Skip to main content

80 replies

Pantera #1424 Project

michael1424michael1424It takes energy not to get used to it!
Hi all! Introducing myself after joining the forum a few weeks ago - I have recently acquired Pantera 1424 which allegedly has some interesting history in the movies which I'm looking to clarify as part of the cars complete restoration in time.

First things first though - getting it back on the road and registered here in Australia so I can enjoy the car a bit while getting it around to relevant specialists to get everything sorted for a full bare metal strip down and restoration of the car inside and out.

I hope this all posts up ok - my forum experience is a good as my Pantera experience, but I'll be looking to improve both in the very near future.

We got it out on the road a couple of days ago and while it's got a lot of electrical work to be done (next weeks project for the auto elec) mechanically it's not too bad after a new clutch install and general motor service and tune.

It's had at least three lives that I can see just looking at the paint - the original orange / red / rust colour on the bottom with a yellow over that then the black which it has now. Depending on how it's history can be determined coupled with advice from others (like you guys here) in the know I'll try to do this particular car justice in the best possible way.

I'll get some more stuff up on it's progress / slowgress / nogress / regress (my four stages of project management) later.

However - here's a shot of it as it stands just now.

Cheers!

Michael.

Attachments

Hide
Images (1)
  • IMG_6686
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

michael1424michael1424It takes energy not to get used to it!
Hey tajon,

Being a Fast 5 Car is definitely the word on this one along with potentially being in Gone in 60 Seconds (the yellow Pantera behind Angelina in the shipyard which would explain the yellow paint under the black) and possibly more.

I have a copy of the Certificate of Title listing Universal Studios as the owner so one can assume its been in their lot at least - I'm hoping they can shed some light when I contact them on what specifically this car has been involved with so I can make some good decisions on what I do with her - at least externally.

Apart from being a huge Fast & Furious franchise fan making having this even more awesome - they're unique, rare and beautiful looking cars and I'm stoked to have one.

If anyone out there has any history on her it'd be great to hear from them.

If it's a true Fast 5 car then it'll stay black and as close to this look as possible. If she's not, then we can back to yellow for Gone in 60 Seconds if she was in that or if she's not been in anything then who knows - either way she'll be stripped back, rust taken out and metal filled and treated so she'll be in perfect condition once done.

M.
michael1424michael1424It takes energy not to get used to it!
So I've been out of town for a bit and come back to see how Peter and his guys have been going on the car and find front hood off, radiator out, seats out and more indications of the previous life(s) of the car.

The front isn't any way near as rusty as I thought it would be now we can see more clearly into it with the radiator out - but the electrical work is proving frustrating for the Auto Elec as it's a step by step process for him - find a problem, then we have to find parts to sort that then move on to finding the next problem.

Burnt out light relay and wiring is the next thing to sort after getting rid of the complete electrical system bypass that had been installed by Universal. The car even with the fuse board removed to get cleaned was able to be started..

With the radiator now out - I'll look into getting all that upgraded as well. It was going to happen eventually, but no time like the present with the Australian summer coming on (might need to look into getting the AC system re-enstated as well).

Photo below shows the different colours the car has been from the original metallic rusty red (don't know the official name of that colour yet), to a yellow to the black....

Attachments

Hide
Images (1)
  • image5
michael1424michael1424It takes energy not to get used to it!
Hey Hemi,

I've had a look through their site and will definitely be talking to them I'm sure through the "next phase" of the project!

At the moment it's keep it as original as possible to get it AU registered as it's not been done yet since it was imported. Once that's done the strip down, make it awesome stuff happens.

I note you're in Sydney and I'm heading there next week on business - it'd great to have a look at what you've done depending on how my and your time is....
michael1424michael1424It takes energy not to get used to it!
So, today we hit a block with getting this all up and running. I've managed to get a bunch of bits from Joe in Sydney including a complete hand brake / Emergency Brake assembly to find that the mount on the chassis has been cut off (See photo below).

I've had a good scroll through the body section of the forum and have found a few photo's of the removable brackets that are about but does anyone have a photo of an original 71/2 hand brake mount that we can use to know what it was like originally to get something fabricated up - or is there an off the shelf kit that can be used?

Cheers,

Michael.

Attachments

Hide
Images (1)
  • IMG_6829
ktmikektmikeMember
Hey Michael,
Definitely go with the removable assembly. I made my own.

With the stock crossmember you can't drop the oil pan without removing the engine. It's still not that easy even with the removable assembly, but it is possible.

As to your transmission mounts. Obviously someone has already updated yours. You can have both side and rear mounts concurrently, but you risk breaking a stud on the ZF if things move around too much for whatever reason. I converted mine to side mount only.

I don't think there is any increased chassis stiffness with both mounts given the size and strength of the studs.

I removed the rears so I didn't have to worry about it.

Good luck,
Mike
michael1424michael1424It takes energy not to get used to it!
Thanks TransSami, ktmike and Hemi.

For the sake of time I can make one up here based on your photo's Hemi, some more from Joe in Sydney.

A project for next week.

Had the original radiator out to get checked out - apparently fully bypassing internally and 60% blocked. Had a new baffle put in so its a proper 2 pass again with the tubes cleaned out... should work just a little bit better now Wink.

M.
michael1424michael1424It takes energy not to get used to it!
We've been quietly working away on 1424 the past few weeks - it's still looking rough when I left it on Wednesday but hopefully it'll be coming together the past couple of days and next week.

Peter (the awesome mechanic looking after the works at the moment) and his guys have had their auto elec go through the whole car and get all the lights working. They've undone the hollywood treatment so it starts off the ignition barrel now instead of having everything bypassed.

We've installed the radiator and of course with the electrical all sorted we've got the radiator fans working now as well. Hopefully now we'll be able to not cook it when it drives....

The lights have new limit switches are installed, a new light switch and headlamp relay (still coming but will be here Monday) will help and brass cogs have been put into both the light and electric window drives.

Replacement front bumpers and indicators should arrive Monday to get installed so we can then get the rough parts of the paint "touched up" to see how it goes on it's first attempt at getting registered here.... Being a LHD car and I intend to keep it that way they want it "as stock as a rock" so we'll see what they think of the 17" wheels and black paint... everything else is ok (apart from the Holley carb and the MSD ignition....)

Interior all boned out at the moment...

Attachments

Hide
Images (1)
  • Pantera-1424-6
michael1424michael1424It takes energy not to get used to it!
Started scraping the paint off the stainless door trims to get it "as stock as a rock"....

Also spent some time getting all the tint off the side windows and windscreen... (have to hand it to the stunt guys who can drive these things like demons with little to no vision)

It's going to be the hardest decision of the whole project later I think - to polish or paint...? that is the question.

Attachments

Hide
Images (1)
  • Pantera-1424-01
michael1424michael1424It takes energy not to get used to it!
Took it out back for her first wash in a while - one thing was made very apparent - new rubber required all round. 1424 doesn't keep the water out too well at the moment.

Looking into a dual action polisher to see if I can get the paint looking as good as it can while I sort out the body project later.

Attachments

Hide
Images (1)
  • DSC09538
michael1424michael1424It takes energy not to get used to it!
Spent a bunch of time scraping things off... Black paint off the stainless to get all the silver exposed again for registration and all the remaining tint and "sticky" stuff off the windows.

All the way through the signs of multiple lives are popping through with hints of yellow and metallic bronze popping up all over the place.

So far I'm seeing it as original metallic bronze with silver window trims, then yellow with silver window trims then all over black....

Attachments

Hide
Images (1)
  • DSC09561
michael1424michael1424It takes energy not to get used to it!
All the silver ware exposed again. And the aftermath on the floor.

Would have liked to have had the window closed but the new switch that I got has fallen apart already so it's stuck down at the moment until I get a new new switch.

On a side note - the window switches seem pretty fickle, any suggestions on how they can be kept together better?

Attachments

Hide
Images (1)
  • DSC09574
michael1424michael1424It takes energy not to get used to it!
Removed the covers on the inside of the engine bay and the fuse box cover. They've still got the 1424 numbers on the back side of them... A little reluctant to clean that off them as they're car specific so looking into ways of preserving the numbers on the underside with a few coats of clear and getting the colour on the top side. Not sure if that's possible...

Attachments

Hide
Images (1)
  • DSC09575
michael1424michael1424It takes energy not to get used to it!
And the door trims... Original units, but have been I think well broken. I can't see how they clip in and I'm probably missing a heap of little bits to make it all work.

I've got her booked in to get AU approved seat belts installed and the front carpets replaced on the 25th of Jan at a really good interior motor trimmer here so they might have some ideas, but if anyone can share some details on how that all works it'll be good to see how it should be.

Attachments

Hide
Images (1)
  • DSC09557
michael1424michael1424It takes energy not to get used to it!
The gutter trim was driving me nuts just sticking out all over the place. Was not sure I wanted to put rivets back in as they're going to have to come off hopefully soon enough for the strip down so I got some nice stainless screws and put them in instead. I think they look ok for now at least and we're not having to drill things out again later.

Attachments

Hide
Images (1)
  • DSC09578
michael1424michael1424It takes energy not to get used to it!
Testing some links.... Hopefully it works.

Since Jan I've been steadily working away on things as I've had time. Lots to catch you all up with - but we'll try this and see if it works before I get carried away.

Finally got to dealing with the flakey clear coat on the drivers side guard.

Had to scrape the busted up clear coat off then sanded back until it was all smoothed out.



Found some more of the cars history with the yellow coming through but also had some filler on top of it in some areas....



Masked up and ready to paint - first time I've ever put paint on a car... so it might as well be on a Pantera.



The black in two areas over the filler just wouldn't smooth out.



Ended up getting a sealer coat down over that area and sanding back... made all the difference.



Ended up getting a nice colour coat on it finally.

michael1424michael1424It takes energy not to get used to it!
Hey JT - thanks.

I wondered if they would or not based on what I was seeing (little blue squares with question marks) once I posted it up.

I've set up a photo bucket account so I can get more than one photo in a post - but I'mn clearly not getting something quite right yet. I'll see what I can do!
Next

Add Reply

Views: 3,447
Post

Membership Required

We're sorry. You must be signed in to continue. Sign In or Register
×
Are you sure you want to remove from your Block List?
×
Loading...
×
When you block a person, they can no longer invite you to a private message or post to your profile wall. Replies and comments they make will be collapsed/hidden by default. Finally, you'll never receive email notifications about content they create or likes they designate for your content.
Note: if you proceed, you will no longer be following .
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×