DeTomaso Mailing List: April 99, Message #38

Hi guys,

Got an e-mail just now from my buddy Bo Cheadle.  He's a big wheel in Shelby, 
Tiger, T-bird and vintage Trans Am circles, and has a garage each and every 
one of you would kill for.  Original GT-40, Cobra Daytona Coupe, 427 Cobra, 
George Follmer's factory '69 Trans Am Mustang, Bill Elliot's short track car, 
several Shelby Mustangs, several Thunderbirds, the hand-built prototype 
Sunbeam Tiger (plus several other Tigers), and a bunch of other cool stuff.

Anyway, he wrote to me:

Mike,

that pantera is sitting in my garage now tho it belongs to USC. I don't know 
zip about these but this one has sat for 12 years and looks it. my mechanic 
says it is really original however. should you want to talk to the guy from 
USC who will be handling the sale of it his name is john lambert and he can 
be reached at 925 837 6167. My mechanic got it running and my detail guy will 
be cleaning it up shortly and then we will sell it with the proceeds going to 
the university. best regards, Bo. 

>>>That's right.  This is an estate sale, the owner parked this car 12 years 
ago for whatever reason, recently died, and left all his property to the 
University of Southern California, including the Pantera.  Bo is on their 
board of trustees or something, and since they knew he was a Car Guy, they 
figured he'd be the best guy to get the car fixed up and ready to sell.

Dunno anything about the car (yet) other than what you've read above, but I 
suspect the asking price is "well, what do you want to give me for it?"  With 
all proceeds going to the university, it might even be a tax-deductible 
contribution, just in time for April 15th!

And no, this is NOT an April Fool's joke!

This smells like an outstanding opportunity for an Asa Jay character or 
similar.  I'm planning on going down and visiting Bo ASAP and checking out 
this rig carefully--will then issue a full report!

Mike