[DeTomaso] Bullfrog Blues

[Joseph F. Byrd, Jr.]

It looks like the passenger side base has a crack also at the base of the trunion.
"After the fact" engineering... it looks like the lug should be cast 90 degrees different to prevent the windage from stressing on the machined trunion face


-----Original Message-----
From: DeTomaso [mailto:detomaso-bounces at poca.com] On Behalf Of John Taphorn
Sent: Sunday, August 16, 2015 19:03 PM
To: De Tomaso List
Subject: [DeTomaso] Bullfrog Blues

My son and I took the Bullfrog , my green Pantera, for a drive to Texas World Speedway today.  Rob Pink was running his 240z at the track and we thought we would spectate.  About 1 mile from the track, the highway narrows and I thought it unlikely the local gendarmes would be on this section as the shoulders are narrow with no safe place to pull over or park with a radar gun.

The speed limit is 75 so I hammered the throttle. I not absolutely certain of the velocity, and it may be foolish to disclose on a public forum, however, it was well into triple digits and fast enough to blow off my drivers side Vitaloni mirror.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw it twist. I quickly released the throttle, yet too late as it separated from the Pantera.  Fortunately, it did not smack up against the car.

I assumed that I had carelessly allowed the set screw to loosen that holds the assembly to the bracket attached to the car.  Those personal errors make me upset.  When we arrived at the track I had an opportunity to better inspect the problem. To my surprise, the mounting pieces were all still in place and tight.  Rather, the aluminum casting surrendered to the air onslaught.  This is rather bazaar.  See the attached pics to compare with the passenger side mirror.

I did not recover the actual mirror.  I could not pull over for over a
.5 mile down the road and it was not a safe section of highway to walk.  
I can't imagine that there was much left of the mirror tumbling down the pavement at that speed.  I had a lot of time spent prepping that piece for paint - oh well.  Perhaps, I had the bad draw of a poor casting.  
Has anyone else suffered this fate with the Vitaloni.

Now, I need to find another matching mirror and convince myself that I had a bad aluminum casting.  Maybe I just need to slow down.  I was channeling Art Stephens.

Dave Hall, what mirror do you have on Limezotica? Those were awesome.

JT


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