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Ron
Freedom isn't Free, it's always earned.
Pantero Creations

Wow! That looks really sharp. I'd would go as far as to say that looks better than the GT style facia. How much will it cost?

Now that you have an open and standing offer, you don't have to wait for an update, come on down and see for yourself.

As far as hood vent grill material, those particular grills look pretty nice. I think they could easily be duplicated with some strap steel and a mig welder. Then sandblast them and powdercoat. A nice weekend project.

The front clip is now ready for final contouring, assembly, and bondoing. What's that mean? Well, this front air dam has to have a removable plug made. Where the fender flares can be formed on the clip and the molds taken directly from them as installed on the clip.....the air dam will have to be formed and then removed from the clip. This is to allow all of the stages of smoothing, spraying, etc that has to be done.

So what we now have is this:

The foam has been squared up with the valence bottom, the fender sides, and the front of the car. The front clip is jigged to be setting as it will on the chassis. A ramp between the two foam blocks has been made, and removed. And the bottom lip which surrounds the entire assembly has been made and removed. Some final contouring of the front face of the foam blocks will be done to accomodate these:

which are APC H312V halogen 2.5" x 4" driving lights. An opening will be formed with a nicely radiused in-turning lip.

Next is to assemble the pieces and apply one layer of fiberglass, reinforce the assembly, and remove it from the front clip. Then more smoothing and fitting.

It's taking some time, but let me tell you, when Blackrams helped me turn the clip over to what you see here, He could see what was taking shape and, well , got excited all over again.

I hope to have all of this flare/airdam business completed in time to take samples to Ed Park's Swapmeet.

quote Originally posted by PaulJK: Ron, if I leave now I'll be there by next tuesday . Now can I see a pic of the flared front end

Paul,
Tuesday will be fine. Do you prefer your coffee black? Any favorite breakfast items you would like us to stock up. We'll hold the room after 6:00 PM without reservation, but would like a verbal confirmation. Cya Tuesday.

BTW, arrivals after 10:00 PM really piss off the proprietor, try to get here before bedtime.

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Ron
Freedom isn't Free, it's always earned.
Pantero Creations

The pics on page 4 of this thread seem to show 2 versions of the flared front end; (1) like the red car and a different one like the blue car.

To me at least, the blue car version looks much better and muscular because the flares are blended into the body; the red car version looks more like it was added on later. Are you planning to blend the flares like the blue car (I hope). If you made a flared version like the blue car, it really adds more variety to the kits you're offering because it's a lot more different than the stock version you already have.

Wonderful job ...keep up the good work ...

By the way, as a kid I remember going to an autoshow and seeing the new 1971 Pantera and wondering how anybody could afford $10,000 for a car ....

But about the styling of the flares and airdam.

The Pantera seems to have gone thru three or four major styling changes, and to have benefited form many personal styling modifications.

The body molds I currently have are of the basic body which endures thru all of the changes. This is the yellow prototype car, seen in this thread. It has the relatively small wheel flares built in, and no air dam.

Then we have a mold for an early air dam, or really a type of chin. There are pics of it in this thread. It adds a lot to the looks of the Pantera. I personally think it takes more custom fitting to fit it up to the body. But if you like it's looks, it is a cool, doable addition.

Then there are the add on Pantera flares which I purchased, and they are seen earlier in the thread. They really add some physical "pizazz" to things, and I think they would work well with stock wheels and tires just fine. I plan to make molds of these in case someone cares for that look. These were the first type flares to be added to the Pantera. There are examples of these actually riveted to the body, and that was the look. For that look, these flares fit with very little additional work. But if you wanted these flares to blend and flow into the body, they will require a bit more body work. Very doable and good looking, though.

Actually, the previously mentioned flares are what led me to building the flares we are on now. They will more resemble the type on the red car. That is to say, they may not be exactly like the red car's flares, but they are definately inspired by them. I've had three main criteria in fashioning these flares.

They must look good on their own, in case they are the only addition to the basic body. I've really paid attention to how they will flow into the rocker panels and into the leading or trailing fenders.

They must work with both air dams. Once again, hours spent considering how they look with the flares.

They must fit. I can't build the car for the average builder, but I can sure make it easier for him by making butt lines match and having an alignment/reference point on every part. Some of the Ferrari builders out there can show you examples of having to section, chop, and remake almost every body panel to make it fit. Not here.

Anyhow, these current flares are more of the third generation type. Again, they have been both riveted on, and blended in. Both looks are cool, it's just builder preference.

The air dam I'm currently building will very much resemble that on the red car. However, it will have a somewhat more sloped "side curtian" than the red car has. I'm refering to the verticle panel between the front edge of the front fender, and the front of the car. In this respect, it will somewhat resemble the air dam on the blue car.

The blue car looks to be from the fourth generation, or the 1980's versions. I agree, I love that totally blended look. I believe this form is more similar to the white Predator, which you may have seen. I'm sure that one day I'll build one of these. This form can easily be atained by modifying the stock body which we now produce. Hopefully an ambitious builder will produce an example, soon. Or maybe someone will comission us to build one as a turnkey.

Right now my main focus is this:

to produce Blackrams' Pantera, he has had some good design ideas and has been instrumental in bringing about this project.

And I want to complete my choptop Pantera. You simply can't believe what a simple choptop does when combined with the Pantera body...it's wicked.

And I want to service the one or two folks who have said they want a body kit. It takes time to go thru this start up process, and the quality of the first few builds out there is crucial. Down the road, I don't see producing more than three or four kits a year, simply to keep a lid on quality, and to maintain my sanity.

David Breeze

All true, and thanks for mentioning me, but Dave is the craftsman. Gotta be honest though, Dave, it's too friggin late, you lost your sanity just before we started this project. I came along willingly.