[DeTomaso] Famous Pantera 2000 RPM exhaust resonance

[JDeRyke at aol.com]

I once ran across a reference from a famous car designer who mentioned that 
he didn't use mononcocque bodies on upscale cars because 'monococque 
construction was prone to resonance effects both from road noise and from the 
engines'. Over the years, there have been many "fixes" for this in the Pantera, 
including reinsulating the decklid skin to its X-support, exhaust/muffler 
changes and adding insulation to various parts of the cabin. Resonance is 
easily avoided by not running at the critical rpm- you have 5 gears to choose 
from- or by adding a performance exhaust that drowns the resonance out. For 
instance, I suspect that Bob Benson or Larry Stock have no such problem on 
their street/competition Panteras. 
Nothing seems to perfectly cure it in all cars, and I've never heard the 
complaint from Mangusta owners- which also were monococques. 'Course the 
Mangusta also had much more sound-proofing than the Pantera- which then caused 
some of the 'Goose's door-rust problems. Personally, I prefer a little 
drumming to rust....After all, this is a way-different market than the Lincoln Town 
Car. FWIW- J DeRyke