[DeTomaso] Hello Again!

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/14/07 20:17:26, spleen at spamcop.net writes:

<< I'm not sure if anyone but Mike Drew remembers me, but I'm back from 
living in England for four years.  

>>>Welcome back, JSK!

>It's great to be back in the States, 
but unfortunately four years in storage has taken its toll on my 1974 
L-model.  

>>>Where, and how was it stored?

>There's a lot of little problems, and a couple of big ones.  
The interior is dusty as hell; easy to fix, but I put in new carpets and 
floor mats before I left, and they just don't look new anymore.  Maybe a 
steam clean will fix that (is that a bad idea from a rust standpoint?)  

>>>Certainly not if you're in Arizona.  Pull the seats, vacuum and if 
necessary, clean the carpets, then let it dry in the sun.

>The hazard light stays on unless I remove the little red plastic piece 
that screws into it.  With that gone, it will stay in the off position 
when depressed, but it looks bad.  

>>>When you say 'the light stays on', do you mean that the red hazard light 
button glows with the ignition on?  That's a feature, not a bug.  I can't 
remember if it's the early or late cars that came wired that way.  It should go out 
with the ignition turned off though.

>The driver's seat has a split on the 
back part, and both seats look old and tired.  The driver's seat belt 
won't click into place.  The short strap with the button mechanism is a 
pretty standard Ford part, right?  I'm hoping to pick up another one at 
a junk yard.

>>>Sorry, but the seat belts are Italian and unobtanium.  Fortunately the 
Pantera vendors sell excellent replacement street three-point belt setups that 
aren't overly expensive, and are a fairly straightforward bolt-in replacement.

>The good news is that I've got it running pretty well now.  The bad news 
is that the paint is shot.  This car didn't have a speck of rust on it 
that I could see four years ago.  It definitely has some now, although I 
think it's all surface rust.  Guess I need to start saving for a paint 
job...

>>>It sounds like the car was stored in a very unsympathetic manner. :<(

>I know that Las Vegas is coming up, but I've got a work conflict that I 
can't get out of.  

>>>Dude, I have managed to get out of WARS to make it to Vegas.  War is 
generally the biggest work conflict that you can imagine.  If I can sweet-talk my 
way out of a war for a few days, you should be able to negotiate your way out 
of whatever conflict you are faced with. :>)

>The car won't be even part way back to its full glory 
by then anyway.  I'm anxious to get mack into the Pantera fraternity, 
though.  If there are any events in the Tucson or Phoenix areas, please 
let me know.

>>>There is an active Arizona POCA chapter; hopefully you are hooked up with 
them already?

>Oh, and Mike, I enjoyed the Esprit so much that I brought one back with 
me.  It's a right-hand drive Turbo with a dry sump engine.  I look 
forward to letting you drive it some day.  The curse is long gone, right? >>

>>>Not bloody likely!

How did you manage to import that car into the USA?  Was it an involved 
process?

And was it the car you were driving while you were in the UK, or did you buy 
another one to bring back?

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.