[DeTomaso] What a great car!

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

Hi guys,

I just came home from a trip around noon, to find absolutely stunning fall 
weather here in northern California.   The sun is peering through a high cloud 
layer, the temperatures are in the high 60s or low 70s, and the leaves are in 
full color, in some places rivalling anything seen in Vermont.

(In fact the conditions remind me very much like fall in South Korea).

After I sizzled my spindle and wheel bearing, and subsequently sourced 
replacements and screwed the car back together, my Pantera has been back on the road 
for a few weeks but it's only been used for a quick, ten-minute shakedown 
run.   I'm going to be working every day for the next week and a half, so today 
is my only free day for awhile.   There are plenty of things I need to do, but 
with winter's onset not far away, I couldn't bear the idea of not taking the 
Pantera out for a quick drive.

The car fired right up, as it always does, and within 200 yards of my 
driveway I was on two-land country roads.   I have principally driven these roads 
either in my Cobra (with mountains of torque for catapult-like launches out of 
the corners), or my Sciroccos (whose Lotus Elise-matching low weight and 
inspired chassis design allow for truly silly cornering speeds).   Truthfully, the 
roads that I was on are not ideally suited for a Pantera, but no matter.   
Initially I was just plonking along at low rpm in 3rd gear (and often 2nd), 
climbing a steep ridge on a paved road that's little more than a cow trail.

Once down in the valley on the other side, I turned north onto a slightly 
faster road, although one that is in a poor state, filled with ruts and whoops 
etc, and cursed with a 45 mph speed limit.   I wasn't keen on going all that 
much faster, since I haven't driven the road recently enough to still have it 
committed to memory.   Eventually it opened up and became a bit faster, although 
I was still being somewhat conservative.

My Pantera is by *far* the most softly-sprung car in my fleet (in fact a fair 
bit too soft for my tastes), and the front spoiler kissed the ground on one 
particularly knarly one-sided whoop.   I also noted that my motor is distinctly 
lacking in any sort of bottom-end urge.   The open-chamber heads (TRW forged 
pop-up pistons giving 10:1 compression at least), rather peaky Comp Cams 
camshaft and the GTS exhausts together conspire to make it somewhat doggy down 
below 3000 rpm, and although the motor pulls straight through 6000 rpm, I'd rather 
not rev the nuts off of it since the connecting rods and crank are stock.

After 15-20 miles or so I came to a T-junction, and then followed a much 
smoother road as it wound its way through a canyon alongside a river.   This was 
mostly 4th gear stuff, with an occasional drop down to 3rd for tight corners.   
After climbing the hill and passing the dam, the character of the road 
changed yet again, with alternating 3rd gear corners (either uphill or downhill) and 
a few long straights with a few gentle kinks in them, where I was tempted to 
open 'er up, but instead opted to plonk along at 70 mph or so in 5th gear 
(given that it's still a 45 mph zone, and this area is where the cops periodically 
hang out).   I was amazed that I drove for mile after mile without 
encountering any traffic whatsoever going in my direction.   One truck appeared briefly 
in front of me, and immediately pulled off, damn nice of him.

On and on I went, analyzing the road conditions, admiring the beautiful 
scenery, and listening to the car's various little noises (a sway bar bushing 
squeak here, a spring perch clonk there, and occasionally the slight hiss of 
sliding tires on a particularly tight corner).   

Eventually I got to the intersection of Hwy 128 and 121, and elected to turn 
around.   Continuing would have taken me into the heart of the Napa valley, 
with its associated traffic, and I would have had to then grind back around to 
my house in freeway traffic--no thanks!

So I did a 180 and headed back towards home.   My confidence in both the road 
conditions and the car were a bit higher, and so the speeds picked up 
somewhat.   I started to encounter a bit of traffic, and had to sit for a mile or two 
behind a truck pulling a huge camper trailer before he pulled over.   Right 
away I then came across a VW Beetle who also quickly pulled off, and then a 
small pickup loaded with junk.

Everyone that pulled over for me received a cheerful toot of the Fiamm air 
horns and a big smile and a wave of thanks.   I also noted that I wasn't alone 
in seeing the opportunity to exercise my car on this beautiful day; I exchanged 
waves and beeps of the horn with the drivers of a Ferrari 308, Porsche 911 
cabriolet, and a '67 Corvette convertible that I encountered going the other 
way.

After a small, tight, 2nd gear section I came across an older man in an Olds, 
who immediately moved to the side to let me by; a Chevy Blazer coming the 
other way saw what was happening and HE pulled over and motioned me past too!   
Gotta love people like that!

As I passed this guy, the road happened to be rather straight-ish, with huge 
oak trees on either side (a most unforgiving form of vegetation should you 
manage to impact it at speed).   A group of four crotch-rocket riders was stopped 
up ahead, and I saw them all look up appreciatively as they heard me storm 
around the old man in 2nd gear, so I left my foot on the mat and zinged it up to 
5500 or so before selecting 3rd, keeping it there as I blasted past them; 
they waved and got the Fiamm beep too.

Still accelerating, I rounded a gentle bend and then as the road straightened 
out, encountered a rather abrupt rise; while still hard on the gas in 3rd 
gear, the suspension bottomed and then the car briefly left the road and launched 
skywards, rpm shooting up for an instant before the car gently settled back 
to the pavement again, lurching slightly on the balloon tires (crappy BFG 
305/50s on 10-inch Campys in the back).   It must have sounded interesting to the 
motorcyclists!

Into 4th gear and off the gas, to slow back down to 65-70 or so for a 
half-mile or thereabouts until crossing a narrow bridge with a 20 mph right corner on 
the far side.   Onto the brakes, down into 3rd gear and back into 'ambling' 
mode...my general objective was to establish a controlled pace, whereby I'd 
drive the car quickly, but not so fast that I was required to brake for every 
approaching corner.   Conserving momentum, and smoothly flowing from one corner 
to the next was my chosen style (unlike when I'm in the Cobra, which is all 
about full-throttle, wheel-spinning exits out of the corners and eyeball-popping 
braking coming into the next ones!)   I actually felt as though I was driving 
quite slowly, until I would rush up behind a car that was practically parked 
in the road in front of me, look down at the speedo and discover that he was 
driving the speed limit (which meant that I most assuredly was not).

I finally got home after about 75 miles of driving, with the car still 
behaving perfectly (occasionally there's a bit of detonation, which might be down to 
old gas/cheap gas/bad gas, must fill up with The Good Stuff next time and see 
if it still does it).   I left it idling in the street as I got out to open 
the garage door (damn remote conked out about seven years ago, gotta fix that 
someday), and I couldn't help but look over my shoulder at the car crouched 
there with its front tires against the driveway, and think,

"What a great car!!!!"

Mike (no cruise control for me!)


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