[DeTomaso] FW: Pantera rims

[Mike Drew]

Mike,

That’s Walt Villere’s car. 

Walt is quite a character. He found a red and black European GTS in a police auction about 25 years ago and bought it for (if my memory is correct) only $13k! It looked good on the left side but the right side was a bit trashed. They had left it parked outside for a year next to a chain link fence. The wind blew and the fence kept hitting the car, and jacked up the paint. 

He didn’t care. It was a scruffy driver, badly in need of a full restoration. He drove it home and immediately changed all the fluids, not having a clue how to change fluids on a Pantera. He didn’t know that you can’t just fill the water tank until it’s full and call it good. So he only filled the system about halfway. 

He lived a block from the main gate of San Quentin prison, which is actually some of the most desirable real estate around. Right on the San Francisco Bay, epic views, and in the shadow of the lightly trafficked Richmond-San Rafael bridge. That is his private test track. So he wheeled down there, got on the bridge and punched it to see how fast it would go. 

The answer is 160 mph. 

So he was zorching across the bridge at a constant 160 mph, looking straight out the windshield, not at the water temp gauge. It instantly overheated of course, then BOOM! Connecting rods came flying out of the block. Game over. 

That was his second time ever driving the car I think. 

He dragged it home and bought a ‘Street Brute’ engine from Hall Pantera, which was an enormously expensive way to get a decent quality but not overly special 351C. He then drove it like a madman for the next few years, never NOT going 160 mph at least once per drive. He put the Hall Corvette brake package in it, and hollow swaybars (a bad idea as one snapped in two during a track event—he used to do several track events each year). 

He lived in a giant run-down pile of bricks that would be worth millions when finished, but at the time was a completely abandoned building, with no windows or doors or anything inside. It used to be a hotel in the late 1800s, and had a magnificent bar in it at one time. He built a tiny apartment in the back and lived there while refurbishing the rest of the house.  He actually found the original bar which had been moved somewhere else, and bought it back I think. Eventually he needed money to continue the project so the Pantera had to go. I don’t know where it is now. 

He liked Campagnolo wheels and bought several sets over the years, equipping a couple of Mustangs with them (the subject car being one of them). Last year I found a set of wheels on Craigslist and bought them on behalf of a couple of guys who needed 8-inch wheels; the seller owed a Pantera years ago and had bought these wheels from Walt.

The Mustang itself seemed like a nice car, and Walt drove it all the time (although it at 160 mph!) :)

Mike

Sent from my iPad

> On Jul 2, 2020, at 15:49, Mike & Elizabeth <mbefthomas2 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>    Pantera Campy's spotted on a Mustang for sale on Craigslist in the SF
>   area.
> 
> 
>   From: DAVID D GOODWIN <goodwinpantera at comcast.net>
>   Sent: Thursday, July 2, 2020 2:03 PM
>   To: Mike Thomas <mbefthomas2 at gmail.com>
>   Subject: Pantera rims
> 
> 
>   I was looking at craigslist in SF and came across a set of 8" Pantera
>   rims for $600 and thought that is a great price. He has them on his
>   Mustang and they look like a good fit.
> 
> 
>   Cheers, Dave
> <MustangWheel.jpg>
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