DeTomaso Mailing List: October 98, Message #158

Hi guys,

Well, seems like the guys who phoned Mario Perna of Pantera East last week
finally woke him up!  He phoned me the other day, asking to run an ad in
PROFILES (Marino has traditionally not advertised his many and varied products
developed for the Pantera, for reasons unknown to anyone!)

Anyway, Marino found himself intrigued by the whole Campy lookalike
phenomenon.  He loves Wilkinson's wheels, but thinks they're overpriced, and
also takes issue with supposed liberties to the original design taken by
Steve.  So, being that he can, he has decided to produce his OWN Campy-style
wheels.

He says these are NOT the same as Steves, and tells me that they'll be more in
keeping with the original proportions (what that means I don't know.)
Initially, they will be offered in 17-inch diameter with appropriate widths
and backspacing.

I mentioned to him my highly religious opinion that 17-inch Campy wheels look
terrible up front, when compared to 16-inch variants, and he AGREED with me,
but stated that all the customers he's pitched the idea to dismiss 16-inchers
and demand 17-inch up front, regardless.  His personal opinion is the same as
mine, that 17-inch centers make for too much wheel and not enough tire, and
there's not enough front fender material to visually balance things.

But he is working with certain pragmatic constraints.  He has to get his
centers machined in batches of 60 minimum, and if all his customers want
17-inch, then it's tough for him to justify the financial expense of producing
30 pairs of front 16-inch wheels if nobody will buy them!  As it is, he can
produce 15 sets of 17-inch wheels and see what happens.

He did tell me, "Find me 30 customers that will buy the 16-inchers and I'll be
glad to make 'em!"  

Best part about all this is the price.  He tells me he'll be retailing them
for $2200 for the set of four, considerably less than Wilkinson's currently
getting.  I can't speak about their relative quality, but know that everything
else he produces is tip-top stuff, and I wish he did a better job of letting
customers know about all the cool parts he produces.

Photos and an ad are currently enroute to me via snail-mail, but he told me
he'd e-mail me a JPEG of the bare wheels (not mounted with tires yet.)  That
has yet to arrive, and if it doesn't get here by tomorrow, since I'm going out
of town for a week, I won't be able to send it to you.

Curt T., since your website seems to be a clearinghouse for digital images, if
you don't hear from me by tomorrow afternoon, can you phone Marino at (727)
381-1151 and have him send them to you, then post them for the rest?  (Note
his new area code, changed from (813))

Cheers!

Mike