[DeTomaso] Dear Boyd - was Rookie needs help

[JJD1010 at aol.com]

In a message dated 8/24/2010 8:30:53 P.M. Central Daylight Time,  
MikeLDrew at aol.com writes:

My criticisms about certain Panteras don't involve aesthetic  
considerations, but rather low-class "There, I fixed it" mechanical  
hackery.
 
___
 
Our experience here in Dallas has been that most Pantera purchasers end  up 
with more than a handful of unexpected problems as result of  poorly made 
choices or poorly made repairs by the previous owner(s). And they  take 
significant effort and dollars to correct. 
 
IMHO, this is one of the reasons that the negative press and  negative 
reputation issues continue to haunt the marque. People on this list  are 
committed Pantera people but imagine how many unsuspecting people buy the  car and 
then discover the problems. We never hear from them but they are  surely 
disappointed and talk trash about the cars to everyone they know. And  we 
wonder why they sell for so little.
 
I would attribute this to the fact that the Pantera never really  
appreciated in value. (The $11,800 price of a 74 Pantera would be worth about  
$100,000 in today's money.) As a result, two things happened: 1) Panteras were  
affordable to buy by people who couldn't afford to maintain them  
appropriately, and  2) Even if they could afford to maintain the cars,  they had a hard 
time justifying the expense since there was no appreciable  value for the 
cars. And so a vast majority of the cars were maintained  and repaired in a 
haphazard and poor manner. (Once again people on this  list are probably 
exceptions to this since they are true Pantera  diehards.)
 
Fortunately, we are starting to see more and more quality restorations of  
the cars and the reputation gets better. Hope for more appreciation so  that 
more people can justify spending the money to do the job right.
 
Just my 2 cents.
 
Jeff
6559