[DeTomaso] A big thankyou to all on the list (a bit long ... sorry)

Mad Dog Antenucci teampantera at yahoo.com
Sat Sep 8 00:49:55 EDT 2007


Geoff you Wanker!
   
   wotz the good news?! ;-]>
   
  Seriously mate, very impressed with your story and your sacrafices for your family....nothing more important then family. 
  Just get the family well and bring them to the States for holiday and you won't have to worry about where you need to stay or where you are gonna eat. 
   
  Love you Man
   
  Dawg
Geoff Swavley <geoffs at radx.net> wrote:
  Hi everyone,

I lurk most of the time over here in Australia, but always read with 
much interest what you guys
are doing with your Pantera's. Alot has happened to me in the last 18 
months ... I've become a dad
for a start ... which is waaaay cooler than I ever expected! I've had to 
take 5 months off work
while my (now wife!) was very sick having the little guy. I've got 
married! The really sad part
is that I sold my Pantera back in June to one of the many people that 
have contacted me over the years
and "queued" to buy it. I didn't even need to advertise it .... so goes 
the popularity of these
wonderful cars.

I basically had to sell it to make ends meet (mainly from being 5 months 
with no work)
and we're all trying to rebuild from that still (extended mortgage etc 
... most people have been there).
I eventually sold the car with the original engine in it because that is 
how people wanted the car
- original. So I can still fault find and debug the race motor down the 
track as I still own that.
(who knows ... might even be something my son and I will work on one day 
... if they still use petrol then!)
I just wanted to say that although I kind of had a "love hate" 
relationship with the car .... it was
never really the car .... it was that race motor and me just falling in 
with the wrong people for
that engine ... plus my stubborness at not wanting to "get beaten" by a 
machine. I should have
yanked that motor years ago and put the good old reliable 351 Cleveland 
back in it. I had
more fun with that car in the last 6 months I had the cleveland in it 
than for all of the 8 years
I struggled with the race motor. To that end I want give a big thankyou 
to everyone on
this list ... otherwise it might have been a "hate hate" relationship!! 
Seriously .... you
guys and your knowledge and willingness to help others is above and 
beyond the call.

Lesson I'd like to pass onto list members: don't let a non original 
piece of mechanics ruin the
whole car for you! It's Ok to be stubborn, but not at the expense of 
your like for the car. I was
lucky to see the light these last 6 months, and am angry at myself for 
how I started to resent the
car because of the race motor ... like I said ... it was never the car 
... it was that damn engine!

The car is a joy to drive when all is well and streetable, and damn me 
if I didn't shed a few
tears off camera ... I don't know what came over me .... I had spoken 
to my wife
(who knew how I felt) and we agreed that to make ends meet it's probably 
better to have that
car money working for us elsewhere at this stage of our life ... so you 
think with all of that
squared up in my head I'd be fine ... nope ... turned into a bit of an 
emotional mess when I actually
had to say goodbye to the car. The guy I sold it to, had been 
intermittently contacting me for over
a year ... he's a real car guy, knows about Pantera's and loves this 
car. The good thing about
selling the car to another car guy is that you know the car will get 
looked after, and you know
HE knows what you're going through. I've got a short bit of footage 
saying goodbye to the car
and it's cool hearing what he says to my wife who is on "camera duty". 
It's here if you want to watch it:
http://radx.net/deto-last-ride.WMV

Still chokes me up a bit .... but the 351 Cleveland is also a little 
"warmed up" and it goes
hard for a "dinosaur" engine (as these modern Jap car enthuisiasts like 
to refer to our V8's!).

Thankyou all for your help over the 8.5 years I've owned this car .... 
one thing that is kind
of sad ..... here's the odometer reading when I bought the car in Jan 
1999 (actually there's
about 500kms extra on it up to when I took this photo in August), and 
sold it in June 2007:
http://radx.net/20070907-kms-travelled.jpg

All up I travelled around 1800kms in 8.5 years! But she was going so 
sweet the 6 months
up to when I sold her. Just wanted to share this with a bunch of guys 
that understand! And
once again thanks for all of the help. I'll keep lurking 'cause I just
like reading what you're all up to! And who knows ... one day .....

yours across the ocean!

Geoff :-)

-- 
geoffs :-)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Geoff Swavley Email : geoffs at radx.net
Snail : 17 Mornington Ave,
http://www.radx.net/ Castle Hill NSW 2154
http://www.frappr.com/?a=myfrappr&id=190499 Australia
Mobile: +61-422-002005 Home : +61-2-96593637
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's 
already tomorrow in Australia ." (Charles Schultz)

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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



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