DeTomaso Mailing List: February 2001, Message #152

Matt Bradley wrote:

Did anyone happen to catch last night, or seen before, the VH1 Behind the
Music on Motley Crue? -snip-

This from Shane Ingate a couple years ago (I archived it because I thought it was interesting):

All,

I know this one has been beaten to death, but I was watching
a program on the history of Motley Crue, and there was a lengthy
interview with Vince Neil about his Pantera accident.

Yeah, Dudes, this is about cars, not big hair groups or air guitars :)

Before I get into a detailed account, Vince's Pantera was a 1972 model, 
though it was not stock.  It was an orange-red color, with hood vents, and 
the wheels were not stock Campys; rather they looked
like the Minilite look-a-likes that often graced TransAm
Mustangs in the last 60s.  The Pantera was hit hard on the
right hand side, killing Vinces passenger.  As they were coming from
a party on a beer run, you know they were not wearing seatbelts.

Dec 8, 1984 marked the first day of USA National Drunk Driving Awareness 
Week. Vince and a friend drive in his red `72 Ford Pantera
from his house in Redondo Beach and head to the bottle shop to get
some more alcohol for the 3rd or 4th day of a party he was hosting at his 
home, when at 6.38pm and about 4 blocks from his home, his car skids out of 
control in a wet spot after swerving around a stationery fire truck, doing 
65mph in a 25mph zone. The car then headed into oncoming traffic along the 
beachfront Esplanade northbound lane and smasheed into the passenger's side 
of the only oncoming vehicle, a white VW beetle driven by Lisa Hogan (18). 
Her passenger Daniel Smithers (20) is injured and Vince's friend and 
passenger Nicholas `Razzle' Dingley (24), drummer from `Hanoi Rocks' is 
pronounced dead on arrival at Redondo's South Bay Hospital at 7.12pm after 
receiving severe head injuries. Hanoi Rocks had been on their first US tour 
from Finland for a month, supporting their `Two Steps From The Move' album. 
Vince is dazed with cracked ribs and minor facial cuts when the ambulance 
arrives. When Tommy Lee arrives at the scene, he sees Vince sitting on the 
kerb with his head in his hands, and also sees Razzle's Converse sneaker in 
the middle of the road. Lisa Hogan is rushed in critical condition to the 
intensive care unit of Little Company of Mary Hospital where she remains in 
a coma until the end of the month, with a broken arm and two broken legs. 
Her head injury leaves her liable to fly into psychomotor seizures as a 
result of some brain damage. Daniel Smithers is taken to South Bay Hospital 
suffering a broken leg and some brain damage. The driver of a third car 
involved is uninjured. Vince's blood alcohol level is 0.17, well above the 
legal limit of 0.10 (and you know darn well that alcohol was not the only 
foreign substance in his veins). He is taken by Police to nearby city of 
Torrance, due to Redondo's jail being given it's yearly painting. He is 
booked for investigation of two charges. After posting approximately $2,500 
bail, he is released.

Neil was charged with vehicular manslaughter on Jan 9, 1985, and
released on probation for $2,500 bail.  It took until 20 Sept before
his case went to court, where he was convicted and sentenced to 30 days.  
Note that Neil had previously be convicted on DUIs.  Expensive
lawyers got him off easy.

For killing a Pantera?  Sheesh.

Shane


Charlie McCall 
1972 DeTomaso Pantera Pre-L #3847 (for sale)
1985 Pantera GT5-S #9375
"Raising Pantera Awareness across Europe"
http://briefcase.yahoo.com/gt5s_1985