DeTomaso Mailing List: March 1997, Message #128
     



From: MikeLDrew@aol.com

Subject: Re: windshield

Date: Tue, 18 Mar 1997 01:10:27 -0500 (EST)



Hello, RacerX!



Good luck finding a quality windshield for only $300.  Here's the inside poop

on Pantera windshields.



Original, factory windshields are of superior quality, and cost an absolute

fortune.  First of all, they're made in Germany.  Then, they're imported into

Italy, all sorts of import duties and taxes are paid.  Then, they're imported

to the U.S.  More taxes and duties.  They're then wholesaled to the various

Pantera parts distributors, the wholesaler puts his markup on them, and by

the time the retailer puts HIS markup on them and sells them to you, they

cost...



TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS!



Gary Hall has windshields made down in Brazil somewhere I think; they're

probably okay, but I've heard they're a little thinner than stock, and may

not fit all that well.  Some of them do incorporate a radio antenna, which is

a nice feature, I guess.



Now, when Panteras were new, various U.S. glassmakers spooled up and produced

windshields assuming they'd be imported according to L-M's plans, 10,000 cars

a year.  Needless to say, far more windshields than cars were produced, and

the glassmakers took a bath.  Some of these NOS U.S. made windshields are

still floating around.



I know Larry Stock at the Pantera Parts Connection in northern California has

a wooden crate filled with windshields; the damn things are always in my way

when I'm trying to get to MY parts.  I think they're U.S. made NOS pieces.  I

have no idea what he wants for them, but I'd assume they're more than $400.

(1-800-338-6627)



There's a guy name of Wally Baldyga; he runs a very nice shadetree Pantera

operation called DeTomaso Performance in West Suffield, CT.  He had a stack

of NOS windshields stuffed away in the rafters of his barn the last time I

visited him; in fact, I won an L-model bumper from him at Las Vegas one year

and traded it for one of these windshields and fitted it to my car.  His

number: (860) 668-5690



You might want to try your local windshield shop, too.  I know Chuck Engles

managed to find a NOS windshield in Oklahoma City, and the vendor was glad to

get rid of it; I think he got his for $300, installed!  But that's the

exception, not the rule.



Good luck!