[DeTomaso] Don Who? Don Coleman!
MikeLDrew at aol.com
MikeLDrew at aol.com
Sun Mar 18 13:24:28 EDT 2007
In a message dated 3/17/07 10:12:15, msm at portata.com writes:
<< >> We'll ask Don in Vegas--he'll tell us the whole story!
Don who? Corleone? Novello? Juan? Ho? >>
>>>Don Coleman! You obviously haven't been paying attention to your POCA
newsletters!
Don Coleman is a fascinating guy. He was a real hotshot at Ford, and was
quickly identified as having enormous potential. While in his 20s (I think), he
was placed in charge of the entire 289-family engine development and racing
program. So all the Cobra, GT40, drag racing, and etc. racing engine
development programs, as well as road car engine programs relating to the original
Windsor block were his direct responsibility. As the 60s drew to a close and Ford
ramped up the Pantera program, they realized they needed a guy like him
stationed in Modena to be THE Ford man on the job, so he was selected. He was there
for a year, and oversaw the Pantera program moving from clay model to
production.
It was a tumultuous time, and he found that working with A. De Tomaso was
very different from working with gung-ho American racers like Shelby.
Anyway, I met Don at a Shelby convention years ago; two guys were chatting
about ZF gearboxes alongside a GT40 and I sort of barged into the conversation;
when I revealed my Pantera background his eyes lit up. As it happens, he was
attending the event with Claude Dubois, and fetched him over and the three of
us started a great conversation which has led to a friendship that has lasted
ever since.
I've been after him for a few years to come to Vegas to be our guest speaker,
and this year his schedule allows it. So he will be revealing all the
behind-the-scenes political and engineering history of the development oike
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