[DeTomaso] BG PESO and BIG PESO

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

In a message dated 2/20/11 10 44 49, detomasoregistry at gmail.com writes:


> One had a license/registration plate of BG PESO (Red)
> 
> while the other plate was BIG PESO (White)
> 
> 
> 
> Who knows either of these two cars?
> 

I'm intimately familiar with both of them.   They were both based in 
Sacramento.

BG PESO, the red car, was featured in the second POCA Profiles issue I 
produced, Fall 1995 issue, and was owned by Joe Lobue.   It was an absolute 
cream-puff, no-go showboat, loaded with chrome and looking beautiful, but with a 
weak engine.   He didn't care.   Joe would polish the hell out of it, drive 
it slowly to a car show, win first place and drive back home.

Joe is the only one in history to polish his ZF *in* the car!   He spent 
untold hours crouched over it, polishing it slowly one section at a time, by 
hand!

His health started to fail, and he had the car converted to hand controls 
so he could continue to drive it.   Eventually it became too much for him, 
and he sold it.   It is now owned by a sometime-list-lurker in Norway (or is 
it Sweden?).

BIG PESO was Joe's other car; it is an early car that he had converted to 
GT5 spec.   He sold it to John McNamee when he bought the red one, and John 
still owns it.   

It recently underwent a radical transformation; the GT5 kit was junked and 
steel Gr4 flares were welded on, a fixed-headlight conversion was made, and 
it was painted Lamborghini orange.   It appears on the front page of the 
Capitol Panteras website:

http://www.capitolpanteras.org/

Here's a couple of close-ups of the car:

http://www.capitolpanteras.org/photos/IMG_3765.JPG
http://www.capitolpanteras.org/photos/IMG_3762.JPG

It is shown in its earlier white configuration on the 'members cars' page:

http://www.capitolpanteras.org/images/John_McNamees_White-Pantera2.jpg

The former Joe Lobue BG PESO is also shown there, in one of the most 
beautiful Pantera photos I've ever seen....

http://www.capitolpanteras.org/images/pantera-lobue.jpg

The original photo was shot on a professional 3x4 negative, and is just 
stunning.   This web shot is a very low-res, poor reproduction.   If you have 
the Fall '95 Profiles, check out the centerfold to gain an appreciation for 
really great photography (by John Worseley, Capitol Panteras 
red-headed-stepchild member since he owns a Bricklin and not a Pantera).

Mike