[DeTomaso] One-car Fun Rally

Mike Drew MikeLDrew at aol.com
Sat Apr 25 12:59:46 EDT 2020


All,

It’s easy to forget that right now is when the POCA Fun Rally was supposed to be happening. Lori and I got married there in 2013 and each year we celebrate our anniversary with you. This year we were shut out, stuck with a stay-at-home order. 

However our cars are considered an extension of our homes. And coincidentally, auto repair shops are allowed to stay open and do business. A thought occurred to me Thursday—Lori’s Pantera is virtually perfect apart from a bouncing speedo needle due to a bad cable. The only source for a new cable is a Pantera shop. The nearest shop is Pantera Parts Connection in Nevada. 

Perfect!

So yesterday she backed the car out of the garage:

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And we set off. We could easily have taken freeways and major roads and been there relatively quickly, but that isn’t what these cars are for. So instead we made our way to Hwy 88, one of the finest roads I have ever been on in my life. It is every bit as good, in all respects, as anything I have seen in the Swiss Alps or Italian Dolomites. We made our way up towards the 8500-foot summit as the sinewy road turned this way and that, stopping for a moment alongside a frozen lake:

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Eventually we dropped down into Nevada’s high desert.  We stopped at a Scottish restaurant for lunch, known for their specialty, the ‘Big Mac’. 

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We then rolled into Carson City and Pantera Parts Connection. 

We dutifully donned our masks and entered, to be greeted by people who seemingly didn’t understand why we were doing so? Apparently Covid19 doesn’t exist there. We spent some time being shown around, admiring all the new projects Larry is working on (having a new CNC machine, he’s clearly itching to remake parts no longer available through conventional means, and has been doing a bunch of that lately), and Larry spotted a low tire and kindly provided a shot of air to get us home. (The Logo valve stem caps have a rubber O-ring inside which sometimes catches the valve stem and slowly lets the air out!)

We got our speedo cable, Lori posed six feet from Larry next to Kent and Sandi Snyder’s Pantera (but her eyes were closed in the photo so I can’t share it), and then it was time to go.

We left relatively quickly, and deliberately took the wrong direction towards home, back over Hwy 88. It was my turn the wheel. We intended to turn onto a smaller road to cut over to Hwy 50, but the turnoff was unmarked so we missed it, and later turned onto what was little more than a paved goat track, driving for miles in 2nd gear, passing through some very remote hamlets until getting onto Hwy 49. 

That’s a neat road too, so we crossed Hwy 50 and continued north until we reached I-80 and darkness fell, at which point we begrudgingly pointed towards home. 

We arrived at home just before 9 pm, after 420 miles of Pantera fun. The car returned just under 15 mpg, and absolutely didn’t skip a beat the whole time. 

We managed to have a terrific time, see two states, and remain socially distant the whole time apart from our brief visit to PPC. We had many of the same experiences as we have had at previous Fun Rallies, to include driving on terrific roads, visiting Larry’s shop, seeing Kent and Sandi’s Pantera, and eating Scottish food.

It’s a shame we weren’t able to be with all of you, but it’s not too late for each of you to recreate our experiences in your own way. Grab your face masks and your road maps, jump in your Panteras and go for a celebratory drive!

Mike

Sent from my iPad


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