[DeTomaso] Spring (the weather kind)

[tmshinro at aol.com]

 I am getting excited about finally breaking our record string of days below 40 degrees (91 days and counting).   We've had a string of sunny days (can't remember when we had this much sun) and should see 40 degrees in the next couple of days.   Finally getting our snow to melt; I can see patches of my front lawn for the first time since December.  It will probably take at least a month to melt the 6 foot piles that resulted from all the shoveling on either side of my driveway.   Unfortunately the threat of flooding is very high (but hopefully we won't see the devastation we saw with the Cedar Rapids flood in '08).   

Printed out a schedule of all the car shows scheduled around the region (things start up in April) and I'm chomping at the bit to get the Pantera off the lift and on the road.   Hopefully we'll get the snow gone, the streets dried up and cleaned (tons of sand) by the end of March so I can start playing.   It's been a record setting long, cold, snowy winter here in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

I see that Ford is sponsoring the Koehler Vintage Races at Road America this year and they are once again letting people driving Mustangs to the track on Saturday in for free (normal gate fee is $50).   They did this last year when the GT 40 was the featured marque and even let the Mustangs do some parade laps around the track for free.   Mr. Drew convinced me to drive the Pantera to the event last year (for which I was extremely grateful because it was the first road trip I had taken in quite along time and had a great time), but I might consider driving the '71 Mach 1 this year.  I'll give Mike a pass and not pressure him to drive his GT350 clone to the track this year :).

Also wanted to mention that the April issue of Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car features De Tomaso in their "Behind the Badge" story.   It's a one page summary of the man, the company and the origins of the marque badge.   

Tom
#5186