[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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