[DeTomaso] What a great car!

Mon Nov 12 20:33:28 EST 2007

Great description--I wish I had video and audio to go with it!

This evening I just took a new client of mine, who owns a Viper, for a ride in my Pantera.  He was duly impressed with the looks and power, but he was most surprised by how comfortable it was.  He told me after riding in his Viper for an hour or so, he could REALLY feel it!

Sincerely,

Chris
3846

> From: MikeLDrew at aol.com
> Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2007 18:50:33 -0500
> To: detomaso at realbig.com
> Subject: [DeTomaso] What a great car!
> 
> 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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