On my 74 Euro Pantera, I recently removed an original side window for the same reasons you described.  From inside the engine bay, you push the window out.  It did not want to come out at first.  Then I sprayed it with silicon lube and used a small hooked tool to loosen the rubber lip.  It eventually it loosened up and came out just fine.  I put the rubber and frame back in open just by hand.  When I eventually put the glass back in, I will use parachute cord to pull the rubber lip in place.

I use that same method of putting the windows back in place and have no problem taking the windows out as I've done this a few times. I was hoping one of you had developed a quick and easy changing method.

Tom, leaving the glass out forever is easier- just reinstall the chrome frames once and for all. From 20 ft away, it just looks like you have exceptionally clean windows! My side glass has been resting comfortably on a garage shelf since the last century. It also removes 10 or so lbs of unneeded weight.

Along the sides of a Pantera, the airflow boundary layer is about 2" thick, so there is no aerodynamic drag penalty for no windows. The Maserati Merak also found this out. Matter of fact, airflow direction at the rear quarter window area is outward from the engine compartment, which is why those small side airscoops don't do anything until you get up around 160 mph when the boundary layer thins out. The much larger 'elephant-ear' scoops protrude out past the boundary layer and do gather some air (and drag).

I once asked Tom Tjaarda about the cast louvers just in front of the windows, and he said they were supposed to be open like on the Miura, but on the Pantera prototype they found out that no air went in thru them, so Ford/DeTomaso made them as a styling thing, and saved a few bucks. Tom said he still liked them.

That sounds like an excellent idea, I'm going to have to try that for a time, and once the glass is out, removing the rubber and frame on future tries is likely very easy.

So, if the air movement is outward at that location, where is the air coming from? Is it coming from below or is it being pulled forward and from the rear. I haven't used air cleaners on my Webers for years as they function better without and look fantastic. The top of the motor is remarkably clean considering how exposed it is to dust. Of course, this might be that nothing can settle in all that turbulence.

Thank you again.

The airflow comes from under the car, up past the front of the engine including past the red-hot headers. This underfloor air is a mixture of hot air passing thru the radiator plus more hot air laying directly on the road as the car passes over it. The whole car bottom is like a vacuum cleaner.

Our 'sugar-scoop' deck lid is a large low pressure area and generates considerable suction that pulls all that hot air up & out of the rectangular deck lid opening, then it mixes with air going over the hood and roof and on past the rear end to form a swirl following the car. The faster you go, the lower to the decklid and the further back the airflow & swirl is. Thats also why the rear mount A/C doesn't work above about 110 mph.

There are old photos (pre-cell-phone) in magazines of high speed Panteras at Bonneville and Muroc Dry Lake, that clearly show a huge contrail of salt or dust following this pattern. I don't have any of those 50-yr-old pictures personally.

I'm going to give this side window solution a try. The attached photo shows it installed. I'm repainting the black metal side panels but will have to wait and see how well the rubber trim on those panels fits around the side bulkheads. The factory installation was sloppy so the rubber malformed over the years. The rubber is still good, but hard to train back. do you have a source for this trim or something very similar?

Thank you

Haven't seen these gaskets for sale for a few years. Not sure how you'd go about getting replacements made.

Wilkinson has the window rubber. It’ll be going up on eBay next month for $170 for both sides. On his website you can get them now for $110 per side.

24007A - WEATHERSTRIP 1/4 WINDOW RH **

Steve,

Its listed on the website but do they actually have some in stock?

I just spoke with him this morning and asked if he had those in stock. He has many of them.

Thanks.

Hi. I replaced my window gaskets from Steve last year and have had to take the passenger side window out a few times to deal with the  solenoid. The supple rubber gaskets make it a little easier. TBH, I use a plastic trim tool sometimes but generally just my fingers.

I only reassembled the chrome frame without the glass to facilitate in particular access to the carburetor to fine-tune the settings and many visitors to the few classic car gatherings I attended asked me "ah, there is no glass?". So I think I will replace the glasses when the fine-tuning is finished.