The First Day

After about 4 hours in bed I just couldn't sleep anymore. I just needed to unpack and unload the Pantera. She just didn't look right strapped to a trailer behind our SUV  

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So after taking a few pictures I started finding a place to store all the extra parts that came with the car. I called a friend of mine and asked if he could swing by and help us safely unload her. He just happen to bring his camera and set up to video the unloading. You can see that video linked below.

Watch "Hovis Panterra" on YouTube

She is now safely in her designated spot ready for work to begin. I think the first order of business will be sealing up the body so no more surface rust will appear. But all that has to wait as I'm going out of town for most of the week. The suspense of waiting to get my hands on her is going to kill me. Patience John. Have patience...

 

We Got It!!!!

So we head north to check out the rolling chassis Pantera I found on Craigslist. Its a 400 mille drive. I pull my son, Jay out of school and we head off on an adventure.

On the way up I call around and find a bank and a rental place for a trailer. We are scheduled to meet Steve, the owner, at 3:30 when he gets off work.

When we meet up with Steve we head out to his garage and he rolls her out. The first thing I notice is surface rust coming through the primer. Steve tells me she was primed a while ago. Its not a big deal but I was thinking the body was pretty much done.

Jay and I proceed to go over the car with a fine tooth comb. I find a couple more surprised - a newly skinned door that doesn't quite fit making the door difficult to open plus a modification to the door window guides that will require some attention. Again not deal breakers but something to consider.

After a while we start talking price. I tell Steve his price is too big for me a gamble and give him a range I'm comfortable making the gamble at. Steve tosses out a number - the exact number I wanted as my maximum and we shake on it. He tells me that's the exact number that was his minimum. I like that! We both get what we want - a win-win.

Jay and I head off to get the money and a trailer. An hour and a half later we are back with an envelope full of cash and a UHaul in tow. We get to work loading her up.

The entire family comes out to take pictures. Steve, his wife and teenage daughter all look at Jay and I with bitter sweet emotions. Steve's daughter says, "you're taking my race car away". Obviously, there were a lot of plans made around this particular Pantera. Its never easy to give up on a dream even when circumstances are just right for that dream to change.

Steve later pulls me aside and confides that he is really glad someone like me wanted the car. He just felt she was going to a good home. He and I share similar thoughts on balancing restoration and our desire to make it our own no matter what everyone else thinks
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Steve then pulls out boxes of parts - icing on the cake. Not enough to finish off the car but a start. We get it all loaded up, say our goodbyes and hit the road. Jay an I stop at a restaurant and sit near a window to watch the newest member to the Hovis stable of cars. We keep saying over and over, "I can't believe we have a Pantera."

After a quick dinner we hit the road home. Lots of people give us the thumbs up as we make the 7 hour trek back to Carlsbad, CA. We finally get home at last 2am. Too tired to think we can't help but to take one more walk around the car to see her from all angles.

Pantera No. 3854 is now part of the Hovis family of cars. Now the fun begins.

Dream Car

The De Tomaso Pantera has always been on my "bucket list" of cars to own. These cars were made from 1971 through the mid 90's. It was a low-slung two seater, mid-engined hot rod. Some call it the original "Hybrid" car since it married an Italian designed and produced body with good old fashioned Ford muscle in the form of the very potent 351 Cleveland engine.

As a teenager I heard of this car. I never saw one until I was out of college, but when I saw one I was instantly hooked. I never thought I'd ever own a Pantera, but I think I'm ready to move in that direction.

For the past few years I have been checking Craig's List to see what was available. Most of the cars are priced way out of my range - $50k and up! Ouch. But every now and then I stumble across one that is interesting - needing some work but ready for me to take it on.

Just such a car came available a couple weeks ago. Here she is, a 1972 model.

The price was way too good to be true. Upon further exploration I found that the reason the price was so good was this is nothing more than a rolling chassis. No engine, no transaxel, no interior to speak of. So why consider this car? That's the big question.

I contacted the owner and found out that he owned this car for the past 10 years. He was working on turning this particular example of a Pantera into a race car but ran out of time to work on her. He had taken the body and worked out all the rust (something that is needed in original Panteras), changed all the bushings and ball joints, coated her with rust proofing and primed the entire car - top to bottom and added a roll cage to help stiffen the body (again, something required in Panteras). The body seems to be in 100% excellent condition. But what about all those missing parts?

Well the more I think about it the more this car might be right for me. I want this to be a project I work on over the next 4-5 years or so. Some of the parts I might just customize. Maybe a different dash. Maybe a modern engine (can you say Mustang Cobra or the like?). She's a blank canvas waiting for me to add my own style.

You see restoration to original just isn't my cup of tea. My 1966 Galaxie and 1965 F100 pickup are prime examples. I have made both these autos into good, reliable daily drivers by adding modern safety and performance features such as fuel injection, disc brakes, etc. Purist cringe at the modifications I have done. Ok I admit it, I'm a Resto-Mod kind of person.

The same can be done to this particular Pantera without a lot of guilt since she is missing so many of the original components. Yes there is a little bit of the purist in me that doesn't want to take a highly collectible classic and turn it into some bastardization of what the original designers had in mind. But with this shell of a Pantera, no one would ever blame me for taking a few liberties with how I bring her back to life.

So tomorrow Jay and I will hit the road for an 800 mile round trip road adventure. We will take a close look at this particular Pantera and see if she is calling my name. If not, I believe I have stepped over the line and will be more diligent about finding my dream car so that I can be a part of making it a permanent part of my daily driving experience. The adventure begins....

We all have our best side when we are photographed, this is the Pantera's