[DeTomaso] [EXTERNAL] Re: Who in LA has the back story on this Pantera?

Sun Jun 14 11:20:34 EDT 2020

I agree with the air-dam but never pulled the trigger to install one.

I can give a first-hand testimonial concerning the lap and shoulder seat belts. They 
saved my life when I rolled my 944 Porsche in Rosarito, Mexico. My Porsche looked 
the same as Art's. Pancaked roof. 4-beer story. (think "Mexico")
You definitely want the capability of being able to lay down in that situation. 

The good news is, I bought my Pantera because of it. #7104

Terry

"A Purple Heart proves you were smart enough to hatch a plan,
 stupid enough to try it and lucky enough to survive!"

Terry W. Himes 
JPL Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Deep Space Exploration – Mission Operations

Dawn Spacecraft Team
Europa Lander Science Support Team
TGO Sequence Lead 
MEX Sequence Lead
Odyssey Sequence Team
Spitzer Space Telescope Data Team

Phone: (818) 393-6261
Cell:     (818) 653-8213
thimes at jpl.nasa.gov

On 6/13/20, 5:13 PM, "DeTomaso on behalf of Mike Drew via DeTomaso" <detomaso-bounces at server.detomasolist.com on behalf of detomaso at server.detomasolist.com> wrote:

    AJ,

    Close.

    Art was wide awake in broad daylight, zorching through the Nevada desert near the Utah border, trying to go as fast as possible. Hand-held GPS units were brand new and he was already well into the 170s in his car which was the LAST Pre-L model, #4268. (See pics in the registry). 

    Art didn’t believe in aero, and got a bit of a rush from front-end lift. At the fun rally several people tried to convince him of the need for some sort of air dam but he laughed off the idea. He said he liked the lightness of the steering above 150!

    Some short time later he was zooming along, just enjoying himself. He pulled into a convenience store at a crossroads, then set out heading for Utah. There was a pretty stiff crosswind from the left. 

    He came upon a slight rise in the road, unnoticeable at normal speed but a Big Deal at over 170 mph. Air got under the car and lifted it up and it moved sideways about four feet, putting the right wheels into the dirt shoulder. He tried to correct and the car snapped sideways and flipped onto its roof, skidding along across the road to and off the left side. It then caught dirt and flipped into the air, landing on one rear corner with the nose straight up. It flipped again and landed on the other rear corner, neatly bending the car into a V shape from the doors back, then kept flipping and rolling innumerable times.

    He eventually landed on the roof which completely collapsed. He said if he had been wearing harnesses he would have been killed, but because he was only wearing stock belts, he slipped out of the shoulder harness during the wreck and got bent sideways over the center console, then got smashed between the underside of the roof and the console. I think the car ultimately ended up sitting right side up, although several corners of the suspension had been ripped off and flung through the desert.

    Meanwhile, a family had seen him leave the convenience store, and followed a few minutes later. Up the road, they started spotting clothes and personal effects scattered all over the road.  They slowed down to navigate past all the junk when one spotted wreckage WAY out in the desert. They stopped to investigate and naturally assumed that whoever was inside was dead beyond any doubt. But Art moaned.  So they leapt into action and a helicopter was dispatched from Utah. First responders cut him out of the car and he was in shockingly good condition, all things considered. He had broken ribs and a punctured lung from the console, and a few scratches. He flew to the hospital, they patched him up and he was released only a few short days later. 

    He subsequently bought another Pantera, a red L-Model, and reportedly drove that one much more sedately!

    He is a retired Long Beach firefighter, and a hell of a nice guy! Sadly I haven’t seen or heard from him in many years now.

    So that’s the story of 4268.  I don’t know about the one in the junkyard though.  Before my time!

    Mike

    Sent from my iPad

    > On Jun 13, 2020, at 15:44, Asa Jay Laughton via DeTomaso <detomaso at server.detomasolist.com> wrote:
    > 
    >    I don't think it's Art's.A  I don't believe all the paint would be gone
    >   by now and that front tire, unless replaced after the wreck is way old.
    > 
    >   Art rolled his Pantera at high speed one night after he (believes) he
    >   fell asleep. This was some 10 years ago?
    > 
    >   Someone will link to photos shortly I'm sure.
    > 
    >   AsaA  Jay
    > 
    >   Asa Jay Laughton, W7TSC, MSgt, USAFR, retired
    > 
    >   Sent using Jedi Mind Tricks
    > 
    >   On Jun 13, 2020, at 15:21, Charles Engles <[1]cengles at cox.net> wrote:
    > 
    > Dear Forest,
    >              I seem to recall the name, but given the condition of the wreckage
    > , it begs the questions of who is Art and what happened?
    >                        Curious,  Chuck Engles
    > -----Original Message-----
    > From: DeTomaso [mailto:detomaso-bounces at server.detomasolist.com] On Behalf Of Fo
    > rest Goodhart
    > Sent: Saturday, June 13, 2020 4:37 PM
    > To: P - Mail List; Rob DuMoulin
    > Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Who in LA has the back story on this Pantera?
    > I would guess that was Art Stevens car.
    >    On Saturday, June 13, 2020, 01:56:20 PM PDT, Rob DuMoulin <rob at dumoulins.net
    >> wrote:
    > 
    >   Totaled? Yup.
    >  [1][2]https://www.automobilemag.com/news/wrecked-exotic-cars-de-tomaso-pan
    >  tera-exotic-car-wrecking-yard-los-angeles-photos-gallery/
    > References
    >  1. [3]https://www.automobilemag.com/news/wrecked-exotic-cars-de-tomaso-pantera
    > -exotic-car-wrecking-yard-los-angeles-photos-gallery/
    >  ___________________________________________________________________________
    > Detomaso Email List is not managed by POCA Posted emails must not exceed 1.5 Meg
    > abytes DeTomaso mailing list DeTomaso at server.detomasolist.com [4]http://server.d
    > etomasolist.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso
    > To manage your subscription (change email address, unsubscribe, etc.) use the li
    > nks above.
    > Members who post to this list grant license to the list to forward any message p
    > osted here to all past, current, or future members of the list. They also grant
    > the list owner permission to maintain an archive or approve the archiving of lis
    > t messages.
    >  ___________________________________________________________________________
    > Detomaso Email List is not managed by POCA
    > Posted emails must not exceed 1.5 Megabytes
    > DeTomaso mailing list
    > DeTomaso at server.detomasolist.com
    > [5]http://server.detomasolist.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso
    > To manage your subscription (change email address, unsubscribe, etc.) use the li
    > nks above.
    > Members who post to this list grant license to the list to forward any message p
    > osted here to all past, current, or future members of the list. They also grant
    > the list owner permission to maintain an archive or approve the archiving of lis
    > t messages.
    > 
    > References
    > 
    >   1. mailto:cengles at cox.net
    >   2. https://www.automobilemag.com/news/wrecked-exotic-cars-de-tomaso-pan
    >   3. https://www.automobilemag.com/news/wrecked-exotic-cars-de-tomaso-pantera-exotic-car-wrecking-yard-los-angeles-photos-gallery
    >   4. http://server.detomasolist.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso
    >   5. http://server.detomasolist.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso
    > _______________________________________________
    > 
    > 
    > Detomaso Email List is not managed by POCA
    > Posted emails must not exceed 1.5 Megabytes
    > DeTomaso mailing list
    > DeTomaso at server.detomasolist.com
    > http://server.detomasolist.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso
    > 
    > To manage your subscription (change email address, unsubscribe, etc.) use the links above.
    > 
    > Members who post to this list grant license to the list to forward any message posted here to all past, current, or future members of the list. They also grant the list owner permission to maintain an archive or approve the archiving of list messages.

    _______________________________________________

    Detomaso Email List is not managed by POCA
    Posted emails must not exceed 1.5 Megabytes
    DeTomaso mailing list
    DeTomaso at server.detomasolist.com
    http://server.detomasolist.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso

    To manage your subscription (change email address, unsubscribe, etc.) use the links above.

    Members who post to this list grant license to the list to forward any message posted here to all past, current, or future members of the list. They also grant the list owner permission to maintain an archive or approve the archiving of list messages.