Within the next 3 years or so I may sell my show cars: dark cranberry Group 4 (DOES 200) and/or red 5S (99 PROOF), and just keep my black 5S for a while longer to tinker with. Feel free to email me with tentative offers or questions at ciao4u2@aol.com. Maka me offa, ciao.
1972 dark cranberry Group 4 Info:
Builder:
The car was built by Shell Burger, of Shell Burger Classics in Arizona. His impeccable work has claimed awards at the topnotch Pebble Beach Concourse, which is quite an accomplishment for a car builder considering Pebble Beach displays the best of the best. It is obvious that Shell pays a great deal of attention to detail and quality when building and restoring cars.
Awards and publications:
The car holds numerous awards and featured articles, some of which include Best of Show & Best Engine Concourse Italiano, People's Choice Las Vegas, 2003 POCA Calendar Car, featured four times in Pantera International, and mentioned in the February 2007 issue of Classiccars and November 2008 issue of Velocity.
Body:
The body has Group 4 steel flares, butt-welded to the body for strength. The car has also been reinforced with metal in all of the critical places, such as around the taillights, at the top of the rear fenders near the roof, and around all hinges of the deck lid and roof. The body surface has been completely smoothed and flat like a mirror, with bodylines sharpened and accentuated. The paint is PPG Dark Cranberry #73866 basecoat & clear coat. I really like the dark cranberry color because it is quite a few shades darker than a maroon color car, which gives the car a deep rich finish. The underside of the car has been bottom bellied and finished in a black satin powder coat, with room for the stainless steel pipes and hoses to travel through the middle of the car. It also has an aluminum gas tank and polished stainless steel firewall, special sound proofing double firewall, custom louvered panel section on the exterior rear between the exhausts, square quartz headlights, and Group 4 Carello taillights. On each corner of the deck lid, a small piece of metal has been nicely welded in and then a rubber grommet applied which prevents the common chips from hood rubbing at the corners. The Group 4 model is the widest Pantera made, slightly wider than the GT5S models.
Engine:
The engine is a 351 Cleveland stroked to 383 by Kuntz & Company in Arkansas. They hold numerous NHRA national records, many with Cleveland engines. Quite a lot has been done to the engine both cosmetically and performance-wise. It has just slightly over 520 horsepower and over 510 lbs of torque, balanced & blueprinted, with a compression ratio of just over 10.5 to 1. Kuntz & Company installed an SVO stud girdle, a custom windage tray with scraper, Crane roller rockers, Crower 3/8" push rods, stainless steel valves, ported and polished S.V.O. A-3 aluminum heads. Jack Rousch, the famed race engine builder in Michigan, provided the polished aluminum intake manifold. It has a 3.75" stroker crank, Child & Alberts 6" rods, Venolia pistons, APR studs & bolts, and MSD ignition with 6300 rev-limiter chip. The cam is a solid lifter cam by Competition Cams, and has a gross lift of .562 on the intakes and .556 on the exhaust. Other goodies include a Carb Shop Holley 750 cfm four barrel with vacuum secondaries flowed to 870 cfm, 10 qt. oil pan with trap doors, and Jet Hot coated GT5 Headers.
Interior:
The stock seats have been recovered in Connolly leather from England, as is the rest of the interior, which is the same leather used on Rolls Royce cars. It has a custom burlwood center dash, Momo steering wheel, and V.D.O gauges. Kenwood speakers are installed behind each of the seats, and the amp is up under the dash above the glove box. Custom floor mats were designed with colors matching the exterior and interior of the car. The carpet, leather, headliner, etc. are all in show condition.
Suspension:
All suspension is race Group 5 from the DeTomaso factory, including chrome control arms, large chrome solid sway bars, hub carriers, axels, chrome rack & pinion with chrome brackets, Koni shocks with chrome Group 5 springs, urethane bushings, and adjustable A arms. The builder applied chromed parts throughout the car, including places that you would never really see unless you got way under the car, such as the steering rack and brackets.
Wheels and Tires and Cooling System:
The wheels are Wilkinson billet aluminum Group 4 wheels, with 8x17 front and 12.5x17 rear, and the inside and outside of the wheels are highly polished. Tires are Dunlop brand with 245/40 ZR17 front and 335/35 ZR17 rear. The cooling system is an exceptional system and was built by Ron Davis Racing with two automatic sucker fans, chrome & stainless steel water tubes, polished stainless water & overflow tanks, aluminum water pump, rotary AC pump, and AC condenser located to the front of radiator.
Transmission:
The ZF transmission and related parts are all highly polished, and the internals have 4:22 to 1 gearing, with the ring gear safety wired. The clutch is a Kevlar clutch. It has chromed Spicer half shafts and all the lines throughout the car are steel braded.
Brakes:
It has vented rotors and 4 piston calipers with steel braded brake lines, which is a great improvement over the stock units.
Electrical:
The entire original electrical system has been gutted and replaced with all new wiring…no more Italian electrical gremlins!
1973 red GT5S Info:
History:
The car is a 1973 GT5S conversion, purchased from a Ford who owned it for many years and needed to make room for a new Ford GT40.
Publications:
The car was featured twice in international magazines, including the September 2007 issue of Octane, and February 2007 issue of Classiccars, and also mentioned in the November 2008 issue of Velocity.
Body:
The car was built by the famous rod builder “Fat Jack”, using original factory GT5S steel flares and steel front air dam. Fat Jack did a complete restoration of the car, cutting out the stock body car fenders and welding on the wide GT5S flares, which is a very time consuming intricate process. The factory flares have a better shape than the aftermarket flares, but cost quite a lot more, in the range of $25,000 just for the metal alone I believe. After the flares were applied, the car then underwent extensive prep work and finished in Ferrari Red Rosso Corsa basecoat & clear coat. Fat Jack obviously spent a great deal of time with the metal work and prep work prior to painting because the finish is so sharp you can see yourself clearly in the finish just like a mirror. It has also been modified with low profile halogen retractable headlamps, halogen driving lights within air dam, and Group 4 taillights. Front air shocks raise and lower the front of the car to avoid nasty driveway encounters.
Engine & Engine Bay:
The engine bay has been cleaned, smoothed and painted Ferrari Red Rosso Corsa to match the exterior car color. The engine is a highly polished 417 CI Fontana aluminum block with 4.125 bore and 3.9 stroke. Russ Fulp Race Engines completed the build, with Ross Racing Pistons providing the forged aluminum pistons and Ed Iskenderian Racing Cams providing the radical solid lifter cam. Quite a lot has been done to the engine both cosmetically and performance-wise. It has well over 600 horsepower, with ported and polished aluminum heads, aluminum intake manifold. MSD ignition, with 7000 rev-limiter chip. A 10 qt. oil pan with trap doors is used. GT5 headers/exhaust are Jet Hot coated. ZF transmission and related parts are all highly polished, with the ring gear safety wired. Chromed half shafts, stainless steel gas tank, polished stainless steel firewall, and chromed AC condenser housing.
Interior:
Dark charcoal color leather, V.D.O gauges, electric side mirrors, 4-point competition seat belts, custom red logo floor mats, dropped floor pans, cable driven power windows. The stereo system includes Kenwood KRC-535 receiver with hidden/rotating faceplate, four Blaupunkt speakers, and under the front hood is a Kenwood KRC-C667 six CD changer and a Crossfire 280 W amp. The front trunk contains new black felt, and a lowered battery box so that the CD changer and amp all fit nicely.
Suspension:
Powder coated A arms, Aldan fully adjustable aluminum shocks, one inch rear sway bar front and rear, with sphere bars and full cover rear DeTomaso sway bar plate, urethane bushings.
Wheels, Tires and Cooling System:
Billet aluminum wheels, with 10.5 X 17 front and 13.5 X 17 rear, in perfect shape, inside and outside of the wheels are highly polished. Tires are Michelin brand with 245/40 ZR 17 front and 355/35 ZR 17 rear. Cooling system is Fluidyne with stainless steel water tubes, polished stainless water & overflow tanks and aluminum water pump.
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