[DeTomaso] Another Pantera in town (St. Louis, MO)

Tue Sep 4 20:47:35 EDT 2007

Dr. Dan,

  Geez, can we assume you have expanded your parts biz?
  Wotz the history on the FMX and 427 FE side oilers. Specs? Prices?

  Wotz really for sale and wot is actually going to race someday (yea as in 2008)! ;-]>

  Dawg

Daniel C Jones <daniel.c.jones2 at gmail.com> wrote:
  Question: What has 82 cylinders and gets 8 MPG?

Answer: Me, hauling a Pantera back from Ohio.

Over the Labor Day weekend, I rented a Uhaul truck and trailer and brought
back the red Pantera and as much stuff as I could load in the truck. My
brother drove out to get me since Uhaul's price difference on a round trip
versus a one-way rental approached $1000, not counting the extra fuel cost.
Though I booked the Uhaul truck and trailer online several weeks ago, Uhaul
waits until the day before you're scheduled to pick up the equipment to
figure out where the closest location is that matches your request. In my
case, it was in Kentucky which added 100+ miles to the trip. Apparently
Labor Day weekend is a busy time for Uhaul with lots of kids heading off
to college. I reserved a 17' truck (Ford van nose on a truck chassis with
a 6.8L V10) and an auto transport. Ran it 75 MPH or so most of the way
and it towed great with plenty of power and I hardly knew I was pulling a
trailer. Granted, the Pantera without an engine and transaxle is light
but the truck was loaded down with:

2 427 FE side-oiler strokers
1 400 FMX block
2 351C short blocks
1 351C from the Pantera
1 351C long block
2 Buick 215 aluminum blocks
some cylinder heads
3 engine stands
1 4 wheel cart
1 barrel full of FE parts
a couple dozen boxes of Pantera and engine parts
2 large hard wood tables (1 1/4" thick hard wood with 1 1/4" doublers)
1 8" limited slip differential
1 Lay-Z-Boy recliner

Took most of two days to load (with help). Finished loading by 3 PM Saturday
and was on the road by 4 PM or so. Made it home by 10:45 PM. Spent Sunday
unloading everything by myself. I was careful this time not to let the
Pantera get away from me like I did with the '56 F100 (which slid me into
a '66 Mustang, smashing my leg between the truck rear frame rail and the
Mustang's bumper). Monday morning I dropped the truck and trailer off and
road my bike home. The rest of the day was dedicated to tucking engines
under benches and otherwise organizing the shop. By 5PM, I was pretty well
spent and called it a day. I'll probably have to do this again as I left
behind a Triumph TR7, several Ford engines (a 428SCJ, a 400, a couple of
390's, a 5.0L and a 302), a 322 Buick nail head, a set of Pantera wheels
and tires, the Pantera's transaxle and various other parts.

The haul went well with lots of nice comments on the car, people taking
pictures, etc. My biggest fubar was that I forgot to tie off the A/C hoses
and some of the wiring which shook loose along the way and drug along the
road. Ground off the connectors on several wires and trashed an A/C hose.
Bugger.

BTW, I had the side-oilers on engine stands by Stumpy:

http://www.stumpysfabworks.zoomshare.com/

His stands are pretty nice, consisting of two free-standing legs that bolt
to the motor mounts. They will support an engine and transmission without
tipping and he has wide versions to clear wide race pans, though his standard
version cleared the 10 quart flat bottom oil pans on both of my engines. He
also offers optional casters which are much stronger than the ones that come
on the typical Summit SBF stands.

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