[DeTomaso] Great things that have happened because of This List (many moons ago)

Gray Gregory rgg at gregorycook.com
Thu Jun 9 14:13:01 EDT 2016


Charlie,

I remember all those events, or at least your emails to the list about them back then. I also remember Forest Majors; absolutely one of the finest people you could ever hope to meet!

My Forest story is somewhat similar. Back about that same time frame I signed up for a vintage car rally in New England with an old Ferrari I had at the time. Forest (who I had never met in person either) sent me an email offer any help I might need with the logistics of dropping my car off or getting it picked back up etc. Long story short not only did I have the car shipped to Forests house where he kindly stored it in the barn he was also gracious enough to pick me up from the airport, put me up in his guest room and he even had a back yard New England lobster boil with some of the local car guys to welcome the Texan to town. I ended up doing that rally for 3 or 4 years in a row and staying with Forest and Georgene became a tradition each year I ran it.

Thanks for the memories,

Gray

-----Original Message-----
From: DeTomaso [mailto:detomaso-bounces at server.detomasolist.com] On Behalf Of Charles McCall
Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2016 9:09 AM
To: detomaso at server.detomasolist.com
Subject: [DeTomaso] Great things that have happened because of This List (many moons ago)

This morning I posted on Facebook a flashback from 1997 or 1998 - see attached photo. It's a picture of my first Pantera parked on the streets of Paris with US plates on the back and the Eiffel Tower in the background.
Thanks to Mike Drew for convincing me to have an adventure in my Pantera and ship it, as this decision opened up a whole world to me and helped define my philosophy for the next decades... The number of adventures I've had since then in a Pantera...

At the time, I had recently been transferred to France, and flew back to the US to put my former '72 Pantera on a boat to ship it over (See article in 1999 POCA Profiles about shipping a Pantera to France for what was supposed to be a 6-month assignment...)

While driving the car from Collector's Choice in Wisconsin to NY and the ship, it developed an engine problem. I was stranded on the NYS Thruway and ended up having the car towed to my parents' house in Syracuse, NY. Long story made short - I already had my return airline ticket, and had to leave the car behind. A local garage found that the problem was the dreaded distributor shear pin that had, well, sheared, and left me stranded.

Forest Majors - who I had never met (and still haven't!) but had gotten to know thanks to the e-mail fórum sent me a note out of the blue asking how he could help. I had a friend drive my car shipped to his house in CT, where Forest was kind enough to fix some minor things that he noticed along the way that were quite helpful, and stored the car for me until it could be delivered to the port. If I remember correctly, he even pulled a few parts off a spare Pantera he had to help me be on my way.

People I had never met in person - Mike Drew and Forest Majors - who each did a good deed for someone they didn't know personally either but had come to "know" virtually, asking for nothing in return.

I still see a lot of that spirit on this list today, which is no doubt one reason for its success. Thanks to all who make it so!


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