[DeTomaso] How fast have you driven?

[Matt]

Now your talking Gary!
Fast is subjective to what’s under yer butt at the time vs. rapid onset of risk with increased speed. A few examples.

1964 Fiat 600D-60mph. This was on a decline on I-90 near North Bend,WA. It was a big deal for me(16) and that car!
The valves were floating and I was flying,all 28 hp. in a tiny Italian shoebox.

1963 Pontiac Catalina-110mph. 389 2-barrel that my Dad bought for $100 off a lot. Everything was bad on this car.Everything.
But that didn’t stop me(16) from trying to go faster in a car vs. it’s purchase price! Think about it.

1972 Pre-L  DeTomaso Pantera-155mph. Actually I(42) was a passenger at the time on the way down to the Vegas FR in 2000.
As we were taking turns driving my co-pilot Phil who happens to be a Drag racer and had gone WAY faster than I ,that I trusted, suggested we see what she’ll do.
We happened to be on a straight road in the desert with nobody around,so I said go for it.
I took pictures of the speedo and monitored the Valentine1 and the road ahead for expected surprises. I thought the pics probably would have verified the approximate speed at the time of the incident,had there been one.
I figure the camera would have survived better than humans as it was picked out of the crumpled mess and later downloaded.
The car did pretty good ,felt surprisingly planted the faster we went and would have had we not caught up to traffic.

Every example was a thrill for me that for some stupid reason I’m glad I’ve done once.
And that’s fast enough for me.

Matt Wells
3584

Date: Mon, 31 Oct 2011 21:24:12 -0600
From: GW <gow2 at rc-tech.net>
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] How fast have you driven?
To: michael at michaelshortt.com
Cc: Pantera Place <panteraplace at hotmail.com>, DetomasoList
<detomaso at realbig.com>
Message-ID: <4EAF665C.1090304 at rc-tech.net>
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When is was ...young...very young.....110mph....a bit more because the 
spedo was buried.....No big deal you say........1971 $500 4-door Chevy 
Biscane with no shocks, bald tires with wires hanging out of the tread. 
Front end was floating up....alot..., car swaying back and forth in the 
lane every time the front came back down....Yea that beats a 180mph in a 
Pantera!

Gary