[DeTomaso] The REAL story...

[michael frazier]

The Pope wrote:  You beat me to the "first flat black" Pantera . . .but then you copied  that from a hot rod in the fifties, I bet.What exactly is your paint? Satin or what?
Just the facts.  It's teflon. I figured if scrambled eggs won't stick to, air won't either.
 
Actually, I was having enough trouble with several problems on the car that I thought I might not have it ready for the BBORR.
While under all that pressure knowing there was a limited amount of time left, I decided to screw it all, have a little fun and paint
the car in some interesting manner.  The hot pink, lime green and white Barbie car suggestion was ignored.  The car now sports
a black lacquer primer cover coat over the factory applied red over the factory applied green.  I'm still trying to get some details
on that.  This car has never had any serious bends in it.  It's as rust free as they come and is loaded with PPC parts since it was
owned by Dennis Quellas original business partner.  I bought a gallon of primer, a gallon of thinner, a tube of body filler, 3M pads, 
masking tape, a Sunday newspaper and got it on.  50 bucks!  Started in the morning and finished that night.  We just scuffed the body, 
filled some of the deeper chips on the nose and shot it.  The rockers were the only part to get extra attention since they had several
coats of black panit that was beginning to flake off.  I sanded those down to bare metal and found just that.  If you know Panteras,
you know how nice it would feel to strip the rockers and find nothing but clean, shiny, rust free metal under the paint.  We let the 
final coat dry at least an hour before we soaked it with soapy water and knocked down the surface texture with very fine 3M pads. 
We then rubbed it out with dry cloths, applied "Special Weapons Directorate" emblems from my work and pronounced it race ready.
As in the past, I figured we could sort any mechanical or electrical issues out once we were at the race.  Good Karma and a positive
mental attitude play a big part in my strategy.  Back to the paint...anyway, I was starting to think about "restoring" the car soon . 
I mean from the ground up like I have done with several others. Bare metal, straighten any dings or dents in the the floor pans, every
nut and bolt.  If I was going to do that, what was another coat of paint?  A little more sanding and stripping. NBD.  Now it looks like
it may retain it's current paint scheme far longer that I anticipated.  Reaction to it at the race ranged from "I can help you finish that...
no, really it looks great" to "that's the meanest looking car here".  There is a current crop of high zoot sporty cars showing matte
finishes on their concept and special order cars.  It seems that they are just using regular metallics with a satin clear coat.  And while 
a Pantera looking like a Lamborghini is reason enough to NOT do it, remember, you saw it here first. I was planning this for years before the Pope thought of it.  I now wish/am thinking about doing it in one of the new satin finishes that you can wash and wax without worrying about it turning white.  I have to admit it was nice to park the car on the starting grid and walk off instead of spending an hour putting duct tape on all the areas that might take a stone hit.  It was actually cooler during the race too.  I usually keep the doors open up until just before you pull to the starting line.  That's when the last saftey checks are done by the race tech people.  The next 1 or 2 minutes spent sealed up before the green light were enough for me to completely soak 3 layers of Nomex.  When we got away from the line and the air started moving around in the cockpit, it got downright chilly! The whole thing was fun.  It's still fun.  FLAT is where it's AT!
Michael
Gruppo Rompiculi Corsa....can't wait to see Will's white w/ glitter roller paint next year...100% duct tape?...Stucco?...clay pot terra cotta?
PAPER MACHE!!!!!                          
 
 
 
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