[DeTomaso] Door Handle Story
Bobbykart
bobbykart at gmail.com
Mon Feb 23 21:13:10 EST 2015
Cool, sometimes it's the small details that give the biggest grin
Bobby
Sent from my iPad
> On Feb 23, 2015, at 5:57 PM, Sean Keane <jskeane6 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi,
> I finished up a little repair on my 1974 L-model recently, and felt the
> writing bug. I hope what follows is enjoyable for you to read.
> _______________________________________________________________________
>
> Today, I walked past my 1974 DeTomaso Pantera in the garage, looked at
> the driver's side door handle, and smiled.
>
> I've never looked at a door handle on any other car I've owned and
> smiled, so what was different about this car?
>
> The Pantera is an interesting breed. It's the original "hybrid" car,
> but instead of being a hybrid of mechanical and electrical components,
> like the hybrid cars of today, it's a hybrid of Italian supercars and
> American muscle cars. That's a heady mixture, as any Pantera owner will
> attest.
>
> So why did a door handle make me smile? A 40-year-old car develops all
> sorts of ailments that the original engineers probably never even
> dreamed of. On my Pantera, the ailment in question was a tendency for
> the driver's side exterior door handle to lift up from the body as the
> door handle was being used. It was to the point where I think a good
> firm tug on the handle might have ripped it from the car altogether.
> Easily ripping pieces from the vehicle doesn't exactly bolster its
> reputation.
>
> Like many Pantera owners, I might not be willing to tackle a complete
> ZF Transaxle rebuild, but I'm willing to have a go at simple repairs.
> Removing the door panel and extracting the exterior handle was
> remarkably easy, and immediately revealed the problem: a plastic piece
> on the interior portion of the handle had broken. Instead of two screws
> holding the door handle in place, only one was doing so, and that
> allowed the handle to pivot up and away from the door. The cause was
> obvious; now, for the fix.
>
> One of the wonderful attributes of the Pantera is that enough of them
> were made that there is a thriving aftermarket for Pantera parts. Many
> of these parts are far cheaper than you might expect for an Italian
> supercar like a Maserati or Lamborghini. But sometimes, even the
> Pantera part gets into silly money. To replace the broken plastic
> component on my Pantera was going to cost well north of $100.
>
> So I did what a lot of other Pantera owners do: I fixed the part that
> was broken. I'd love to say that I got it right the first time, but the
> truth is, I didn't. After removing the door handle from the car (where
> I thankfully didn't break anything else while removing the part that
> was broken), I noticed that a former owner had used epoxy glue to fix
> it once already. My first attempt at a repair was to chip away the old
> epoxy, rough up the plastic to create a better bond, and use new epoxy.
> Then I subjected the part to vigorous usage of the kind that might be
> expected of a door handle, and watched the part fail again.
>
> OK, so on to plan B. This time, I used cyanoacrylate glue to bond the
> two plastic parts, and fiberglass mesh with epoxy on both sides of the
> break in the plastic. To improve the appearance, I also sanded down the
> paint on the exposed side of the handle, primed it, painted it with
> flat black paint, and finished with three coats of clear coat. This
> wasn't anything fancy, just good quality spray paint that I bought at
> the hardware store, but it was paint that I have used before and trust.
>
> This time, the fix held up to rough treatment. When I showed the part
> to my wife, she said, "Wow, that really looks professional". And it
> really did, so much so that I'll probably have to do the passenger's
> side door handle now, even thought it's not broken.
>
> When all of this was done, I put the handle back in the door and
> reassembled everything. And that's why I smiled when I looked at that
> door handle today. Because I knew that it had taken a four-decade-old
> part, and made a quality fix that will last another four decades. And
> it really did look as good as new. And this is a story repeated
> throughout the Pantera fraternity. We improve what needs improving. We
> fix what needs fixing. And we take pride in owning the
> best-damn-looking car ever made.
>
> To paraphrase a recent Dodge commercial, no one ever looked at the door
> handle of a Passat and smiled. I'm proud of the work I've done on my
> Pantera, and I'll smile every time I open that door.
> __________________________________________________________________
>
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