[DeTomaso] We have lost another one…Wally Baldyga RIP

Tue Apr 4 13:27:46 EDT 2023

 Hi All,

Sad news for sure .

I visited Wally a few years back when I needed parts for my car . When I arrived there were at least 6 panteras on the walls of the barn . Parts everywhere !

Wally was a great guy and told me countless stories. I especially loved the story about how he beat the living daylights out of the Ferrari race team at Pocono. He told me the next day they were afraid to come out and compete against his Yellow Pantera . He brought his car to our first event in Saratoga about 6 years ago. What a car ! Stripped of all excess weight . Made to Fly !

RIP my friend !

Bob Levitt
Team Pantera of Long Island President
516-695-0854

     On Tuesday, April 4, 2023, 12:08:28 PM GMT-5, Mike & Elizabeth <mbefthomas2 at gmail.com> wrote:  

 Thanks Mike.  Sad to hear.  I watched the YouTube when it came out a while back and enjoyed it very much.
Mike Thomas
Panteras Northwest

-----Original Message-----
From: DeTomaso <detomaso-bounces at server.detomasolist.com> On Behalf Of MIKE DREW via DeTomaso
Sent: Tuesday, April 4, 2023 9:32 AM
To: De Tomaso Forum <detomaso at server.detomasolist.com>
Subject: [DeTomaso] We have lost another one…Wally Baldyga RIP

  All,

  I just got a call from Gary Archambault in Massachusetts. We have lost
  another key member of the community. Wally Baldyga was pretty much the
  epicenter of the Pantera community in the northeast. He was one of the
  founding members of PONE, the Pantera Owners of the NorthEast chapter
  of POCA.  Although his day job was as unglamorous as it gets (he owned
  a septic service  company), as a side hustle he worked on Panteras.

  When Ford got out of the Pantera game in the 1970s, famously the former
  Kirby vacuum cleaner salesman Gary Hall ran around and bought up the
  spare parts inventories of every Ford dealership in the went, and Hall
  Pantera was born. What few people know is that Wally did the same thing
  on the east coast. He lived on a spectacular farm in Windsor Locks, CT,
  near Hartford, with his home and some barns dating from before the
  revolution. He had additional barns built and they were all stuffed to
  bursting with NOS Pantera parts. He knew an awful lot about these cars,
  and he restored quite a few of them, under the aegis of his business he
  called De Tomaso Performance.

  Perhaps the most famous of them was the PONE express, a Group 4 race
  car built with all-volunteer labor among the various members of the
  club. Together they resurrected a car which had been completely burned
  in a garage fire, and turned it into one of the fastest Panteras in the
  world. It routinely exceeded 200 mph at Pocono raceway and was actively
  vintage raced by Gary Archambault for years.  It was featured on
  YouTube a couple of years ago when it was sold:

  maxresdefault.jpg
  [1]I Found the World's FASTEST Pantera!
  [2]youtu.be
  Wally had sold off all his other cars, and parts to Steve Wilkinson a
  few years ago.

  Wally's farm served as the epicenter for club social gatherings, and
  the joint Pantera/Shelby club BBQs he hosted each year saw people
  coming from all the adjoining states to gather together.

  He has been suffering from both colon and prostrate cancer for many
  years and finally succumbed yesterday.

  He will be forever missed....

  Mike
  Sent from my iPad

References

  Visible links
  1. https://youtu.be/V21LekTaD58
  2. https://youtu.be/V21LekTaD58

  Hidden links:
  4. https://youtu.be/V21LekTaD58

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-------------- next part --------------
    Hi All,
   Sad news for sure .
   I visited Wally a few years back when I needed parts for my car . When
   I arrived there were at least 6 panteras on the walls of the barn .
   Parts everywhere !
   Wally was a great guy and told me countless stories. I especially loved
   the story about how he beat the living daylights out of the Ferrari
   race team at Pocono. He told me the next day they were afraid to come
   out and compete against his Yellow Pantera . He brought his car to our
   first event in Saratoga about 6 years ago. What a car ! Stripped of all
   excess weight . Made to Fly !
   RIP my friend !
   Bob Levitt
   Team Pantera of Long Island President
   516-695-0854

   On Tuesday, April 4, 2023, 12:08:28 PM GMT-5, Mike & Elizabeth
   <mbefthomas2 at gmail.com> wrote:
   Thanks Mike.  Sad to hear.  I watched the YouTube when it came out a
   while back and enjoyed it very much.
   Mike Thomas
   Panteras Northwest
   -----Original Message-----
   From: DeTomaso <[1]detomaso-bounces at server.detomasolist.com> On Behalf
   Of MIKE DREW via DeTomaso
   Sent: Tuesday, April 4, 2023 9:32 AM
   To: De Tomaso Forum <[2]detomaso at server.detomasolist.com>
   Subject: [DeTomaso] We have lost another onea|Wally Baldyga RIP
     All,
     I just got a call from Gary Archambault in Massachusetts. We have
   lost
     another key member of the community. Wally Baldyga was pretty much
   the
     epicenter of the Pantera community in the northeast. He was one of
   the
     founding members of PONE, the Pantera Owners of the NorthEast chapter
     of POCA.  Although his day job was as unglamorous as it gets (he
   owned
     a septic service  company), as a side hustle he worked on Panteras.
     When Ford got out of the Pantera game in the 1970s, famously the
   former
     Kirby vacuum cleaner salesman Gary Hall ran around and bought up the
     spare parts inventories of every Ford dealership in the went, and
   Hall
     Pantera was born. What few people know is that Wally did the same
   thing
     on the east coast. He lived on a spectacular farm in Windsor Locks,
   CT,
     near Hartford, with his home and some barns dating from before the
     revolution. He had additional barns built and they were all stuffed
   to
     bursting with NOS Pantera parts. He knew an awful lot about these
   cars,
     and he restored quite a few of them, under the aegis of his business
   he
     called De Tomaso Performance.
     Perhaps the most famous of them was the PONE express, a Group 4 race
     car built with all-volunteer labor among the various members of the
     club. Together they resurrected a car which had been completely
   burned
     in a garage fire, and turned it into one of the fastest Panteras in
   the
     world. It routinely exceeded 200 mph at Pocono raceway and was
   actively
     vintage raced by Gary Archambault for years.  It was featured on
     YouTube a couple of years ago when it was sold:
     maxresdefault.jpg
     [1]I Found the World's FASTEST Pantera!
     [2]youtu.be
     Wally had sold off all his other cars, and parts to Steve Wilkinson a
     few years ago.
     Wally's farm served as the epicenter for club social gatherings, and
     the joint Pantera/Shelby club BBQs he hosted each year saw people
     coming from all the adjoining states to gather together.
     He has been suffering from both colon and prostrate cancer for many
     years and finally succumbed yesterday.
     He will be forever missed....
     Mike
     Sent from my iPad
   References
     Visible links
     1. [3]https://youtu.be/V21LekTaD58
     2. [4]https://youtu.be/V21LekTaD58
     Hidden links:
     4. [5]https://youtu.be/V21LekTaD58
   _______________________________________________
   Detomaso Email List is not managed by POCA
   Posted emails must not exceed 1.5 Megabytes
   DeTomaso mailing list
   [6]DeTomaso at server.detomasolist.com
   [7]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.

References

   1. mailto:detomaso-bounces at server.detomasolist.com
   2. mailto:detomaso at server.detomasolist.com
   3. https://youtu.be/V21LekTaD58
   4. https://youtu.be/V21LekTaD58
   5. https://youtu.be/V21LekTaD58
   6. mailto:DeTomaso at server.detomasolist.com
   7. http://server.detomasolist.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso
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