DeTomaso Mailing List: September 99, Message #171

Rick Rote:

>Still, if you are not looking for gobs of horsepower and torque, do you 
think a
small block would be a good choice for a Pantera?  Have you ever heard of 
anyone
doing it?? Problems like bell housings??  Just curious....

>>>Charlie Puckett has been running a more-or-less stock 5.0 Mustang motor in 
his Pantera for years (more of a $$$ consideration initially, but he likes 
the lighter weight and willingness to rev.)  It bolts right up to the ZF.  He 
uses standard Mustang headers flipped over (runs the right header on the left 
side, and vice versa) leading to high tailpipes (set up like a ski boat 
instead of a car!)

BTW, I ran into Charlie and Ed Kornegay cruising the pits at the Nor-Cal 
Shelby Club's Mini-Nats (sort of a Vegas style convention, with over 200 
cars, and about 90% of them are used on the TRACK!)  Ed was sporting his new 
(to him) Acura NSX!  He was a threat on the track with a lousy Miata--he will 
be a true force to contend with next year with an NSX!  It's got a trick 
exhaust and is the first one I've ever seen that actually sounds worth 
listening to--Hennessey exhaust system it was....

Also BTW, I saw the latest (newer than the one at this year's Concours 
Italiano) DeTomaso Mangusta just sitting there in the pits.  Turns out that 
Qvale purchased famous race outfit Huffaker Engineering (builders of Ford 
Trans-Am cars among other things) several years ago, and Huffaker is in 
charge of sorting out/dialing in the new Mangusta.  So they have a mule at 
the shop that's been beat upon/hacked/broken/fixed innumerable times.

This car is the first I've seen to sport the 'new' rear end (got rid of that 
stupid and dated Gandini weird rear wheelwell treatment in exchange for a 
conventional, standard curved arch.)  They had a new 320 hp motor for it 
sitting on a pallet ready to go in next weekend.  It had a nicer interior, 
but they told me the 'production' car will have a brand-new interior that's 
considerably better than this one.  They also talked about the new nose 
coming on the production cars, but couldn't give any specifics...

Mike