[DeTomaso] Pandora update
Tom Shinrock
tmshinro at aol.com
Tue Aug 4 08:50:04 EDT 2015
Wow, Chris. Sorry to hear about Pandora surprises. Sounds like the car will be solid when it is finished, though.
Are you doing a repaint as well? If so will it be the same color? If you painted it a different color it would be like getting a new (different) car.
Tom
5186
-----Original Message-----
From: Christopher Kimball <chrisvkimball at msn.com>
To: Pantera list serve <detomaso at poca.com>
Sent: Mon, Aug 3, 2015 11:12 pm
Subject: [DeTomaso] Pandora update
Some of my friends have been asking the status of my '72 Pre-L which
has
been in the shop for quite some time.
I just had a long talk with Denny
Finn, he is the one who has taken on
the what-is-turning-out-to-be-a-huge
project that started out as a
routine repair to my clutch, A/C unit, and;
oh, by the way, a little
rust. (Finn's Auto
Repair
[1]http://www.finnsautorestoration.com/index.html)
Denny's shop is in
Oregon, which although in my neighborhood--the
Pacific Northwest--is still a
half-day's drive away. I've know Denny
for quite a number of years now, and
he is a fellow Panera owner.
Indeed; together we drove our cars to Reno for
one of the Fun Rallies.
I've been to Denny's shop a number of times, and
the last time I was
there he and his crew were working on at least two
Panteras so he he is
definitely familiar with the breed.
I've visited
several Pantera specialty shops over the years, and
Denny's work is nothing
short of amazing. I was excited to have Denny
fix the problems I was having
with Pandora, and while he was at it,
spruce up the engine compartment;
removing the stock undercoating and
giving it a fresh, new look.
My car
is named Pandora for a reason, however. No sooner had Denny
begun removing
the undercoating than he discovered what is probably the
reason my car has
always gotten such good gas mileage. In many places
there was no metal
remaining beneath the undercoating! I guess massive
rusting is one way of
reducing weight...
Not only that, he had recommended that while the engine
was out of the
car I have it checked by an engine builder he knows. In
keeping with
the "Pandora's Box" theme, there were several things wrong with
the
motor, too (disappointing, since 25,000 miles ago I had the motor
built
for a cost of almost $10,000 by a local engine builder).
Poor
Denny; when I gave him the car (he actually came and picked it up
in his
covered trailer for fee that was well below what one would
usually pay) I
gave him a budget which I was naively convinced would
cover everything that
needed to be fixed. I figured with all the money
we'd have left over, he
could even do a few extra updates, such as a
complete paint job, solid-gold
door handles, and pearl inlays in a
custom, teakwood dash...
Actually, I
wasn't quite that ridiculous, but even I had forgotten how
much Pandora
likes to surprise me.
As Denny dug deeper, he began to find more and more
rust--in places
that the owner from whom I bought the car had claimed were
"replaced."
In defense of the previous owner, it may be he didn't see the
rust
behind the new rocker panels, or notice some of the other
later-discovered problems (anyone ever see the movie "Christine?"
Those guys
didn't know what was in store for them with that car,
either!)
Nevertheless, over the last six months or so Denny has been extremely
good
at gradually breaking bad news to me, and helping me to come to
grips with
what actually needs to be done to not only make the car look
good, but
actually be safe to drive!
To give you an idea of his skill in psychology,
he has actually
convinced me to allow him to change a few "Kimballisms" the
car
currently possesses. The only other person who ever accomplished that
was Mike Drew--he shamed me into taking off two large, chrome pipes I
had
sticking out of the engine compartment which I was using to
ostensibly vent
hot air from the motor. For those of you who never saw
my car in that
state, here is a rough approximation of what it looked
like:
[2]http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7100/1333/1600/22-2.jpg
After talking
things over with my wife, we've decided to increase the
restoration budget
somewhat so Denny won't be left with a
partially-completed project (on the
other hand, are any Panteras ever
actually finished??)
I won't go into
detail about all the problems Denny has
discovered--such as rocker-panel
rust, floor rust, B-pillar rust,
engine-bay rust, frame rust (he had to
fabricate an entire section
above the left-rear wheel), the engine problems,
etc. etc. etc.
The good new? Based on what I've seen coming out of Denny's
shop, it
won't be too long until Pandora is back home, looking and running
better than ever.
Then I can resume winning all those cool trophies which
make it worth
it to sit in a little lawn chair in 95-degree weather in a
parking lot
next to a 1977 Pacer listening to an 84-year-old curmudgeon
drone on
and on about how his Uncle used to own a Pantera in the '60's and
how
odd it was that an Italian kit-car like that would have a GM motor and
be designed by John DeLorean...
Seriously, a big shout-out to Denny for his
perfectionism and patience
when dealing with a "duct-tape and
silicone-rubber" mechanic like me!
Sincerely,
Chris
References
1. http://www.finnsautorestoration.com/index.html
2.
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7100/1333/1600/22-2.jpg
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-------------- next part --------------
Wow, Chris. Sorry to hear about Pandora surprises. Sounds like the
car will be solid when it is finished, though.
Are you doing a repaint as well? If so will it be the same color? If
you painted it a different color it would be like getting a new
(different) car.
Tom
5186
-----Original Message-----
From: Christopher Kimball <chrisvkimball at msn.com>
To: Pantera list serve <detomaso at poca.com>
Sent: Mon, Aug 3, 2015 11:12 pm
Subject: [DeTomaso] Pandora update
Some of my friends have been asking the status of my '72 Pre-L which
has
been in the shop for quite some time.
I just had a long talk with Denny
Finn, he is the one who has taken on
the what-is-turning-out-to-be-a-huge
project that started out as a
routine repair to my clutch, A/C unit, and;
oh, by the way, a little
rust. (Finn's Auto
Repair
[1][1]http://www.finnsautorestoration.com/index.html)
Denny's shop is in
Oregon, which although in my neighborhood--the
Pacific Northwest--is still a
half-day's drive away. I've know Denny
for quite a number of years now, and
he is a fellow Panera owner.
Indeed; together we drove our cars to Reno for
one of the Fun Rallies.
I've been to Denny's shop a number of times, and
the last time I was
there he and his crew were working on at least two
Panteras so he he is
definitely familiar with the breed.
I've visited
several Pantera specialty shops over the years, and
Denny's work is nothing
short of amazing. I was excited to have Denny
fix the problems I was having
with Pandora, and while he was at it,
spruce up the engine compartment;
removing the stock undercoating and
giving it a fresh, new look.
My car
is named Pandora for a reason, however. No sooner had Denny
begun removing
the undercoating than he discovered what is probably the
reason my car has
always gotten such good gas mileage. In many places
there was no metal
remaining beneath the undercoating! I guess massive
rusting is one way of
reducing weight...
Not only that, he had recommended that while the engine
was out of the
car I have it checked by an engine builder he knows. In
keeping with
the "Pandora's Box" theme, there were several things wrong with
the
motor, too (disappointing, since 25,000 miles ago I had the motor
built
for a cost of almost $10,000 by a local engine builder).
Poor
Denny; when I gave him the car (he actually came and picked it up
in his
covered trailer for fee that was well below what one would
usually pay) I
gave him a budget which I was naively convinced would
cover everything that
needed to be fixed. I figured with all the money
we'd have left over, he
could even do a few extra updates, such as a
complete paint job, solid-gold
door handles, and pearl inlays in a
custom, teakwood dash...
Actually, I
wasn't quite that ridiculous, but even I had forgotten how
much Pandora
likes to surprise me.
As Denny dug deeper, he began to find more and more
rust--in places
that the owner from whom I bought the car had claimed were
"replaced."
In defense of the previous owner, it may be he didn't see the
rust
behind the new rocker panels, or notice some of the other
later-discovered problems (anyone ever see the movie "Christine?"
Those guys
didn't know what was in store for them with that car,
either!)
Nevertheless, over the last six months or so Denny has been extremely
good
at gradually breaking bad news to me, and helping me to come to
grips with
what actually needs to be done to not only make the car look
good, but
actually be safe to drive!
To give you an idea of his skill in psychology,
he has actually
convinced me to allow him to change a few "Kimballisms" the
car
currently possesses. The only other person who ever accomplished that
was Mike Drew--he shamed me into taking off two large, chrome pipes I
had
sticking out of the engine compartment which I was using to
ostensibly vent
hot air from the motor. For those of you who never saw
my car in that
state, here is a rough approximation of what it looked
like:
[2][2]http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7100/1333/1600/22-2.jpg
After talking
things over with my wife, we've decided to increase the
restoration budget
somewhat so Denny won't be left with a
partially-completed project (on the
other hand, are any Panteras ever
actually finished??)
I won't go into
detail about all the problems Denny has
discovered--such as rocker-panel
rust, floor rust, B-pillar rust,
engine-bay rust, frame rust (he had to
fabricate an entire section
above the left-rear wheel), the engine problems,
etc. etc. etc.
The good new? Based on what I've seen coming out of Denny's
shop, it
won't be too long until Pandora is back home, looking and running
better than ever.
Then I can resume winning all those cool trophies which
make it worth
it to sit in a little lawn chair in 95-degree weather in a
parking lot
next to a 1977 Pacer listening to an 84-year-old curmudgeon
drone on
and on about how his Uncle used to own a Pantera in the '60's and
how
odd it was that an Italian kit-car like that would have a GM motor and
be designed by John DeLorean...
Seriously, a big shout-out to Denny for his
perfectionism and patience
when dealing with a "duct-tape and
silicone-rubber" mechanic like me!
Sincerely,
Chris
References
1. [3]http://www.finnsautorestoration.com/index.html
2.
[4]http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7100/1333/1600/22-2.jpg
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References
1. http://www.finnsautorestoration.com/index.html
2. http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7100/1333/1600/22-2.jpg
3. http://www.finnsautorestoration.com/index.html
4. http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7100/1333/1600/22-2.jpg
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