarters here in Topeka which meant that I didn't have to get there early & hope to secure a good parking place. The club display consisted of two '70's MGB's, a TR-4, an Elva & my P-car as well as a newer MR-2 set up for their Solo events. As it turned out, I was the only "Italian" car there & had crowds surrounding it the entire time. Later, after the show was over, the SCCA guys actually thanked me for drawing so many people into their display as they were able to sign up a considerable number of new members during the show. Couldn't have asked for a better showing for the Pantera! As George said, there is no better way to get interest built up in our cars & clubs than to display them in any way we can to the general public. Hopefully, I can help spread some "Pangasam" throughout the Midwest!

Mark, sorry but I can't do Pocono, but I need to make it up one of these years

And cowboy, thanks for the kind words. I am not entering it in any shows this year because I plan on cruising with it for the 4 days of the event. Honestly, it's way more fun than having it sit all day watching the pollen collect on it. And I agree, it's about time that people take notice of the Pantera so I'm going to do my part this weekend in spreading the word - through freshly gutted ANSA exhaust notes

Bill - 3382

Here's a link to the local newspapers' coverage of the "Classic Car Show" here in Topeka last weekend. Thought all the picture whores on the BB might enjoy. BTW, my P-car shows up on page 3 along with the SCCA boys.

http://spotted.cjonline.com/pages/gallery.php?gallery=374347

Bob #5042

Whew! That's a nice Pantera! Congrats!

Guys,

Cruisin' OC was INSANE! I decided to drive my Pantera and not trailer it the 175 miles (1-way) to OC and back. The car ran great, driving 80-90mph the whole way. My Cobra radar detector saved me from a few State Troopers runner laser.

I saw one other Pantera in Ocean City during the 4 day event. It was a black L. It looked great but it was always parked and I never found out who the owner was. Oh well - maybe next year...

I parked my car at Hooters from 9:00-3:00. There were so many cars at this location that the OC police directed traffic until 11:00pm. Needless to say, my Pantera received a lot of well deserved attention. I think we now have a few more believers...

I wrote up the following marketing piece and had it on display in the engine compartment...

"So what in the heck is a Pantera, you ask? Well, the DeTomaso Pantera was Ford’s limited-production, ultra-high performance Italian built sports coupe available to anyone in the US and Canada from 1971-74 with deep pockets, a need for speed, and a lifestyle consisting of up to (1) passenger and very little storage requirements. Designed by the world famous designer Tom Tjaarda at Ghia Studios and hand built by DeTomaso Automobili in Modena Italy, these Ford V8 powered mid-engine rocket ships were ordered through local Lincoln-Mercury dealerships. But only after (4) years of sluggish US auto sales, a gas crisis, and increased government regulations, did Ford and DeTomosa dissolved their business arrangement. Nevertheless, DeTomaso continued to sell their ever evolving Pantera in Europe from 1975 until the last car was built in 1994.

Obviously, the DeTomaso Pantera was a car built for the few car enthusiasts that demanded something extraordinary with their method of daily transportation. Each Pantera arrived at the US ports, boasting standard features such as a 5.7 liter (351 Ford “Cleveland”) V8 engine, 5-speed synchronized ZF transaxle with limited slip, gated shifter, 4 wheel independent suspension, coil-over shocks, rack-and-pinion steering, front and rear sway bars, power-boosted disc brakes, die-cast magnesium wheels, air condition, power windows, AM/FM stereo, full instrumentation, and much more, these Ford V8 powered super-cars were much more unique than anything else available at that time.

This particular 1972 DeTomaso Pantera was built on April 1972 and sold new at Bob Sight Lincoln Mercury in Overland Park, KS for a whopping $10,500! Ten-thousand dollars was a huge amount to pay for a new car in 1972, especially when considering that the sticker price for a new Corvette was only $5200. But hey, why would anyone want to own (2) Corvettes when they could own (1) Pantera "

Billy
#3382

Bill,
Great to see you had a good time! I have had my Pantera down there for that event a few times and it always gets a good amount of attention.

Ron

Let's see, you drove your Pantera instead of trailering it, you keep your car in show ready condition in spite of it being driven to the show, and you took it to a non-Italian car type show were a broader spectrum of people are exposed to the car.

Bill thank you....a big thumbs up! You 'da man.