[DeTomaso] history

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/6/07 8:27:51, edlebby at yahoo.com writes:

<< continue the quest to find out more about my car's provenance - what I 
know: it purports to be a 72 Euro GTS - 

>>>It is.

>although the VIN won't confirm this, 

>>>Sure it will.  Detailed records on your car are on file at the De Tomaso 
factory, which is far more than most of us can say, since the cars sold to Ford 
by De Tomaso weren't tracked.

>Kirk Evans, JTaphorn and others believe it is a Euro and 1972 seems right in 
terms of the VIN (4113) - although I am told there were some out of sequence 
cars; 

>>>Only mildly out-of-sequence, a few months at the most.

>main US owner that I know of was Doug West (deceased) of Michigan - he 
seemed to have it from at least the early nineties until 6-8 months before I bought 
it  (passed through another owner who held it briefly and flipped it) - after 
Doug's death I reached a friend of his who confirmed that Doug was not the 
importer of the car but could not recall exactly when he purchased it.

>>>You won't have much luck tracing its US history I'm afraid.  Anti-stalking 
laws have pretty much wiped that out.

>I have given the VIN to Chuck  - but not much on his registry database 
regarding this car - Gary Roys (who inspected the car for me prior to purchase) 
called the Adlers during the buying process - they said that 4113 preceded their 
records for a euro GTS 

>>>The earliest Euro GTS I know of firsthand is 3173.  That car was brought 
into the USA via Canada, and was built by the factory as a GTS (not converted 
later).  There may well be others in Europe that are older, but 3173 was a 
March '72 car, and the first appearance of a Euro GTS in the European press was 
right about that time, so there probably aren't many before that one.

>and they speculated this might be one of the first euro gts's brought in - i 
followed up with an email to the Adlers to find out more but didn't get a 
response (maybe I had the wrong address? anyone out there have a good email)?

>>>Dave at panteracars.com; but they aren't really in the 'registry' business 
and I don't think they keep records like that.  (Truthfully, neither do I, but I 
just happen to know the former owner of 3173...)

>Today I looked at the sticker on the door pillar and noticed the follwing: 
the first line reads "Eastern Exchange" and the "Importer Name" is "Gioele 
Stefani" - does this mean anything to anyone? - I googled both but came up with 
nothing - separately the "Date of Mfg" on this sticker says "1974 I" - I am 
thinking this might have been the date of import (maybe that is what the "I" 
stands for) - if not, maybe it is a 1974 and not a 1972?? - it has pre-L bumpers, 
but given it was a Euro, maybe they kept the bumperettes through 74? - thanks 
in advance for any help -  >>

>>>Your car is unquestionably a 1972 Euro GTS.  Be happy with that.  You 
sound like a guy looking hard at a dog, and trying to convince himself its a cat, 
or maybe a small moose?  Why not believe that it is what it is? :>)

If you want to get information about how the car was when it left the 
factory, and who the initial customer was, you can simply call them in Italy and ask. 
 They run a pretty skeleton crew, so you will have to ask for either Isabelle 
or Santiago De Tomaso personally, as nobody else there speaks English.

01139-0-598-48102

is their phone number.  You may need to try several attempts before you get 
to speak to sombody in English.  And they might just pull the paperwork and FAX 
it to you so have a good incoming FAX number ready to give to them.

Cheers!

Mike
<BR><BR><BR>**************************************<BR> AOL now offers free 
email to everyone.  Find out more about what's free from AOL at 
http://www.aol.com.