[DeTomaso] A real "barn find" Pantera

Tue May 10 14:41:22 EDT 2011

Or, the big one:  The lusty blonde opens the door, hears your story and says it's so sad, but her husband was lost at sea several years ago, and she doesn't know how to get rid of the junky car, and..."BUT wait, would you like to come in and talk about it?"


> From: charlesmccall at gmail.com
> To: detomasoregistry at gmail.com; detomaso at realbig.com
> Date: Tue, 10 May 2011 20:34:06 +0200
> Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] A real "barn find" Pantera
> 
> I'll go back someday and get the VIN number for posterity. Now that I know
> where it is and all... I'll also go back with a flashlight to get a better
> loook (and hope I don't get arrested...) 
> 
> I had this fantasty all worked out... the car was abandoned, and I could
> claim it for pennies as the garage owner just wanted the junk out of there,
> or I could make an offer to a widow for $1000 or something and she'd be
> thrilled... 
> 
> 
> 
> Charles McCall
> 1985 DeTomaso Pantera GT5-S #9375
> "Raising Pantera Awareness Across Europe"
> http://www.poca.com/index.php/gallery/?g2_itemId=2323
> -----Mensaje original-----
> De: detomasoregistry at gmail.com [mailto:detomasoregistry at gmail.com] 
> Enviado el: martes, 10 de mayo de 2011 20:27
> Para: 'Charles McCall'; 'De Tomaso List'
> Asunto: RE: [DeTomaso] A real "barn find" Pantera
> 
> Way cool...
> 
> A little spit and you could have had the VIN.  Let me do a little research.
> 
> Chuck
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 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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