DeTomaso Mailing List: November 99, Message #181

Hi:
Just wanted to make a quick report of the Moonstone "run" that occurred
in my neck of the woods. Although I wasn't a participant, I was there
cheering on our guys (and gals) at the Cayucos car show.

First off, after waking up early AM, I went to Cayucos hoping to catch a
glimpse of our favorite cars. No dice ('cept on the mirrors of the rods
around there-pun intended).  But the usual hot rods and muscle cars and
other special interest vehicles were already lining the streets. Gosh,
sounded good with all that Americal muscle thra-rumping on that coastal
street. First "outlaw" Ford performance vehicle I saw was this retired
police officer's 1965 Sunbeam Tiger. Really a well done "restoration".
For a moment, I stopped and chatted with the couple and spoke about my
own "outlaw" Ford vehicle. Later on, a Shelby Cobra replica vehicle
maneuvered in next to the Tigger. I later queried the man about his
project. Interesting "title-ing" he had to endure before the State of
California would license his vehicle. What a yarn he spun! All because
it started out with the 390FE T-bird engine he shoehorned into that
Cobra kit car. In any event, it looked  sweet.

I kept perusing the street and gawking at all the cars. Three T-buckets
arrived about the time I went to the far end of the show. Lots and lots
of high-boy style rods with the usual Chebby mouse-blocks inside. A
sprinkling of Mustangs and a nice looking GT-350H replica was on hand.
Also, there were the usual Corvettes. Got to talking with this cute
looking red-head and her 396 powered 65 (?) red Corvette Convertible. A
nice 70 Chevelle was parked right across her sporting the same fat block
displacement mill. Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention a guy with his
really cool stock 1969 Boss 429 Mustang. I got to talking with him. He
got  it in 1973 for $1800 as about that time, I guess the gas crunch and
problems we're beginning. What a catch.

So, after looking, chattering with other folks about there cars (and
gathering info needed for my own car on the generic muscle related
accessories), two red Pantera's started into the fray. Yeah, finally! It
turned out to be a guy by the name of Ray and his wife driving a track
modified '72 and a relatively stock '73 cat respectively. I "introduced"
myself kinda like I didn't know what the cars were, etc. I queried Ray
for a good five minutes before I "unmasked" myself as owner #2428. After
a while, Dave Adler (of PI Fame) showed up in his Longchamp (sans Linda
or Paige). So the count was up to 3 Detomaso cars. Dave looked oddly
familiar. Then it hit me: I met him back about 1989 during one of the
Vintage Monterey Historic Races. He had his Longchamp there and that was
also the point of our conversation.

As time progress, I also started to patrol up and down the area for more
displays. Although I like to say I'm not a Chevy fan, I have to admit
there were some sweet looking Chevelles, Camaros, and other Bowtie boats
that really caught my eye. Again you can hear the rumbling of that
familiar 351 Cleveland sound. I knew it was the rest of the gang.
Although you couldn't see them (because the low profile was hidden by
the crowd), that was a near givaway that it was our guys. Sure enough,
the in the Pac was Jack DeRyke (or was it Joe from Santa Cruz in his
Black GT5?). Anyways, more P-cars were coming in: I finally caught up
with Forest, and met Don Goznell (more on that later). Immediately, a
lot of folks were beginning to cluster around the cars. I met up with
some folks who were working at the local National Guard "MATES" shop and
chatted with them about the Pantera. Apparently, they were pretty
impressed with all that nasty looking horsepower in the car. Between
Ray's fuel injected mill, Joe's nitroused block, and Forest's twin
blowered monster, you can see a sense of awe in these folks eyes!

Well, Forest let me "use" his car to profile that lower door jamb area
where my car was rusted. I needed to take some pictures and make
measurements on how that curve should look. As I sat a quarter down in
that area, that nice looking red head came up again and noticed I was
taking photographs and making traces of that corner. She commented "I
can appreciate someone who takes the time to go over details on the
car". I looked at her and kinda grinned (yeah, baby!).

Later on, I got to talking with Don Goznell, owner of a white 73. Seems
like he was retired from the place I work at (with LMA). I spat off a
few names and he nodded. He knew ALL of them. There is even a fellow who
use to own a Pantera that knows Don. In any event, we exchanged numbers
(as he has that hub tool) and since he's local, maybe we can put
together a tech session of our own with some of the other Pantera owners
in the immediate area (POCC? Ohhh, I hope so).

In any event, she left and I got all the necessary data down. Dave was
handing out more PI cards and such as there were some folks really
interested in the cars.

About that time, I had to depart, shook hands with the bunch and
departed. I had to go to some ho-hum National Guard ball. But it was
fun! I hope to be an active part of this crowd NEXT YEAR! Cal #2428r.