Pantera Keys Found

i own a hardware store in louisiana i have ilco brand keys ft37 is their number and i got some for my pantera. easy to get. sonny4233

I just had some extra keys made for #5606.

I went to a "Mom and Pop" shop. The owner guessed that the Pantera probably had an English Ford ignition system because we somehow started talking about how the cars originally had a Ford Cortina steering wheel.

He was right on. He went right to the shelf, grabbed a Ford Cortina key, cut it, and it worked perfectly.

The lesson to be learned here is....

The big national chain stores - auto and home improvement - are geared towards volume and fast turnover. They basically care nothing about the customer, only the corporate bottom line.

I too found my duplicate keys at a local, old-time locksmith. He just looked at the keys, and then pulled out a drawer, grabbed the blanks and cut them.

He even had a blank for the supposedly order-only-from-us Grant removable steering wheel lock.

Support your small local businesses - or soon the old Road Runner cartoon joke of everything coming from 'Acme' will be our reality.

Larry

ditto what Larry said.......a local locksmith had both keys on-hand for me too.

John

Hudson,

Can you buy/sell me 2. I need them to go to Jim Cozzolino's workshop in Peoria. How do we do the payment?

Mail me at michel.vereeken@skynet.be

Thx,

Michel

quote:

Originally posted by LF - TP 2511:
The lesson to be learned here is....

The big national chain stores - auto and home improvement - are geared towards volume and fast turnover. They basically care nothing about the customer, only the corporate bottom line.

I too found my duplicate keys at a local, old-time locksmith. He just looked at the keys, and then pulled out a drawer, grabbed the blanks and cut them.

He even had a blank for the supposedly order-only-from-us Grant removable steering wheel lock.

Support your small local businesses - or soon the old Road Runner cartoon joke of everything coming from 'Acme' will be our reality.

Larry

Agreed. That IS the lesson. I guess I've gotten so numb and dumb with the "big box MUST have it or it doesn't exist" thinking. Plus, the mom and pop guys, disorganized as they were, gave super service and were actually pleasant.

So, if everyone's got a 'source' they can use locally, that's cool too.

quote:

Hudson,

Can you buy/sell me 2. I need them to go to Jim Cozzolino's workshop in Peoria. How do we do the payment?

Mail me at michel.vereeken@skynet.be

If you have PayPal can do it right now. Send the total to adams@hudsonink DOT com. (Of course the 'DOT' is a (.) I'm just trying to avoid spam.) Otherwise, it'd be $20 worth of trouble for a $10 problem, so if you do NOT have PayPal, I'll just send 'em to Coz and you owe me a Trappist Beer at some point in our Pantera future.

I had my extras done at a local mom and pop shop. The blanks were listed in the books as being for an Alfa Romeo. Just another option.
Doug M

I've seen some on eBay that have plastic heads/handles. Anyone ever buy a set?

I tried the big boxes, each one saying no, and pointing me to another big box until I'd gone in a circle (not literally, I didn't go back to the first one, just got pointed there).

I tried one local locksmith, and his attempt to match failed.

This thread spurred me on, so I went to another locksmith in the area, he didn't have the key, but he went and ordered them yesterday and told me to come back today - I asked for 3, turns out the minimum order is 10, so he has 7 more blanks in stock. He used an ilco x20 key blank (my ignition key is stamped Taylor x20). Well, now I can rest a bit easier knowing I've got 3 spares (vs. none), and they all work! :-)

$4.50 each.

If anyone in my neck of the woods wants some picked up, just let me know - the guy is now sitting on 7 extra blanks and since he helped me by ordering the blanks, I'd be happy to help him by finding homes for the extras.

Thanks again for this thread, it was a good reminder.

quote:

Thanks again for this thread, it was a good reminder.

We should've car pooled! Yes, it was a pain to gather up a small but very SIGNIFICANT piece of our cars! Good offer to the group.

Guess the other lesson is: DO NOT think if you lose your keys that a locksmith will magically produce a blank for your Pantera. They won't. Get spares, sleep well, lose things in peace.