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If anyone knows what the car on the bottom is, it will be Rivers. That might be the only one I'll ever see. I think he said there are only 220 to still be in existence.
Originally Posted by River1
I can't say I remember ever discussing the car but the Pantera replaced the Mangusta. The car has an interesting history in that a movie, Shelby vs. De Tomaso could be made about it's history. It's even unconfirmed rumor that Tom McEwen named his 60's dragster Mongoose after the Mangusta. The early European version of the car is the most desirable because they had the 289 and ZF transaxle used in first F40's and the imported cars had a 302. There's one in The Henry Ford Museum car collection where all of this is laid out.
Sorry Rivers, I think the way I typed that was confusing. "I think HE said" was intended to be the owners son, whom we were talking to. My friend told me this was a ZF trans'd car as well. One thing I found interesting was the accessory drive. They had a pulley/shaft that transferred all of the accessories to the back of the motor.
Just got a call from Steeda. I was originally told that after I placed my order, they were out of stock, but said PDI (the supplier) would direct ship them to me as soon as they were available. Steeda managed to locate a set in one of their other warehouses, and they sent them to me ASAP. In the meantime, PDI got them back in stock and also shipped me a set, LOL. So I have two sets headed my way. Steeda said look both sets over and pick what you want to keep, then send us back the rest.
Imagine if this was SOP for every online purchase.
Sorry for the misunderstanding but that is a pretty car. If that's a ZF transmission I don't recognize the logo that's showing but that could be because of the age of the car and an old logo. Another odd fact about the car is it somehow was given a safety exemption for importation. It's quite a car.
BTW, in February The Henry Ford open a interactive VR exhibit where you can test drive about a dozen of their race cars. Included are the 67 Gurney-Foyt GT40 and from your way The Goldenrod. The Salt Flats land speed record holder of 409 MPH from 65 to 91. The system also tests your driving skill and reaction time in the cars.
I zoomed in. Looks like it says ZF.... maybe? Somehow my friend (with the blue LX) knew what it was. He was into the racing scene pretty deep in CA back in the day.
One thing I found interesting was the accessory drive. They had a pulley/shaft that transferred all of the accessories to the back of the motor.
Been trying to find pictures of it with no luck but IIRC the original 4 cam, fuel injected 255 engine had this also. As they went to larger displacements the headers over the top of the engine got a lot bigger. I'm guessing that may be why they did away with it?
FWIW and FYI the 255 engine is what Cosworth used to start development of their high RPM engines. Again IIRC they took the engine down to a 180 something CI displacement and hit RPM's of over 25K. From there they built their own engine, went down to something like a crazy 130 CI displacement and hit 30K. At the same time though F1 put their first limits of 15K on RPM's which put an end to the development of the high RPM engines but they also allowed turbos which had been outlawed.
Somewhere I have pics of a yellow Pantera that used to come to the All Ford shows. Maybe he'll come to this one in May. Seems to me it had a 351 Cleveland in it.
I miss this car... I got best of show for 79-86 Mustangs with this car.
The Pantera was synonymous with the Cleveland. I don't remember if I ever put this together before but the car outlived the engine but still had the Cleveland. Looked it up and the engines were coming from Australia until 88 when they quit making the engine too. Cleveland's were followed by Windsor's and then the 302. Interesting though was the 302's were marketed as 4.9L engines instead of a 5.0L. I wonder what that was about? It seems like they were turning their back on the additional marketing power of the Ford 5.0 to the casual observer?
EDIT: Is that a stock red color on your Mustang? I like it but don't remember ever seeing it.
Interesting info, Rivers. I didn't know that history on the Pantera! Someone was just selling 4V Cleveland heads on the Fox Body page. I am still intrigued about the Clevor setup.
The red 86 was mine, yes. I owned it while owning The Eight Nine. We had a couple bad winters and driving a Mustang in the snow was getting old. So I sold it and bought an Explorer in about 2000 or 2001.
Currently have an inch of snow on the ground and it is still coming down... looks like Spring got a little too drunk and forgot what it was supposed to do.
