newbie

quote:

lesthayer@charter.net

If you found a running Pantera for 10 grand...You better jump on it. Rust repair can be done on the upper a arms without removing the engine and trans. The tranny can be out in 45 min. These cars are easy to work on. The trans alone is worth 5G easy. Unless the car is rusted in half. you found a bargin.

Hi Les,

Body/chassis rust & the ZF transmission are very costly to repair, these are the areas that the consensus is you want to focus on. Keep in mind that a new paint job isn't inexpensive either! Pantera parts are expensive, and sometimes hard to come by, so you want to make sure everything is there, and if not, price the replacements before you buy the car.

If the area around the rear control arm mounts is rusty, I would expect to find rust elsewhere too. Look for cracks where the A pillars attach to the body at the front fenders. Look for bubbling of the paint along the base of the windshield & the bottoms of the tail lights. Using your finger or a stiff blunt tool, check along both sides of the rocker panels (below the doors) for rust, try pushing in on the panel with force, and be prepared to say "oops" when you punch a hole in the car. Open the doors & perform the same check on the door jam panel below the latches "striker", as well as along the bottom of both doors. The rest of the checks are best performed with the car on jacks, although if you lay on your back next to the car, you can reach under the car with your arm & reach most of the spots you need to check (thats what I did). The frame around the rear control arm mounts, and the forward sections in each rear wheel house are also prone to rusting out. I know I'm going to forget something, so I'd like to direct you to Mike Dailey's web site, the pantera place, I understand he's added a section that describes how to search for rust.

You've come to the right place, we're glad to help you, don't hesitate to ask for any help or info you need. You may want to ask a member in your area to take a look at the car with you, we've got a lot of members who will be eager to help.

Welcome to the DTBB, George

> If the area around the rear control arm mounts is rusty, I would expect to
> find rust elsewhere too.

That's generally the case. However, when I bought mine, one side had
rust perforations down where the inner panel meets the frame rail near
the lower control arm. For some reason, my car did not have the drain
holes drilled there. Before buying the car, I went over it with an
experience Pantera owner. We checked for bondo with a magnet and other
potential rust areas with an ice pick and found nothing. I took a risk
but it turns out the car was otherwise rust free. I recently stripped
off all the undercoating from the car to see nothing but solid shiny
metal. I could have patched the area with the drivetrain in place but
decided to pull the engine and transaxle. They come out quickly and
give you room to do the repair properly. I cut well back from the rusty
spot and used a repair panel from one of the vendors. While the engine
out, I reinforced the engine compartment welds, filled in all the little
bumps and repainted the engine compartment. I also safety wired the
ring gear and went through the engine.

At the other end of the spectrum, I've ridden in a car that looked
pretty good to the naked eye but flexed and squeaked so bad when I
test drove it that it was obvious the car had serious but hidden rust
problems.

The best advice I can give is to take an experienced Pantera owner with
you to check out the car. I notice you are in Wiscosin. I think there
is a Pantera specialist in Wisconsin (Cory Gehling?).

For $10K, it sounds like you could part the car out and make money if it
turns out the car has terminal rust.

Dan Jones

the owner of the pantera worked for cory his shop is only 5 miles from my house,my boy knows him real well,as a matter of fact cory put my grandson in the jag that stauffer sold his two daytona coupes for.i've known this car for 25years but just fell in at the right time to purchase it.thanks much for the well appricated advice,this is my first exoctic,les.

Stauffer knows Panteras as well. I've met George several times and took in his collection in Blue Mound, WI. Drooled over his (real) GT40s for a while. He struck me as a straight shooter as well. If the car is drivable, It's hard to see how you could get hurt at $10k.

Good luck,
Kelly

A pic is worth ..how much?