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18 replies

Hello Everyone!

P peteMember
Hi Folks! Just want to take a minute to introduce myself. My name is Pete, and I reside in sunny Tarpon Springs, Florida. I joined the forum in February.

I was a member of PI back in the 90's when I owned a 71 Pantera (THPNLY01613, if memory serves me correctly). Ended up trading the 71 in for a recently restored 1968 Mustang V8 (289-2V) Sports Sprint coupe, and about 9k cash at a collector car dealer in 1996. I was aware of some corrosion on the rockers and driver floor pan, and the engine ran rough on the 71, and I was originally planning a restoration. Had some initial regrets in the trade deal, but the Turquoise 68 Mustang look "oh so sweet" and ready to drive with nothing needing to be done. A few months later, got a nasty phone call from the dealer saying I ripped them off. After their maintenance department began prepping the 71 for resale, they discovered major lower body corrosion hidden by the undercoating and the engine was trashed (abused?), cam wiped, spun main bearings, etc. Not abused by me, I might add......just happy when it would stay running so I could take it around the neighborhood and back home without getting stuck. I let them inspect/appraise the 71 before we struck the deal, so my conscience is clean. So in the end it was a good deal for me, still own the 68 Mustang, and the 9k I got in cash went towards my wife's new car. Remember guys........"happy wife, happy marriage".

In late 1997, I picked up a 1974 Pantera-L (THPNND06626) from a really nice gentleman in Tampa, Florida. Funny thing, although I intended to get another Pantera some day, I only wanted to check it out when I saw the ad in a PI quarterly magazine I just received. But after seeing her, I fell in love. We took her out for a spin and she drove perfectly. The gentleman must have felt sorry for me, so after I pulled myself together and stopped slobbering all over myself, he told me he would drop the asking price, and said "just take her".........and I did.

The last couple of years I have unfortunately become complacent and between changing jobs, getting a new house, moving, dealing with a teenage daughter (please pray for me folks), I did not drive her, at all......"forgive me father, for I have sinned". As a consequence, front calipers frozen, clutch master/slave frozen, and not yet sure what nasty surprises await in the gas tank. Got her up on a car lift I bought from a buddy at work. The left front and back calipers are off, and just finished getting the last piston out of the front calipers this morning. I think I got to the calipers just in time, not as much corrosion in the bores and on the pistons as I feared. I regret not taking before/after pictures during the tear-down and clean-up to share in the tech section. I will try to make it up when I do the R/H side.

Anyway, sorry for being long winded, so I will close for now. This is a great forum and I have learned a lot from the posts I have read so far. I hope I can contribute something useful myself in the near future. Take care folks!

Pete C.

1974 L (THPNND06626)
1968 Mustang Coupe (Sports Sprint)
1979 Mustang Cobra (5.0)
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P peteMember
quote:
Originally posted by Steeler:
Hi Peter - Hello from the Other Side Of The World. Your old car (1613) appears to be in Norway and is now Blue - your latest car (6626) appears to not be in the registry? applause



Hi Steeler,

I am glad to hear 1613 is still around. It was red when I had it. Another interesting feature I recall is that it had two gas tanks. Another, slightly smaller tank was installed on the right side of the engine bay and filled from the inside. I never used it because it showed significant corrosion on the bottom outside. I assumed it was a custom installation someone did in the past.

And yes, 6626 is not in the registry yet. Been meaning to do that for some time, I just keep forgetting to get all the codes and serial numbers together to input online.

Pete C.
panteradougpanteradougMember
quote:
Originally posted by Pete:
quote:
Originally posted by Steeler:
Hi Peter - Hello from the Other Side Of The World. Your old car (1613) appears to be in Norway and is now Blue - your latest car (6626) appears to not be in the registry? applause



Hi Steeler,

I am glad to hear 1613 is still around. It was red when I had it. Another interesting feature I recall is that it had two gas tanks. Another, slightly smaller tank was installed on the right side of the engine bay and filled from the inside. I never used it because it showed significant corrosion on the bottom outside. I assumed it was a custom installation someone did in the past.

And yes, 6626 is not in the registry yet. Been meaning to do that for some time, I just keep forgetting to get all the codes and serial numbers together to input online.

Pete C.


Sounds like the factory racing tank that was put into the Gp4 cars?

I'm not entirely certain why they were used. I don't think these cars needed to carry that much fuel.

The Shelby racing GT350 and T/A cars did have 32 gallon tanks plus another few gallons that could be hidden in the huge fuel filler necks.

Maybe for long races like Daytonna, Sebring and Lemans to reduce pit stops?

Never saw one in a street Pantera though. As a matter of fact, never saw one at all. Just heard the reports of them.

They are stuffed away into the corner where they would be tough to see anyway?
garth66garth66"When speed is the only thing that counts"
quote:
Nice also to see some other Stangers here... ;-)

Yes, always nice to find many of us share more than Pantera's in common. I have a 66 GT Mustang that I've been working on for some time - it was my first car (bought it in 1981) and promptly turned it into a Shelby GT350 clone because I didn't have enough money for a GT350. Little did I know that with all the money I spent turning mine into a clone and putting a paint job on it I could have bought a decent driver GT350 at the time. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20. Anyway, my GT is currently in the body shop and will soon be painted in it's original Vintage Burgundy color. I also have a 70 Mach 1 Mustang, but it's a shell on wheels at the moment. I'll get to work on that one once the 66 is finished.

BTW Rob - I must have spent 2 hours (likely more) on your website reading about all your various cars. I'm in love with your GT40 - can't imagine why you parted with it. I'd love to build one some day.

Here's a pic of my 66 before going into the body shop:

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Last edited by garth66
P peteMember
quote:
Originally posted by lastpushbutton:
Welcome Pete. I sent a customers calipers to John Hayworth racing brakes in Charlotte Nc he said they were frozen up and used a high pressure co2 bottle to push out the pistons. Just an idea if shop air is not enough. Be careful. Bill 1362



Hi Bill,

Thanks for the advise. Fortunately I got lucky and didn't have to resort to high pressure bottle. After breaking the calipers apart and soaking the area with LPS-2, I got a rather large C-clamp and wood shims in position and depressed the pistons about 1/4 inch into the bore. Worked them back out slowly with a miniature 90 degree crowbar under the piston lip. Wiggled them out the rest of the way with channel locks with the jaws covered with tape. Worked like a champ with little or no damage to the piston lips or caliper. Minor pitting in the bores in a non-critical area, and pistons cleaned up nicely with scotch bright pad. Will do some micro polishing of the pistons before re-assembly.

I got to admit, a small part of me was hoping they were beyond salvage so I would have an excuse to buy new Wilwood's and discs all around. But the greater part of me (the cheap part) was happy to just need new seals. Big Grin

Pete C.
P peteMember
quote:
Originally posted by garth66:
quote:
Nice also to see some other Stangers here... ;-)

Yes, always nice to find many of us share more than Pantera's in common. I have a 66 GT Mustang that I've been working on for some time - it was my first car (bought it in 1981) and promptly turned it into a Shelby GT350 clone because I didn't have enough money for a GT350. Little did I know that with all the money I spent turning mine into a clone and putting a paint job on it I could have bought a decent driver GT350 at the time. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20. Anyway, my GT is currently in the body shop and will soon be painted in it's original Vintage Burgundy color. I also have a 70 Mach 1 Mustang, but it's a shell on wheels at the moment. I'll get to work on that one once the 66 is finished.

BTW Rob - I must have spent 2 hours (likely more) on your website reading about all your various cars. I'm in love with your GT40 - can't imagine why you parted with it. I'd love to build one some day.

Here's a pic of my 66 before going into the body shop:



Hi Garth!

I'll bet the Vintage Burgundy on your 66 will look awesome. Looking forward to the pic when it's done. I used to have a 70 Mach 1 also. Dark Blue, black stripes with a 351 Windsor 2V. 8 years of salt filled winters in Cleveland finally did the body in. Traded it in in November 1978 for my 1979 Mustang 5.0 Cobra. Back in 1978 no one thought twice about trading in an older Mustang for a newer one. In hindsight, should of kept the 70 Mach, rust and all, to restore. Oh well.

Pete C.
P peteMember
quote:
Originally posted by UFO-LOW:
Hi Pete!
Just found your post - welcome & good to know more Florida people. I'm in Fort Meade, about 90 miles south east of you. Here is a pic of my car on the spit. Rodney



Hello fellow Floridian! Cool


I remember about 15-20 years ago, there were at least 10 Pantera's running locally in the Tampa Bay area. I haven't seen one on the road here locally in years! Also remember a good number out of Orlando and a huge number of Pantera's in the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area. Don't know if they went away or just in hiding? Or is it just my imagination? Anyway, glad to hear from you. Hay, Fort Meade's not that far away! Your rotisserie looks like a neat setup. From what I can tell from your picture, corrosion does not seem too serious other than the normal problem areas. My 74 has a few tell-tale blisters on the lower door pillars and rocker area. Need to deal with it someday, but want to drive and enjoy it for awhile before going up on blocks again. I need to get off my butt and finish the brake and clutch system overhaul.

Pete C.

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