[DeTomaso] Dennis Fugnetti RIP...

[Mike Drew]

All,

Those who were around in the 80s may remember the name Dennis Fugnetti.  He was a well-known fine arts automotive photographer in Southern California, who owned an exquisite twin-turbo Pantera. He produced several posters featuring his car (one inexplicably including stylized representations of a polished Mangusta wheel?), and his car was featured on the cover and inside the first really fine book on the marque, Panteras For The Road by Henry Rasmussen:



Jeff Maxwell informed me the other day that Dennis has passed away. His business lives on, shared with his daughter:

https://www.fugnettiimages.com/page/about2

I only met him once, at Concorso Italiano long after he sold his Pantera. He was much younger than I was expecting him to be, not all that much older than me. He was also extremely friendly and personable. My condolences to his family for what has to have been an untimely passing. :(

I once found his old Pantera rotting at a used car lot in Monterey, sitting outdoors. This was in the early 1990s. The beautiful polished engine looked like crap as the elements had taken their toll—everything was corroded.  I took it for a test drive and it ran like crap too.  The turbos weren’t dialed in so it ran terribly, then spectacularly overheated and blew its water all over the place. We barely made it back to the dealer.  It had been a fine car when he owned it, so it’s sad the subsequent owner or owners really let it fall apart. 

It was later bought by a Silicon Valley guy who retrofitted a standard motor, then quickly tired of it and sold it to buy a Ferrari 308 from the divorcing Lee Majors and Farrah Fawcett-Majors. I then lost touch with it. I think it’s still floating around in So-Cal?

Spare Dennis a thought each time you admire his timeless poster, which many, many of us have hanging on our walls.....

Mike

Sent from my iPad
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   All,

   Those who were around in the 80s may remember the name Dennis Fugnetti.
    He was a well-known fine arts automotive photographer in Southern
   California, who owned an exquisite twin-turbo Pantera. He produced
   several posters featuring his car (one inexplicably including stylized
   representations of a polished Mangusta wheel?), and his car was
   featured on the cover and inside the first really fine book on the
   marque, Panteras For The Road by Henry Rasmussen:

   [cid:ABB23469-668F-4040-BBCB-D55370791076-L0-001]
   [cid:C26B6DC1-4F99-4A95-8849-A4C416ACC38F-L0-001]
   [cid:EAC00BF7-F951-40B3-AAD5-1FBB3B1C97F3-L0-001]
   [cid:7CF1991B-0F9C-4ED5-BB89-DD0E5954A82F-L0-001]

   Jeff Maxwell informed me the other day that Dennis has passed away. His
   business lives on, shared with his daughter:

   [1]https://www.fugnettiimages.com/page/about2

   I only met him once, at Concorso Italiano long after he sold his
   Pantera. He was much younger than I was expecting him to be, not all
   that much older than me. He was also extremely friendly and personable.
   My condolences to his family for what has to have been an untimely
   passing. :(

   I once found his old Pantera rotting at a used car lot in Monterey,
   sitting outdoors. This was in the early 1990s. The beautiful polished
   engine looked like crap as the elements had taken their
   toll--everything was corroded.  I took it for a test drive and it ran
   like crap too.  The turbos weren't dialed in so it ran terribly, then
   spectacularly overheated and blew its water all over the place. We
   barely made it back to the dealer.  It had been a fine car when he
   owned it, so it's sad the subsequent owner or owners really let it fall
   apart.

   It was later bought by a Silicon Valley guy who retrofitted a standard
   motor, then quickly tired of it and sold it to buy a Ferrari 308 from
   the divorcing Lee Majors and Farrah Fawcett-Majors. I then lost touch
   with it. I think it's still floating around in So-Cal?

   Spare Dennis a thought each time you admire his timeless poster, which
   many, many of us have hanging on our walls.....

   Mike
   Sent from my iPad

References

   1. https://www.fugnettiimages.com/page/about2
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