DeTomaso Mailing List: September 99, Message #270

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Trying again....

Charlie McCall=20
1972 DeTomaso Pantera Pre-L #3847
"Raising Pantera Awareness in France"

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Date: Wed, 08 Sep 1999 03:36:02 -0400
From: "Charles McCall" <Charlie.Mccall@haworth.com>
Subject: Report from Mecca (aka Modena, Italy) part 1
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I have tried sending this twice yesterday, once this morning and haven't =
seen it
posted yet. My Current guess is that it may have been too long?? so I am
going to break it up and send it in pieces.... Andy - is that the problem?

Warning - this is kinda long. Way too much coffee this morning, and my=20
little fingers are pumped!

With as packed a weekend as I just passed in Italy, no doubt many little
 details will be missed, so I'd be interested in hearing the stories of =
the others
 on the List who attended. But from my perspective, here's the DeTomaso
 Factory Celebration that just took place this weekend.

I had to be in Bologna for work last week so I could not bring my car with
 me, as the schedule would not allow. In retrospect, I am kicking myself =
for
 not trying harder to have found a way - these events really are much more
 fun driving in the pack than sitting on the bus.. Watching these cars out
 playing on the highway while being trapped in a bus was kind of like a=20
hard-core junkie watching all his buddies shooting up and not being able =
to
 get his fix at the same time. The bus driver is still probably wiping =
my=20
nose-marks off the back window, as I spent much of the time with my nose
 pressed against the glass watching the formation of cars behind the bus
 changing positions, moving back and forth, passing one another, then
 slowing down to let someone else lead.=20

Regardless, my boss dropped me off at the DeTomaso factory about 3pm
 on Friday. On the drive between Bologna and Modena, we passed through
 a town called "Sant'agata Bolognese" or something like that. This name
 sounded familiar from my youth when I bought and read every book I could
 find on Lamborghini (I had not yet heard of DeTomaso - I had not yet seen
 the light). My question of whether this was the same town or not was soon
 answered as we drove past the Lamborghini factory.=20

We had only a photocopied map of Modena and an address, but this turned
 out to be plenty. Getting off the highway I looked up in the air and like =
a
 guiding star I saw the DeTomaso logo high up. Turning into the parking =
lot
 there were already a dozen or so DeTomasos of various flavors and maybe
 30 or 40 people milling around. Things were pretty casual that afternoon
 with nothing formal planned, so I left my bags outside and went in to
 register. They gave us a goodie bag with a commemorative t-shirt, some
 Modena tourist info, a pretty cool booklet on all the DeTomaso models
 produced, and some other stuff. Nice goodie bag.=20

I went back outside to find out that Stephane Poux, the president of=20
DeTomaso France, had just run over my computer bag with his Guara! The
 good news is that my computer is still fine, the bad news is that the =
seams
 are all split, the bag is shot and I'll need a new one. I don't even =
think he
 knew what happened, but a small crowd of people standing by watched it
 develop :-( Oh well. And for those who have seen her before, yes he still
 has the same girlfriend, and yes, she is as fine to look at as ever :-) =
=20

The cars continued arriving from all over - Lots of  German and Swiss
 registrations, very few Italian, and very few French. One Italian car =
that
 attracted some attention was the 1965 Vallelunga with plates from Rome in
 pretty decent condition. A much wider variety of models than I think we =
see
 in American  events - a couple Mangustas, a bunch of Panteras including
 several Pantera 200s, Nuovo, whatever you want to call them. Numerous
 Longchamps and Deauvilles, and one Lambo Diabolo that had to go park
 in the back out of sight with the other "undesirable" cars :-)=20

I took the opportunity to go buy some DeTomaso paraphernalia while the
 place was relatively calm, wandering back into the parts building where
 they were selling shirts, ties, watches, playing cards, models, all kinds =
of
 stuff. Bought a couple of decals, two polo shirts, and a tie, if anyone =
is
 interested.=20

The plan was to go back to the hotel and get changed, nothing formal was
 planned before dinner. I grabbed a ride to the hotel, changed, and headed
 down to the bar to see if any list people were there. I checked with the
 Front Desk, and the only name from the List staying at my hotel were the
 Stockwells, it appears as though everyone else selected the other hotel. =
I
 set my laptop up in the corner of the bar, ordered a beer and had the
 screensaver scroll through my collection of Detomaso pictures. I figured =
this
 would be a good way to break the ice and start conversation with the =
other
 attendees. Chatted for a while with some Swiss guys who drove a
 GORGEOUS bright yellow New Pantera.

At the restaurant, I met up with Larry Stock, Grant Stockwell and Susan,
 Judy McCartney, and a couple non-listers. A great reception was held
 outside with tasty munchies and wine, white-coated waiters circulating to
 refill your glass and pass out hors d'oeuvres. Eventually we headed in =
and
 found a table, and shortly, a guy came over and asked if he could sit =
down
 for a while, we said "sure".

"who's that"? I asked?=20

"I dunno, Santiago-something, I think".

"Larry, who's that"?=20

"Santiago DeTomaso, of course!"=20

So that was pretty neat. Santiago was great, an outgoing, cheerful guy who
 kept us laughing for much of the evening. Very easy to talk to, with a =
big
 smile on his face the whole evening.


Charlie McCall=20
1972 DeTomaso Pantera Pre-L #3847
"Raising Pantera Awareness in France"

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