[DeTomaso] Useless technical Pantera factoid of the day

[Charles McCall]

I discovered something while driving the Pantera to work today. 
 
I had always assumed that the heater valve in all Panteras was mechanical -
ie you slide the little lever back and forth between hot and cold and you
are physically opening and closing a valve allowing more coolant or less
into the circuit. 
 
On the late-model Panteras, with the Maserati heater controls, it would
appear that this is not the case. It would appear to be vacuum controlled.
Here's what I discovered. 
 
Set the temperature slide for maximum heat and don't touch it. Push the
button for "defrost". Hot air comes out the defrost thingies on the dash.
Without touching the temp control, simply pushing the button for A/C but
with the thermostat set so that the A/C won't turn on, the air that comes
out the dash vents begins hot but quickly cools off. Pushing the button for
"heat" makes hot air come out the vents again. 
 
Actually now that I type this, perhaps the heater valve is indeed mechanical
but there are two air paths possible - In "defrost" and "heat", air comes
from outside and passes through the heater core but in "Max A/C" air comes
from inside the cabin and does not pass through the heater core? Anybody
ever studied the HVAC system of the late model cars? What I found was
curious was that you could have either hot or cold air coming out the vents
without touching the temp control. 
 
Charles McCall
1985 DeTomaso Pantera GT5-S #9375
"Raising Pantera Awareness across Europe"
http://members.aol.com/PanteraGT5S1985/