[DeTomaso] Earliest known Pantera

[marshall smith]

Great....I'm relieved.
--------------------------------------------
On Mon, 7/27/15, Michael Shortt <michaelsavga at gmail.com> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Earliest known Pantera
 To: "marshall smith" <marshallgsmith at sbcglobal.net>
 Cc: detomaso at poca.com, MikeLDrew at aol.com, edducati at mac.com
 Date: Monday, July 27, 2015, 11:58 AM
 
 There was no
 1000
 On Jul 27, 2015 2:47 PM,
 "marshall smith" <marshallgsmith at sbcglobal.net>
 wrote:
 If the
 first Pantera was #1000, car #1500 would be the 501st
 car.
 
 
 
 
 
 --------------------------------------------
 
 On Fri, 7/24/15, Mike Drew via DeTomaso <detomaso at poca.com>
 wrote:
 
 
 
  Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Earliest known Pantera
 
  To: edducati at mac.com,
 michaelsavga at gmail.com
 
  Cc: detomaso at poca.com
 
  Date: Friday, July 24, 2015, 5:51 PM
 
 
 
     In a message dated
 
  7/23/15 17 58 3, edducati at mac.com
 
  writes:
 
 
 
          I called Wilkinson, they know of
 
  1001, but do not have it.
 
 
 
     >>>He told me it's owned by the
 
  widow of Ing Bertocci, and he has made
 
     arrangements to buy it (years ago) but the
 
  deal hasn't been
 
     consummated.
 
 
 
       >   He also said
 
  the crashed cars never had serial numbers, good to
 
       know.
 
 
 
     >>>But not true.  The DOT
 
  certification testing, including crash
 
     testing, was performed by an independent
 
  company, Ogden Technology
 
     Laboratories, Inc, in Fullerton CA, from
 
  September through December
 
     1970 (the crash testing may have happened
 
  later than that?).  The cars
 
     used were:
 
     1005 (red)
 
     1006 (yellow)
 
     1010 (black)
 
     1011 (green)
 
     1005 was crash-tested, and failed
 
  miserably.  Here's the video of that
 
     test:
 
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaobPuwXZbU
 
     Now, it's possible that some cars were
 
  crashed in Europe and they had
 
     no serial numbers, but I tend to doubt the
 
  likelihood of that.  For
 
     years, a car that was crashed in Europe
 
  and passed the test was kept
 
     rattling around in the Vignale factory;
 
  there are numerous photos of it
 
     in books, in a light color (yellow or
 
  white) and covered with black
 
     grid markings, with the front end all
 
  caved in.  But the cabin is in
 
     much better shape than 1005 above.
 
 
 
       >>   So
 
  theoretically,A  if you have #1500, it is the 500th
 
  Pantera.
 
       >   So mine #1660
 
  is the 660th car built ( June 71 ).
 
 
 
     >>>True dat.
 
 
 
       >>   He also
 
  confirmed that the first rectangular door handle was
 
       #1286,
 
       >   thus 1001
 
  thru #1285 were pushbuttons ( subject to Italian build
 
       order
 
       >   as we all
 
  know ).
 
 
 
     >>>Totally false.  The first
 
  US import Pantera was #1286, and it was a
 
     pushbutton.  For years it was said
 
  that the first 75 cars imported to
 
     the USA were pushbuttons, and that may
 
  well be true, but there are
 
     plenty of pushbuttons with numbers higher
 
  than (1286 + 75, = 1361).
 
     Either this is because some pushbutton
 
  cars in this range were sold in
 
     Europe, or if 100% of Pantera production
 
  at this time was coming to the
 
     USA, then the number is greater than
 
  75.  The highest known pushbutton
 
     is #1383, and the earliest known square
 
  doorhandle car is #1387.  So
 
     the changeover happened somewhere in
 
  there....
 
     Mike
 
     P.S.  Although there is no longer a
 
  business called Ogden Labs, on a
 
     whim I just called the phone number listed
 
  for them in the original
 
     testing report.  To my amazement, a
 
  woman answered and told me that
 
     they were still in the same location,
 
  still doing DOT-type testing, but
 
     the business had a different name. 
 
  What's more, the woman speaking to
 
     me had been working there back when the
 
  Panteras were tested!  She had
 
     some fun stories to tell.  Apparently
 
  they LOVED it when the Pantera
 
     contract came to them, as they would take
 
  the cars out on the road to
 
     go to lunch etc. and they turned a LOT of
 
  heads.
 
     Unfortunately, they no longer have any of
 
  the records from those
 
     days--it all went to the landfill years
 
  ago.  I'm glad I have what I
 
     have, although it's very incomplete.
 
     Fun stuff!
 
 
 
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