DeTomaso Mailing List: February 2001, Message #7

Kirby Schrader uses his as a daily driver, and takes it to the track on the weekends and whips it hard. Gary Wilson put over 200,000 miles on his car. Jim Demick uses his as a family vacation-mobile and has 6-figure mileage (I think) 

>From listening to the forum, you could get the mistaken idea that everyone has nothing but problems with their cars. Remember that there are 400+ people subscribed, people typically only write in when they have a problem. So you don't have 399 people writing in saying "my car is running great, I don't need any help..." And a lot of the problems are more "tinkering", not to address a deficiency of the car but an attempt to improve performance somehow, which then becomes a project of its own. 

I drive my cars any opportunity I get, and any weekend where it isn't raining. This means frequent road-trips into areas where if I broke down I really don't know what I would do, an indication of my faith.

Like any 30-year old car, it depends on its maintenance. The only possible design flaw might be its tendency to rust... But mechanically it is not a "mechanic's special". 

Am I satisfied with my car you ask? If the cars were really so problem-prone, why would you have such fanatical devotion to them by the people on the list? Why wouldn't they have sold them and bought something less trouble-prone? I'm satisfied with mine..

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

>>> David DeTomaso <davedeto@localnet.com> 02/01/01 05:12AM >>>
Question?  Do any of you with De Tomaso Panteras actually use their cars
for a daily driver?
All I read about are problems and more problems with  their cars. Is any
one satisfied with their
car?  Has  Uncle  Alejandro  designed  a mechanic's special?  David De
Tomaso {In HOT water}