I'm new to the site. Several years ago (mid 80s) I worked at a speed shop in Covina California owned by Dennis Zainfeld. We wrenched on everything but he was one of the go to guys for the local Pantera/Mangusta crowd. He owned a Pantera called Mega Bucks
Full custom. Porsche Indian Red. One off 17"wheels. Custom Recaro seats are. Powered by a Twin Turbo 427 SOHC.
Does anyone know what happened to the car? Last time I seen it was around 1988 - 1989
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Yikes. How the dickens did someone shoehorn a SOHC into a Pantera. An owner in Sweden put a 426 hemi in a car and that required a total redesign of the engine compartment. The cammer is another 3" wider than the hemi. Someone is bound to remember this car.
There have been other inquiries:
I think Broncomike here had one with a Chevy 427 in it…. He’s a Arizona guy.
He may pop in here with some commentary and a picture or two.
His car was featured in a couple of the PI Newsletters on the cover.
I’m sure he’ll correct me if I said something wrong…
Rocky
Just joined, I realize this is an old thread. The SOHC fit because we moved the control arm mounts out 9". Chuck Beck (look him up) did the work in less than a week. We did a lot of oddball things on that car - just because the budget was there. Last I heard it's on the east coast in a private collection. I'm pretty sure George Stauffer was the first to actually drive it on the street. Dennis always like when it changed hands. Each new owner would sent it to him to go through and freshen it up. It was a nightmare to chase electrical trouble. We used only red wire in the whole car. When Dennis moved back east he left his forklift at my house - I ended up swapping him all the photos and negatives of the car for it. He reminded me I was the one who first called it Megabuck.
Recently, a Hot Rod builder in Northern California named Greg Paboojian put a twin turbo 427 SOHC in a Pantera. He began with the OEM ZF but later on installed a Holinger transaxle. He didn’t think the ZF would take the 1,200 HP the engine produces. There are lots of build photos on IG and Facebook.
@351C posted:Just joined, I realize this is an old thread. The SOHC fit because we moved the control arm mounts out 9". Chuck Beck (look him up) did the work in less than a week. We did a lot of oddball things on that car - just because the budget was there. Last I heard it's on the east coast in a private collection. I'm pretty sure George Stauffer was the first to actually drive it on the street. Dennis always like when it changed hands. Each new owner would sent it to him to go through and freshen it up. It was a nightmare to chase electrical trouble. We used only red wire in the whole car. When Dennis moved back east he left his forklift at my house - I ended up swapping him all the photos and negatives of the car for it. He reminded me I was the one who first called it Megabuck.
I met the owner (at least at the time) about a year ago. Didn’t sound like the car was getting much road use, but was being started periodically. I have a few pictures of the original build on my “Group 5 Pantera” Facebook page. Including one that shows the prodigious use of red wire.
