[DeTomaso] GTS vs Grp3

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

In a message dated 4/26/10 21 14 19, ehpantera at yahoo.com writes:


> What are the differences between a GTS and Grp3 Panteras?
> 

That's an interesting question.   Basically, the GTS was a pure street car 
and the Gr3 was a pure race car, if you bought one 'off the rack'.   But 
since European Panteras were often tailor-made for an individual customer, he 
could specify any number of different options from the 12-page factory 
options catalog (which included things like Gr3 brakes, sway bars, roll cage 
etc.), so it's not unusual to find a Euro GTS that is loaded with Gr3 parts.   
But technically that car wouldn't be considered a 'proper' Gr3 car because it 
wasn't labeled as such when it was built.

One thing that is unique to the Gr3 cars, and doesn't appear in the 
catalog, is the access to the front of the engine.   Rather than a one-piece 
fiberglass cover over the entire bulkhead, the Gr3 cars had a removable center 
section that was secured with rubber pull-down hoozits.   Although it seems to 
be rather trivial, I can say that every "Gr3" Pantera I've seen that was 
purpose-built as a race car had that feature, whereas the "Gr3" Panteras that 
were built as tarted-up GTS street cars didn't.

I'll send you the parts catalog separately so you can see what's inside it.

Cheers!

Mike