I hope each of you have a relaxing and fun weekend. Drive your DeTomaso if you can, share your passion with a new person every chance you get.
With care for each and every one of you,
cowboy from hell
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Way too wet on the east coast. 
BUT.. I did giggle myself to sleep last night thinking about my second Pantera .... 
The "Quella" car
BUT.. I did giggle myself to sleep last night thinking about my second Pantera .... The "Quella" car
Drive it like you stole it
Yep! Got up early today to make my weekly visit to the Atlanta Donut Derelicts. It rained overnight but the streets were dry by 8:30 this morning so we were good to go.
As usual my Pantera was patiently waiting for me in the garage. I folded myself into to the beast, turned the key and was instantly rewarded by the distinct bark of the exhaust echoing around the neighborhood. I let it warm up for a minute and then it came off the auto choke fast idle and settled down to its normal rump, rump idle.
I slowly and carefully backed it out of the garage and much to the delight of my neighbors (that thought they were going to sleep in), headed to the donut shop. As I pulled out of the neighborhood entrance onto the main road I pushed it a little as I effortlessly accelerated through the perfectly matched close ratio gears. As I cruised along the car felt good, tight, precise and better than new. I thought about how rewarding it was for the hours I’ve spent rebuilding this awesome piece of history.
As I pulled into the Donut shop parking lot I noticed quite a few of cars had all ready arrived but found a spot that I could back into near the front door of the shop. As I backed in and the rump, rump exhaust note was echoing off the shop wall I caught a whiff of burnt 93 octane. I shut it down, pulled the handbrake, unfolded myself out and closed the door. Yes, it was going to be a great day. Awesome looking cars, the sound of big cams and blower drives, the smell of burnt 93 octane and good friends!
Mike
As usual my Pantera was patiently waiting for me in the garage. I folded myself into to the beast, turned the key and was instantly rewarded by the distinct bark of the exhaust echoing around the neighborhood. I let it warm up for a minute and then it came off the auto choke fast idle and settled down to its normal rump, rump idle.
I slowly and carefully backed it out of the garage and much to the delight of my neighbors (that thought they were going to sleep in), headed to the donut shop. As I pulled out of the neighborhood entrance onto the main road I pushed it a little as I effortlessly accelerated through the perfectly matched close ratio gears. As I cruised along the car felt good, tight, precise and better than new. I thought about how rewarding it was for the hours I’ve spent rebuilding this awesome piece of history.
As I pulled into the Donut shop parking lot I noticed quite a few of cars had all ready arrived but found a spot that I could back into near the front door of the shop. As I backed in and the rump, rump exhaust note was echoing off the shop wall I caught a whiff of burnt 93 octane. I shut it down, pulled the handbrake, unfolded myself out and closed the door. Yes, it was going to be a great day. Awesome looking cars, the sound of big cams and blower drives, the smell of burnt 93 octane and good friends!
Mike
...burnt 93 huh? Did you know that if you catch the light just right you can see a rainbow in the rearview mirror from the raw gas in the air from the Webers?
Freaky!
Freaky!
Jeepers, are you people writing a book?!? If so, I'm buying a copy. That was terrific.
All I did was back the rides out of my overcrowded/too small garage and "reposition" spare wheels, valve covers, a jillion dollars of stereo I had yanked out of the Boxer (I mean, you can't believe how many wires were in that jumble) plus a bunch of spare parts that sort of "arrived" with the Pantera when it got here. I half don't know what all I got, but it's dirty and heavy. I'll sort that out tomorrow.
Then I forced my 14 year old son against his will to help me clean and repaint 4 Campy's (7s and 8s) purchased on this site. Man, they're in GREAT shape, and will become my 'new' spares. (I've got 10s and 8s on the thing)
After baseball practice, I got back and just fiddled around in the garage, readying for my Pantera carb removal tomorrow. Tonight, I'm ordering Pizza with my kids against my wife's better better judgement, but she's not here, so what the hey. We'll watch a movie of my 13 year old daugther's choosing.
If there's a car in that movie that's half interesting, my mind will likely drift to the garage...
The cycle repeats.
All I did was back the rides out of my overcrowded/too small garage and "reposition" spare wheels, valve covers, a jillion dollars of stereo I had yanked out of the Boxer (I mean, you can't believe how many wires were in that jumble) plus a bunch of spare parts that sort of "arrived" with the Pantera when it got here. I half don't know what all I got, but it's dirty and heavy. I'll sort that out tomorrow.
Then I forced my 14 year old son against his will to help me clean and repaint 4 Campy's (7s and 8s) purchased on this site. Man, they're in GREAT shape, and will become my 'new' spares. (I've got 10s and 8s on the thing)
After baseball practice, I got back and just fiddled around in the garage, readying for my Pantera carb removal tomorrow. Tonight, I'm ordering Pizza with my kids against my wife's better better judgement, but she's not here, so what the hey. We'll watch a movie of my 13 year old daugther's choosing.
If there's a car in that movie that's half interesting, my mind will likely drift to the garage...
The cycle repeats.
Nice Mike. Wish I was there. Nothing like burnt 93 and a good donut.
I'm just glad I got some quality time in my car yesterday like Mike before the 3" of monsoon rains hit us last night. Probably be next weekend before she sees a dry road again. And yes, burnt 93 smells good but burnt 110 smells GREAT!
I've driven mine every day since it came out of the shop last Wednesday.
In the past five days I have spead the Pantera gospel to at least 20 people who would have previously thought it was a "Lotus or something."
I am surprised by the level of interest in this car. My wife loves all the thumbs up and waves. She has even started answering questions.
Does anyone else get asked how much your car is worth? About half the people that ask me about the car want to know what I paid. It catches me off guard every time.
Robert
In the past five days I have spead the Pantera gospel to at least 20 people who would have previously thought it was a "Lotus or something."
I am surprised by the level of interest in this car. My wife loves all the thumbs up and waves. She has even started answering questions.
Does anyone else get asked how much your car is worth? About half the people that ask me about the car want to know what I paid. It catches me off guard every time.
Robert
Yes, I think all of get asked how much we paid for our cars. I like to tell people that they're less than any Ferrari or Lambo with equivilent performance & alot less expensive when it comes to maintenance. It's fun to ask them what they think I paid for it!
I've had a couple of ladies remark,
"I don't know what kind of car that is, but it LOOKS like money!"
ha, ha
"I don't know what kind of car that is, but it LOOKS like money!"
ha, ha
Heres one! I'm in the passing lane a going about 90 mph, I'm coming up on slower traffic in the right lane. I look to my right and this pickup is about to plow in the back of the slower traffic in the right, trying to get next to me, what's he doing? Taking pictures! I knew I was in the right car.
MIKE. Your lucky all the cop's in the DONUT SHOP were to busy [picking out / eating donut's] to come out and break your chop's about your loud exhaust !!
JOHN.
JOHN.
They often stop by for Donuts. But this time they also missed the destroked 454 to 427 blown Camano’s departure too! He only hit his rev limiter twice but the second time was in second gear! We try not to have stuff like that happen but sometimes people can’t help it.
Mike
Mike