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I guess I will need to update my name now.

Mangusta 0606 (built October 68) is on the road again! I just retrieved it from Hall Pantera and drove it down from LA to San Diego on Thursday. I also drove it another 70 miles on Friday, with no troubles at all. The dash has all Italian language gauges and is in kilometers (about 65,000 km); only the clock does not work.

Hall installed a new Centerforce clutch, pressure plate and flywheel; this reduces the clutch effort considerably. Since the car also runs at slightly over 70 degrees C in traffic, I can now safely navigate in CA's freeway stop and go traffic. I only wish my Pantera ran this cool.

I need to sort out a little front end wheel/tire vibration and rack looseness, but the car really drives quite nicely. I will let you guys know what I find.

This car does have a strange 6 inch high internal A/C fan/evap unit mounted in the dash. It has three vents and other than the greater height and being a about 6 inches narrower, looks pretty similar to the Mangusta-standard four vent 3-4 inch high dash unit. I can send some digital pix in case anyone has ideas on whether this unit was actually in Luigi�s parts bin one day back in 1968.

0606 modifications (all but the clutch by previous owner(s)):
Transaxle skid plate
BBS basketweave 3 piece wheels (gold centers/polished rims; 215/60 front; 275/60 rear tires)
Hall coilover shocks front and rear
Hall headers and mufflers
Stainless fore/aft water tubes
Centerforce clutch/pressure plate
Leather dash top
Boston Acoustic door speakers (3 pieces/door)
Hirschman power antenna (right rear mounting)

Let me know if you have any questions on this car. I will probably try to obtain a set of original wheels when my bank account recovers a little bit. The car does have one original wheel and XWX Michelin tire as a spare.

I have an 63 page Italian parts book for the Mangusta and what appears to be an original wiring diagram for the car. The first owner (a Lockheed Missiles Engineer in Sunnyvale) extensively documented the electrical system and prepared a number of color-coded wiring diagrams for all switches, tail lights, relays, major electrical connectors, etc.

If any Goose owners have questions on the parts book or need electrical wiring help, I would be happy to copy some of the wiring diagrams or parts book and send them to you.

Many thanks to Steve Liebenow and Daryl Adams for their long phone conversations and technical advice that helped me to acquire this occasional driver Goose. I looked at about 5 other cars and talked to 5 other Goose owners with cars for sale before purchasing this car from Bill Todd in N. California.

I plan to keep this red beauty on the road for quite a long time.

Steve Brenneman
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OK, third time is a charm right!? I hate when the "back" key doesn't restore the 7 paragraphs that you just typed.... here's the Reader's Digest version!

Steve!
Glad to see you are driving the car!!!

Front vibration prob... under braking???

Raise one front wheel off the ground slightly. Have a buddy move wheel back and forth in plane of steering movement. Look for movement where it shouldn't be!

Things to check:
Rack ends- Heim joints (14mm) available from ball bearing dealers- Motion Industries, special order... they are metric! Don't trust the factory... no refunds if you get the wrong part... don't ask how I know this!

Tie rod ends- Fiat parts, probably Euro car. Wilkenson had some that an owner got for around $100 each... but I could be wrong.

Ball Joints are Fiat 124 pieces.

Wheel bearings- 67-68 Mustang/Ford pieces just like the Pantera. Available anywhere!
Grease seal is probably metric, so if you must remove it, be very careful. Check for numbers on it, may be able to get it also from Motion Industries.

L8R!!! Congrats!
Steve
Steve,

Forgot..... I have a good clock for your car. These are not the old mechanical version as we both have/had, but an updated quartz version. They have white numbers and the adjuster knob is in the wrong spot.

Thing to do, is have a clock maker/repair shop swap the front face (with the numbers etc) and the hands over to the new clock, along with your old clock lens and black surrounding bezel, and the adjuster knob.

Now, you'll have a clock that will never fail!!! Of course, it won't go "click...click....click" anymore, so if you know what to look for, you can tell.... BUT, it WILL have the correct time!!!! I put one in my car and it's great having the right time! Now, I just need to do the swap stuff..... One thing at a time!

Steve
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