[DeTomaso] Pantera near disaster

[boyd casey]

For those of you who may have been following the progress of my Ken Green
brake Mod and the concurrent rebuild and upgrade of my suspension. I had a
near disaster on Thursday afternoon. I picked up my car at the alignment
shop and was very pleased with the report from the owner who was also the
person that worked on my car.  I was driving home from the shop in Port
Chester NY to my home on Long Island NY ( a distance of around 40 miles.  I
was traveling on 95 south (the New England Thruway) when all of a sudden the
car started to shake and I heard two PING'S in rapid succession. I had the
windows open due to the lack of functional AC and I saw two lug nuts and
studs shooting across the highway. I managed to quickly pull over without
being struck by any of the numerous tractor trailers that were surrounding
me.
 I won't bore everyone with the horror story about getting a tow truck other
then to say it was a life altering ordeal on it's own. It took four hours to
get home     (a distance of another 25 miles) at a cost of $300.00. When the
car was dropped off at my house the remaining three lug nuts and studs fell
off in my hand. The wheel was literally within   a moment of falling
completely off. The studs had enlarged the holes in my forged three piece
wheels, the hats were chewed up and the holes were oblong and out of round
and the hub and bearing assemblies from Ken's design (made by German
engineering) where destroyed. Two of the studs had pulled completely through
and the other three remaining studs were turning freely in their now
enlarged holes. I was concerned at how I was going to be able to facilitate
the repairs in my garage which has such limited space but luckily the past 5
months I have spent working on my car at my car clubs garage has improved my
skills to the point were I was able to disassemble the entire left rear
wheel assembly , CV joint, upper a arm from ball joint and caliper and
rotor. So I have the damaged hub, hat, and wheel all removed. The wheel is
at a wheel repair facility being re sleeved. (This is a temporary repair
that will allow me to have the car in a mobile state. The company that made
my wheels going to replace the center( I will have to disassemble the wheel
center and send it to them) and for $500 they will send me a replacement
that I will have to use to reassemble my wheel.
The new replacement hub with bearing assembly  and the new hat have already
been shipped and will be here by Wednesday or Thursday at a cost of around
$400.00. So hopefully I will have everything back together by the end of
next week.. It is clearly not a moment to celebrate but considering what
COULD have happened. I could have been killed or the wheel could have come
completely off and the damage could easily have been well into the thousands
of dollars. The Brembo caliper the wheel house the rotor, the Koni shock All
of which was brand  new, the powder coated a-arms the poly graphite
bushings,  That's if I  were lucky and only dragged the suspension parts. I
could have lost control and wiped out the car  and wound up with anywhere
from a few thousand dollars to a total loss and any where between no injury
and  death.  The alignment tech claims he did not take the wheels off so I
have no way of knowing  what the cause was.  If anyone has any suggestions I
would be interested in hearing  any theories.
I could be feeling sorry for my self and  but when I look at everything that
is going on in the world  from, floods, wild fires, earthquakes  to people
being killed by suicide bombers or fighting terrorism in Iraq or Pakistan I
have to consider myself extremely lucky to have a Pantera in the first place
and to not have been killed or injured. This is another part of what goes
with owning a Pantera or any other exotic or high performance toy. (Unless
it's a trailer queen). So instead of being discouraged or depressed. I am
going to chalk  this one  up as a chance to count my blessings.
Boyd