DeTomaso Mailing List: April 2000, Message #187

Nice stuff, Mike. It's interesting to see what other toys there are out there and
the garages that they are kept in.  I've got a garage remodeling program on now,
forced to straighten things out so I can find the tools to work on the car! Sound
familiar to anyone?
  Anyone else have any interesting garage/ car shots? Might make a nice thread
for the web.  Al.


MikeLDrew@aol.com wrote:

> Hi guys,
>
> Today I spent some good Quality Time wrenching on various projects.  I
> conducted the obligatory Creeper Tour underneath my GT-350 in preparation for
> a two-day open track at Thunderhill Raceway this weekend
> (http://www.thunderhill.com/ if you're interested), and also installed a new
> front sway bar.  To give myself some elbow room I backed the other cars into
> the driveway, and since some (many?) of you seem to doubt that my Pantera
> really exists, I figured I'd shoot a photo:
>
> http://members.aol.com/mikeldrew/DrewPantera.JPG
>
> Notice the somewhat odd and non-shiny finish.  It's difficult for me to see
> what color this car really is because it's underneath a fairly comprensive
> protective coating of DIRT, but nevertheless I think it's a bit off from the
> desired hue.  So I'm not exactly brokenhearted at the prospect of shooting
> another top coat in the near future.
>
> For those that were curious, this photo illustrates what a car looks like
> wearing 205/60 and 235/60 tires.  Also note the exhaust pipes; the tips are
> NOT chrome, but instead are Jet-Hot silver.  The entire system was coated in
> silver, then the tailpipes and mufflers were coated in black, leaving the
> ends silver to simulate the chrome that had gone before.  This was a goof-up
> too--the guy who sent them in to be coated forgot to tell them to mask the
> chrome! :>)  Still, it looks perfectly good.
>
> Also note that the car is wearing L-model wheels.  The front wheels are
> actually the fifth varient while the rear wheels are the fourth variant--the
> differences are probably too subtle to be seen in this photograph however.
> The side marker lights have been dispensed with and replaced with the Euro
> GTS side marker dot in the front.
>
> That chrome door latch still bugs me--that will get blacked out when the car
> is at the paint shop.
>
> Here's a view of the whole garage:
>
> http://members.aol.com/mikeldrew/DrewGarage.JPG
>
> Due to the sharp contrast between the sunlight and the shadows inside, the
> GT-350 is hard to see, and the three motorcycles are barely visible....
>
> Afterwards I tore into the Pantera steering rack but got absolutely nowhere.
> When I assembled it, I peened the hell out of the locking ring to make sure
> it wouldn't go anywhere.  Too bad I had failed to tighten the tie rod before
> doing so!  Now there's too much junk in the way and I can't un-peen the ring
> where it locks into the tie rod, and they're jammed together tightly enough
> that they won't turn together.  Tomorrow I'll probably try to buy some sort
> of excellent prying tool, but I can already envision this entire steering
> rack coming out of the car AGAIN.......:<(
>
> Mike