[DeTomaso] Horror Stories....Re: Trailering Tiedown Points

Tue Mar 20 11:33:39 EDT 2007

Who was the bro' in Norcal who invited an appraisal over to his house to appraise the value of his absolutly stunning black Pantera when as i recall (Mikey should know the twisted details) the guys "hydraulic line-brake" let go and he rolled down the driveway and smashed into the appraiser's new BMW....and yea, he sold the Pantera too! HAHAHA
  DOH

David & Marilyn Bell <davidabell at worldnet.att.net> wrote:
  Once upon a time in Houston.... a nice gentleman was winching his freshly
restored, virtually perfect Pantera slowly off a trailer at a local auto
show. The winch cable was attached to one of the front tie down tabs. The
tie down ripped loose from the frame and the Pantera rolled backwards off
the tilted trailer, down the ramps, and then downhill across the grass until
it smashed into another show car at about 15 mph. Both vehicles were very
seriously damaged in the resulting collision. The Pantera guy was so heart
broken that he sold what was left of his Pantera and never owned another.

YMMV.

Dave Bell (uses big nylon straps wrapped around the lower a-arms to tie-down
the car, and no the above story was not me)

-----Original Message-----
From: detomaso-bounces at realbig.com [mailto:detomaso-bounces at realbig.com]On
Behalf Of Matt Merritt
Sent: Monday, March 19, 2007 10:05 AM
To: 'hoppe1'
Cc: detomaso at realbig.com
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Trailering Tiedown Points

Good question, Rich. Any Pantera I've owned had those hoops mashed down or
broken off. If they're not rusty or bent up I guess they'd work fine. Mike
Drew? Anyone?

Matt Merritt

-----Original Message-----
From: hoppe1 [mailto:hoppe1 at cox.net]
Sent: Friday, March 16, 2007 6:26 PM
To: Matt Merritt
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Trailering Tiedown Points

Matt
I still have the factory tie down hoops in the front of the car. Why don't
you use them?
Rich
----- Original Message -----
From: "Matt Merritt" 
To: 
Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2007 2:43 PM
Subject: [DeTomaso] Trailering Tiedown Points

> Hi Rick:
>
> With apologies to Peter - I strongly disagree with his recomendation
> on how to tie down your Pantera for towing. I've hauled my Pantera
> racecar all over the place and easily win the prize for most paranoid
> hauler on the planet. I'm also in the car business and have been
> trained by the best. Here's how to do it:
>
> Materials:
>
> 1. First, to safely haul your car you need a trailer with tiedowns
> that are at least a couple of feet away from the front and back
> corners of your car. A 24' enclosed trailer or 18' open trailer are
optimal.
>
> 2. You'll also need four high-quality ratcheting tie-down straps with
> spring-loaded hooks on both ends. Do NOT USE OPEN HOOKS. If a strap
> with an open hook were to come loose it would just fall off the car
> leaving your pride and joy rolling around in the trailer all by itself.
> A loose strap is much better than no strap at all.
>
> 3. Get four axle straps.
>
> Placement:
>
> Load the car far enough forward that the balance point is well ahead
> of the trailer wheels. Panteras are lighter in front and need to be
> loaded farther forward most cars. Leave it in gear. This is another
> good reason to have a 24' trailer.
>
> Tie Locations:
>
> Front: On each corner wrap the axle strap around the rearmost part of
> the lower A-arm. Slide the strap as close to the center of the car as
> possible, below all other parts of the suspension, and then to the
> ratcheting tiedown strap. Then run the strap to the trailer's anchor
> point. Use the tiedown on the same side of the car. Don't cross the
> straps unless you have absolutely zero distance between the tie and
> anchor ends. If you need to cross the straps that's a sign that you
> need a better trailer.
>
> Rear: Wrap the axle strap around and to the inside of the forwardmost
> lower A-arm, under everything else on the car, and down to the
> corresponding trailer tiedown. Some people alternatively wrap the
> axle straps around the brace under the transxle (where everybody puts
> those "DeTomaso" plaques) but this works only on early cars with just
> a rear mount. On later cars the side ZF mounts are in the way.
>
> Once you've got the straps on and snug take the car out of gear. Then
> go to whichever end you like and start tightening the straps. Get
> them evenly nice and snug but not insanely tight. A little slack will
> cause the car to move around in the trailer and will put a ton more
> strain on the suspension than if it's tied down tightly. Also, don't
> forget to put the car in neutral to take strain off the transaxle. I
> also always put sand bags in front and behind one wheel for a little
> extra insurance. Lastly, after I've driven for a few miles I always
> pull over and check to make sure everything is riding properly.
>
> Hope that helps,
>
> Matt Merritt
> _______________________________________________
>
> Detomaso Forum Managed by POCA
>
> Archive Search Engine Now Available at
> http://www.realbig.com/detomaso/
>
> DeTomaso mailing list
> DeTomaso at list.realbig.com
> http://list.realbig.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso
>

_______________________________________________

Detomaso Forum Managed by POCA

Archive Search Engine Now Available at http://www.realbig.com/detomaso/

DeTomaso mailing list
DeTomaso at list.realbig.com
http://list.realbig.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso

_______________________________________________

Detomaso Forum Managed by POCA

Archive Search Engine Now Available at http://www.realbig.com/detomaso/

DeTomaso mailing list
DeTomaso at list.realbig.com
http://list.realbig.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso

Mad Dawg Antenucci 
Team Pantera Racing 
  The 1st & still the only vintage race team in open road racing 
www.teampanteraracing.com