Door mirrors

First of all, the Italians work in strange ways. If there is already an Italian company that makes something, they tend to want to use it rather then make one from scratch. It also has to do with Nationalism.
Second, I don't think the designers want to clutter up thier design with something as trivial as a mirror. Call me crazy.
I think that the Vitaloni Baby Turbos as used on the GT5s fit the car well.
The problem is that Vitaloni is no more. You can still find them on Ebay new.
The Pantera is tougher then it looks to put a mirror on.
If it is too big or mounts to the side glass it tends to block the periferal vision. The Baby Turbo gives you enough rear vision and minimizes blockage.
There are other mirrors that will work too though.

Bulldog.........try these on for size http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Detomaso-Pantera-Exterio...temZ8055328129QQrdZ1

OK, you guys will think I am nutz, but if I was going all out ultra modern, I would look into mounting rearward facing TV cameras and then a little monitor where the rear view mirror is now. That way you don't have to worry about carburaters sticking through the engine screen blocking your view, no blind spots, and if you want to get real fancy, you could make them infra red so you can see to back up even at night withought back up lights on. If you are gonna do that you could have a forward infra red camera too that projects on to the windshield at night so it looks like daytime out even at night. That way you could run without headlights and the cops won't be able to find you.

DT, would I say you are nutz? Common, this is me!
That is actually a very inteelegent, highly excellent idea.
I infact do have a color, reverse immage, low light cam for backing up.
The power side view mirrors work much better. You can point them down to watch the curb, etc. The cam definately has it's use and it's limitations and it's problems not the least of which is where you mount the monitors in the car. It's kinda tight in there ya know.
There is in fact a rear view mirror available that mounts the back up monitor internally in the mirror. It is intergral with the mirror.
It's only a 2.5" diagonal picture. It's kinda small. You could run over a dog, a cat, ok, a small cat without noticing it, ah screw the cat anyway.
When you ride in my car, whatever you do, please, do not push the red button, please!

Do you think those little PC cams would work? They are only like twelve bucks or so.

Some thoughts.

The Pantera came stock with NO outside rearview mirrors. Dealers slapped on any mirror that fit.

As PDoug said, outside rear view mirrors are much more useful if they are power mirrors and you won't understand until you've had them.

The outside rearview mirrors, on both sides, are not to see behind you; that's why you have an inside mirror. They are used to see cars in the blindspot on both sides. Most drivers never learn this and they have them pointed so that they can see the edge of the body. This is especially important in a Pantera because it has such a large blindspot.

The Hall/Colt power mirrors are better than nothing, but they do not stick far enough out to really get a good picture of what's going on around you, especially if you have a wide body car. See pic below for a good example of ones that do.

Nice mirrors. They probably work except for seeing the curb when parking. I often forget how much wider my rears are than my fronts. But I must say that my $5 stick-on convex buttons work like a charm - see all around from any direction. And no vibration!

quote:

Originally posted by deeb:
They probably work except for seeing the curb when parking. I often forget how much wider my rears are than my fronts.

That's why they work. I just move them down with the power mirror switch.

Okay. I know this looks a little goofy. But don't knock these until you've tried 'em. I don't know how I got along without them!

Here's a link to a previous topic about mirrors:

http://pantera.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6450045562/m/4540001192/p/1

your friend on the DTBB

I gave some thought of mounting a small CCD camera in the rear with an LCD monitor as a rear view mirror as I work with this type of equipment daily at work. It would be hard to find a camera with a wide enough angle lens to see both sides. Fisheye lenses don't work well for this application and the widest normal lens that we tried doesn't have the field of view. You could orient it towards your "blind" side to cover that area. Supercircuits have a couple of relatively cheap systems. You'd probably have to buy another camera that fits your needs. Most rearview cameras are designed for just backing up.

Thanks for the reference George. These Wilkinsons are probably the most appropriate styled mirror I've seen yet for the Cat.

Here's a source for Vitaloni mirrors. I like the Baby Turbos as well. They're $80/each according to the price list. Check it out. I'd like to buy a set as well and would put together a group purchase to get us a deal. Anyone else interested?


http://www.talbotco.com/

Swen

quote:

Originally posted by SwenDog:
Here's a source for Vitaloni mirrors. I like the Baby Turbos as well. They're $80/each according to the price list. Check it out. I'd like to buy a set as well and would put together a group purchase to get us a deal. Anyone else interested?

I'll have a set.Count me in!


http://www.talbotco.com/

Swen

A group purchase usually would intail going to the manufacturer and making a volume purchase.
That is usually a pretty good idea.
Vitaloni closed down somewhere around five years ago.
What you see being sold, is basically what is left in the system.
I personally am trying to find someone with the power control switches.
Probably 10% or the Vitaloni line was made as power mirrors.
10% of not much, leaves little.

quote:

Why wasn't the original Pantera door mirrors designed to provide the service they were made for?

The original Pantera (71-74) did not come with mirrors. They were added by your local dealer. And most added what was readily available in the parts bin - 67 Ford Mustang mirrors, which were also used on a number of other vehicles in the blue oval lineup.

The biggest problem is not with the mirrors, but how you adjust them. Most people adjust their side-view mirrors to show them what's behind the car. This is completely useless, as you already have a rear-view mirror, and the Pantera has a major blind spot to the sides.

The solution: Adjust your side-view mirrors outward so you can just barely see the side of your car when leaning your head over the center console for the passenger side, and against the driver's door window for the driver's side. Now your mirrors will show you what's in that big blind spot, regardless of what type of mirrors you're using. Minor adjustments might be necessary to get them just right. You can do this by pulling along side parked cars on your street - position the parked car in your blind spot and verify the mirror's position.

Driving with your mirrors adjusted this way may take a bit of getting used to, but you'll never go back!

Cheers!
Garth

quote:

Originally posted by bulldog:

quote:

Originally posted by SwenDog:
Here's a source for Vitaloni mirrors. I like the Baby Turbos as well. They're $80/each according to the price list. Check it out. I'd like to buy a set as well and would put together a group purchase to get us a deal. Anyone else interested?

I'll have a set.Count me in!

Actually count me out. I've just checked my car to find out that the mirrors are in fact vitalonis. They liik good but offer crap vision.

Anyone knows how you can adapt these rather stylish mirrors in order to be able to see out of them?


http://www.talbotco.com/

Swen