[DeTomaso] A real "barn find" Pantera

Tue May 10 14:30:44 EDT 2011

Oh, Charles!!!  You know all the infomercials here in America, do their spiel, and then about half-way through: the magic words, "But, wait...."  No, seriously, it sounds like a great find, and a fun project, so, BUT Wait - who wants to make a trip and have fun to help Charles find the owner!       ---Bill (man, once in a lifetime chance) Lewis

> From: charlesmccall at gmail.com
> To: detomaso at realbig.com
> Date: Tue, 10 May 2011 20:14:21 +0200
> Subject: [DeTomaso] A real "barn find" Pantera
> 
> Speaking of barn finds.
> 
>  
> 
> On various car forums here in Spain, I've heard rumors of an abandoned
> DeTomaso Pantera a little over an hour from where I live. 
> 
>  
> 
> It was sounding like urban legend - there were some grainy photos every now
> and then, but nothing to be able to determine if they were taken in Spain,
> in Europe, in the US. 
> 
>  
> 
> Nobody had any first-hand knowledge of the car. It was all "a friend of my
> cousin's neighbor saw it once.." So trying to get more information was
> difficult, if not impossible. 
> 
>  
> 
> A couple of weeks ago, while attending a car rally, someone mentioned the
> famous "abandoned Pantera", and said that they knew someone who had actually
> seen it. It was supposed to be in decent shape, but missing the engine and
> transaxle.
> 
>  
> 
> They sent me the GPS coordinates of a garage where the car was supposedly
> located. No street name, no garage description, just GPS coordinates. 
> 
>  
> 
> I plugged the coordinates into my GPS to get an idea of where the car was,
> and about 2 weeks ago, on the way to work, stopped by. I spent roughly an
> hour walking up and down the street looking for a garage that looked like it
> might have a Pantera inside, but since I didn't really know what I was
> looking for, it was difficult. The street was full of multi-story apartment
> buildings with their large, common underground parking lots. After an hour I
> gave up and went to work. 
> 
>  
> 
> But I kept thinking about the car all day, and since it was just before
> Easter break, a 5 day weekend, I decided to give it another shot in the
> afternoon.
> 
>  
> 
> I went back to the same place, parked, and looked around. There were roughy
> 6 garages within sight, so I just hung around. When I saw a car coming out
> of one, I ran up and tapped on the window. I was wearing a suit and tie, so
> I didn't look too homeless-like, and they rolled down the window. I asked if
> they had seen a red sports car abandoned in their garage. They looked at me
> strangely and said "no", rolled up the window a little quicker, and headed
> off. 
> 
>  
> 
> I repeated this strategy with car number two, about 15 minutes later. No
> luck. At 15 minutes per garage, this could take a while. It could also be
> difficult to explain to the cops exactly what I was trying to do. 
> 
>  
> 
> I saw a young couple come out of a third garage, so I went up and asked
> them. 
> 
>  
> 
> "Yes, it's been there for years!" they said. 
> 
>  
> 
> "Cool!", said I. "Would you mind letting me into the garage so that I can
> leave a note and take some pictures?"
> 
>  
> 
> They looked at me rather suspiciously and mumbled something about being in a
> hurry and shuffled off. But I had located the car!
> 
>  
> 
> It only took another 10 minutes for a car to come out - while the garage
> door was open, I scooted in behind before the door could close. 
> 
>  
> 
> And there it was! A Pantera!
> 
>  
> 
> It was completely covered in dust, and as mentioned I was wearing a white
> dress shirt and a suit, so I couldn't really touch it too much. I also
> couldn't find the lights, so I only had the emergency lights to go by.
> Stumbling around I found the switch, but it really didn't help - the garage
> was dark. Far too dark to be able to see the serial number. I opened the
> front hood (the doors were unlocked), wiped off the serial number area with
> my finger and took a photo, hoping to be able to read the number in the
> photo. 
> 
>  
> 
> I was unsure as to whether it was an original GT5 or a conversion. The
> interior has the old style AC controls, and the rear delta wing isn't stock.
> There are also some funky air intake things on the rear decklid that aren't
> stock. However it wears original Campys GT5-style, the antenna is located in
> the Euro-location, and not in the US front fender location, and the rear
> license plate area is wide, for a Euro-plate. So I was thinking that it was
> at least a post Ford-era pantera, but was hoping the photo would shed light
> on it. 
> 
>  
> 
> Interestingly enough, it has BRITISH license plates! WTF? 
> 
>  
> 
> It had the original spare up front, which is pretty rare. 
> 
>  
> 
> Unfortuantely I couldn't read the serial number in the photo, but the first
> number sure looks like a "9" to me, which would make it a late-model, real
> GT5. Later analysis of the date code shows it to be a 1984 car. 
> 
>  
> 
> Overall condition appeared to be decent - at least two dents in the fenders,
> but I didn't see rust oozing out from every pore, although in the dark and
> with the dust, who knows? 
> 
>  
> 
> Now the tricky part - getting out of the garage. Without a key, you don't
> get in or out. Some kids were passing by, so I asked them if they knew
> anything about the car. they told me that it had been there for years and
> that nobody knew anything about it. They were kind enough to let me out, or
> I'd still be there now!
> 
>  
> 
> Pix may be seen here: http://www.poca.com/index.php/gallery/?g2_itemId=30786
> 
>  
> 
> I managed to get the phone number of the garage management and gave them a
> call the next day. Here's where the trail cooled off. 
> 
>  
> 
> "Yes", they know the owner. "Yes", someone is paying community fees and
> taxes on that spot. "No", the car isn't abandoned. He knows perfectly well
> that it is there. "No", he isn't interested in selling it. 
> 
>  
> 
> The best I could get has a half-hearted commitment to pass my name and phone
> number on to the owner to have him call me to see what the deal is. I don't
> exactly have high hopes. 
> 
>  
> 
> As it has British plates, I contacted the British club, but they don't know
> anything about it or recognize the car. 
> 
>  
> 
> So it is still sitting there, still collecting dust. And it appears it will
> continue to do so indefinitely :-(
> 
>  
> 
> That was my adventure from a couple weeks ago. A real "barn/garage find",
> although I couldn't do anything with it.
> 
>  
> 
> Charles McCall
> 
> 1985 DeTomaso Pantera GT5-S #9375
> 
> "Raising Pantera Awareness Across Europe"
> 
>  <http://www.poca.com/index.php/gallery/?g2_itemId=2323>
> http://www.poca.com/index.php/gallery/?g2_itemId=2323
> 
>  
> 
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