[DeTomaso] Misc Pantera Stuff

[Michael Shortt]

Yes, I'm  bored and killing time right now before I get into an accounting
nightmare that awaits me..


Ouch!
http://www.wreckedexotics.com/pantera/

Pretend Ooooops!
It's about at the 1:20 mark
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQf4JDqCqzA

Never saw this list before, has anyone else?
http://wspr-racing.com/chassis/detomaso.htm

I guess if you wanted to see what it's like from the right side?
http://www.livevideo.com/video/CB3CCB678B4644C788B60908EA165A7B/de-tomaso-pantera.aspx


Just in Case you're morbid and needed to know
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Sonny Crockett fans!


*The cars of Miami Vice*

The white Mercedes limousine rolls up to a curbside berth. It is the Moby
Dick of Mercedes-Benz, outrageous in proportion, sublime in appointments. An
underworld type (TV good guys don't ride in MBs) emerges from Moby Dick's
white flanks. Draped on his arm is a knockout in high heels – entertainment
for the evening. And as the camera pulls back for a wide-angle shot, you see
just how radical this Mercedes really is.

The car has all the exterior trappings of a high-performance sports car:
monochromatic paint scheme, racing wheels and tires. AMG-style spoilers,
ground-effect skirts and air dams. Inside is the bar, TV, remote-control
VCR. The ultimate touch, though, is the badge on the trunklid. The
top-of-the-line Mercedes currently available in this country is the 560
series. But this car goes a step beyond. The badge reads 10,000 SEL.

Remember now, all this high-performance stuff is on a limousine, and a
limousine stretched by 50 inches at that. It's enough to make a true
Mercedes aficionado weep. But it's the kind of car "Miami Vice" fans have
come to expect.

As a matter of fact "Miami Vice" has become a cult program for car lovers.
Writers and producers use automobiles to make real statements about the
scenes unfolding on your TV screen. Cars set the tone, and establishing the
show's style requires the engineering skill and artistic finesse of people
like Carl Roberts of Kingsport, Tennessee, The car fabricator helped the
show's *Ferrari Testarossa* achieve a status equal to that of Crockett,
Tubbs and the rest of the cast.

The car-as-stylistic-device got a start with the car driven by main
protagonist Sonny Crockett, played by actor Don Johnson. His original
machine was a *Dytona Spyder*, or rather, a look-alike Ferrari 365 GTB/4
Daytona Spyder. The first significant "Vice" car, it was a prop Sonny needed
to infiltrate the high-roller world of drugs, prostitution and other
assorted illegalities that support Miami's crime empire. Crockett had to
dress the part, and had to go the whole routine. The lifestyles of the Miami
vicelords give fresh meaning to the term ostentatious.

All the while Crockett drones about town in a Ferrari Daytona Spyder
look-alike, picking up groceries the way we would use a Chevy Impala.

Crockett's partner, Ricardo Tubbs, played by actor Philip Michael Thomas,
gets to pilot a *pristine '63 Cadillac DeVille* convertible. It may not be
the wheels of choice for an underworld overachiever, but it passes as the
mark of a hard worker who has managed to cut out some kind of turf.

Switek, gets to drive a *turquoise '63 Ford Thunderbird*.

Not all the cars on the show reek of blatant excess. Some more subtle, you
have to be playing attention to notice them, as many are just roll-ons. For
instance, the producers had access to a mint-condition 1968 Pontiac GTO. An
original red car with black interior, the model was equipped with the
hideaway headlight option and Rally II wheels. So how was the car used on
the show? In one episode, a drug dealer drove it to a buy. You see him
pulling up to a building, go inside to do business, then come back out and
drive away. Most sitcop shows would have the dope dealer driving something
like an '84 Monte Carlo or even a beat-up van.

Another muscle car, much rarer than the GTO, also made an appearance as the
daily driver of a drug dealer. A limited-production high-performance 1969
Mercury Cougar GT, the car was optioned out with the big 428-cu.-in. Cobra
jet engine, special hood scoop and styled wheels.

Where does "Miami Vice" get all their neat cars? They rent some and build
some. Sources include individual collectors, auto specialty shops and car
fabricators like Roberts. The original Ferrari look-alike used by Crockett
was spotted on a lot in Newport Beach by the show's producer. He knew the
car had the perfect image for his lead character. The car was a custom-built
machine using Ferrari-design, fiberglass panels adapted to a 1980 Corvette
chassis. And some real Ferrari hardware integrated with the car added to the
Ferrari effect.

When the new model *Ferrari Testarossa* came out, it was decided to update
the Ferrari on "Vice" to the trick-looking new machine.

[image: Ferrari Testarossa]

Plus, the real Ferrari North American people got a little miffed that these
fakos were getting so much attention. They offered to supply two real
Ferrari Testarossas for the show. The Testarossa was Ferrari's latest model
and one would be uses regularly and one would be kept as a backup. The cars
were supplied to the producers painted black, but when they didn't show up
well in night scenes, they were later painted white. (We saw one of the
black Testarossas in the episode "When Irish Eyes Are Crying" when the
Daytona Spyder had blown away). To create a car that would perform stunts,
"Miami Vice" producers turned to Roberts Motor Co., which had specialized in
safety-oriented stunt cars for the movie and TV industries.

Carl Robert's assignment was to build a Testarossa lokk-alike that would be
able to stand up to the rigors of stunt duty. In effect, Roberts was asked
to build an automotive Thespian that would breathe life and action into the
show just as much as the human players. Unlike the front-engined Daytonas,
the Testarossa was a mid-engined car, so using a Corvette chassis as a
starting point wouldn't work. The proportions of the car were wrong. So
Roberts took a 1972 DeTomaso Pantera-a perfect car with 12,000 miles on the
clock and a collector value of about $30,000-and chopped it apart.

Roberts designed Testarossa look-alike, fiberglass body panels working from
pictures in a magazine, and parts he salvaged from a wrecked Testarossa. He
molded a 1-piece nose for the car that was easily removed for service access
to the front end.

Another reason for the fiberglass body sections is that they were easily
replaceable in the vent a stunt got out of control.

To beef the Pantera's chassis to handle jumps without the force of impact
causing the roof to buckle, an additional subframe was bolted to the
chassis. The subframe also works as a skid plate to protect the bottom of
the car from impact. The suspension also was upgraded with stiffer springs
to make the car more rigid, plus Koni shocks. To get the additional ground
clearance necessary for the jump maneuvers, the body was shimmed up some
inches and extra body mounts were added for more support.

Drivers protection presented a problem from a visual point of view. A full
roll cage would have been the wayto go for maximum safety, but the roll bars
would have been visible around the windshield posts. A compromise was
reached by installing a roll bar just behind the driver's seat in the engine
compartment. The bar was attached to reinforced areas of the frame rails. A
fuel cell was used to prevent spillage during rollovers or crashes, and a
competition safety harness was installed.

The Grant steering wheel is another safety feature. It is easily removable
in case of an accident so the driver can be freed in case he's pinned inside
the cockpit. The wheel is a popular item along the street-rodding set, who
remove the wheel to prevent their cars from being stolen.

Since the car would be used interchangeably with the real Testarossa during
filming, they had to be as identical as possible. One discrepancy that
caught Robert's eye as that the Ferrari sat lower to the ground. The seats
of the Pantera were up too high. The situation was easily rectified by
cutting out the Pantera's floor pans and dropping the seats. The Ferrari was
also wider than the Pantera. While the Pantera's body panels could be blown
out to the required width, the rear tires didn't sit out far enough inside
the wheel wells. The solution here came in the form of a set of custom
Sbarbaro wheels. The rear wheels were offset 6 in. And were built with a
12-in. Width. The Pantera rim is only 8 in. across.

Power from the stunt car comes from a 351-cu-in. Ford Cleveland engine that
runs a Predator carburetor from PCI, Inc., to minimize fuel lag and poor
throttle response when the car comes out of a slide.

Foam was added to the carburetor float bowl to keep the fuel sloshing around
during stunt maneuvers and high-speed chase scenes.

While the stock engine is good for about 300hp, Roberts wanted more power
for that extra margin during stunts. He decided against going the
supercharger or turbocharger route because of the expense and the room the
system would have taken up in the engine compartment. Since powerboost
requirements were needed for 10-to15-second bursts, a nitrous oxide system
was installed. A shot of the gas gives an instant 100-plus hp, enough to
handle any situation.

Backing up the Ford powerplant is a ZF 5-speed transmission. A special
braking system uses a second brake pedal to activate the rear brakes only.
Locking the rear brakes helps the car spin out or spin around in the classic
bootleg U-turn.

Source: *Popular Mechanics, July 1987 (Cliff Gromer)*

-- 
Michael L. Shortt
Savannah, Georgia


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