[TPR] Its supposed to do 150 MPH!Re: Le Man & Jim Hall 1966 History

Fri Dec 20 12:38:04 PST 2024

Ken was almost a dead ringer for Frank Zappa's twin except for the eye
color.

On Fri, Dec 20, 2024, 12:36 PM Mad Dog Antenucci via TPR <
tpr at teampanteraracing.com> wrote:

> LOLOL....great story Owen. I can not put Ken's name to a face now but how
> cool was that....
>
> My story when I bought my USED Jaguar XKE FHC (before the Pantera) and
> realize the XKE came out in 1961.  Everything I read about it from 1961
> until I owned one in 1973 was it would do an honest 150 MPH...so those
> intervening years from 1961 until I could even afford to buy a used XKE all
> I could do was join the EJag Club, buy back issues, and book and magazines
> and there was as many as I ended up with the Pantera before I bought it.
> But I regress as usual.....
>
> So I am at the Jag dealer in Seattle in 1973. Everyone is selling or
> trying to sell their American gas guzzlers but I fall in love with a
> midnight blue FHC (Fixed head coupe) at the dealer and cut a bad deal with
> the bank and the dealer. and a couple hours later I am driving it
> home....and you know exactly what I was going to do then too as a
> 20-something mad dawg. haha.....I got on a stretch of I-5 freeway which in
> those days was not very busy up here in the PNW and tried to go 150+
> MPH....I got up to about 130-135 MPH before the XKE started shaking or
> vibrating enough to remind me I was OUT of RPM's at 5500 and was pushing
> 6,000 when I backed off the throttle...no 150 MPH!!!
>
> Had to think something is wrong with this XKE.....hahaha...it should do
> 150 MPH....the car magazine road tests all said it would do 150 MPH. So I
> headed to the dealer a couple days later after all my buddies who were
> driving and racing Detroit Iron could not tell me what was wrong with this
> inline overhead cam 6-cyl 4.2 litre engine. I did have a buddy who was a
> English car fan but he did not know either.  So I am at the dealership and
> I tackled the sales manager and he directed me to the Service Manager who
> quietly explained to me that ALL the North American E-Types were delivered
> with lower ring gear and I should be happy I did not blow the engine up!!!!
> I believe I found out that there was the taller ring gear that was
> available but I never pulled the trigger on it because a few years later I
> got pulled by a yellow Pantera on the I-5 driving up to Vancouver BC.
>
> Now I had to buy a Pantera! And I did too in 1985...and it did pull
> 155-160 without too much effort on the same I-5 freeway..yes indeed the
> Pantera's would do an honest 150+ Mph.
>
> Thank the gods for Open Road Racing!
>
> Dennis
>
> On Friday, December 20, 2024 at 12:14:38 PM PST, Owen Lee Green <
> oneeyez4263 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> Well Dawg if you remember my friend Ken, back in the early 70s he was a
> detailer at Knevil Lincoln Mercury in Billings and part of his job was to
> test drive the Pantera's, when he was done and the car was pulled up for
> delivery to the customer he would leave a certificate that the car had been
> tested and would exceed 150. He got a few confused questions about the
> certificate from those customers.
>
> On Fri, Dec 20, 2024, 12:09 PM Mad Dog Antenucci via TPR <
> tpr at teampanteraracing.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Team,
>
> Merry Christmas...Everyone who follows Daytona or LeMans may also know
> about Jim Hall and I am talking about Jim Hall, the Texan who designed,
> developed and raced the Chaparral race cars. I loved those cars. By 1963 or
> '64 I had 3 posters in my bedroom at home in Mukilteo Washington.
>
> One was the Jag XKE which I later owned and raced in the Seattle area in
> SCCA and EJag club events. The second poster I had was the Shelby 289
> Cobra, and the third was the Chaparral that Mr. Hall designed. In 1966 I
> was also a GI stationed at the time in Bad Tolz Germany (10th SFGA) and
> interestingly enough not very far from where Peter "the German" Menyhart
> grew up in Munich.
>
> I wish I could say at the time in 1966, that  I had one of those amazing
> race cars but instead I had to satisfy myself with a Opal Kaddett. HAHA
> Of course it had headers and tuned exhaust but not much else to brag
> about. Every chance I got I loved driving on those Bavarian back roads or
> blasting away on the Autobahn and had a blast. During 1966 2 of my Army
> team mates and I went to LeMan for the race. We were able to briefly talk
> to both Jim and his driver's Phil Hill and Jo Bonnier which was as big an
> honor as meeting Carroll Shelby years later was for me. Sadly the Chaparral
> 2D that Jim campaigned and qualified DNF'd.
>
> While I was disappointed that the Chaparral did not finish There was no
> way we also weren't supporting Ford and Shelby.  but sadly for me the XKE
> did not race that year because of new rules for its class limiting it to
> 3.0 liters and the XKE was 3.8., but I regress as usual.....Ford and Shelby
> did race and WIN. And sadly for me Jaguar did not have an entry.  And as
> any of you who know that followed the history at LeMans or watched the
> movie Ford vs Ferrari already know that it was Ford Shelby GT-40's that
> went 1-2-3.
>
> Hellva proud day to be an American anywhere or anytime but more so on that
> date in France if you loved racing.
>
> By 1967, I was headed to Vietnam for a couple years. But I did make it
> back to Germany in 1982 as a contractor building underground air defense
> facilities for DOD in Germany and Saudi Arabia and went to LeMan that same
> year but of course Porsche not only won 1-2-3 that year they also dominated
> all the entrys there. There were however TWO American entrys campaigned by
> Stratograph Energy  out of Louisiana!  one of their Camaro's won 2nd place
> with a 150+ MPH average and both finished...sadly no Pantera's or Shelby's
> (haha)....as Carroll was now partnering with Lee Iacocca at Chrysler by
> then and there were no Hemi's or Corvette's anywhere in sight either...not
> a great time unless you owned a Pantera and you actually had a sponsor
> because it was never Ford.
>
> Someone else can add what they know about the DeTomaso Pantera race
> history....Maybe you?
> Share with us where you were in the heyday of racing.
>
> Happy New Year as well.
> Stay healthy and happy and see ya in 2025
>
>
>
> Dennis,
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