^{Antenucci (pronounced "An-da-nooch-e), age 52, is a transit and transportation construction manager whose most recent project professionally was completing the Los Angeles subway. Dennis’ father was a career Naval Officer which offered him the chance to travel around the world including to Italy, the Philipines, New York, Seattle and San Francisco. He is currently making arrangements to relocate back to San Francisco with his wife, a family therapist, and his ten year old daughter. Dennis also has three sons, ages 19, 21 and 23 who attend college in Southern California. No wonder he works so hard.}

^{2000 Concorso Italiano} 

^{Antenucci’s interest in Panteras extends back to when he saw the Pantera for the first time in 1976 in Seattle, when he had returned from an assignment in Iran.}

^{He couldn’t avail himself of the Pantera when they were being sold new by Lincoln-Mercury, but in about 1976 he began looking for one. He first had to dispose of a 1969 Jaguar XKE. It was about that time he first joined Pantera International.}

^{Due to having worked in such locales as the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Mexico, Germany, Indonesia and Thailand, he couldn’t investigate cars that came up for sale in the U.S. and it took him all the way until 1985 before he bought one-from a collector in Washington State. It was in pristine condition cosmetically, having just been repainted but was in only fair mechanical shape, having been "ignored mechanically" to use Antenucci’s words.}

^{He bought it for $16,000, which was the going price back then, exotic cars having not yet started their upward spiral. Dennis feels he bought it below its value. "Today it would be much easier to find a car because of the internet," he says. In looking for a Pantera, he has assembled this five point criteria that he is willing to pass on to those still looking:}

^{Originally Dennis drove the car to and from events which he continues to enjoy doing. He restored the car mechanically, and competed in many events such as open track events at Seattle International Raceway, Portland International Raceway, Sears Point, Laguna Seca, Willow Springs and Texas World Speedway. In addition he showed it in many concours d’Elegance, winning trophies as far back as 1985.}

^{Antenucci discovered his favorite event with the creation of the Silver State races in Nevada, which are "open road" events run on a section of blocked-off highway. He did well in this event including first place finishes in the 140 and 160 mph classes. But raising enthusiasm among Pantera owners so that Panteras, even being more than a quarter century old, now outnumber all other marques except Corvette, entering the speed contest.}

^{But it was the Silver State that was the car’s undoing as well. In the 1999 event, the car caught fire and was severely burnt. Antenucci, a former combat Green Beret, who served and was wounded in Viet Nam, is not so easily defeated.}

^{At the urging of PI and POCA members and with their generous help, Dennis was convinced to rebuild and return the car to racing. This time it was a ground-up resto, with every nut and bolt and washer replaced when the body was rebuilt and repainted. "It was rebuilt to drive and I take a great deal of pride in having won the Gary Wilson Memorial Award and the Frank Gerum Memorial trophy."}

^{Such enthusiasts as Larry Stock, who paid to have the remains towed 225 miles to a Las Vegas salvage yard and Carroll Shelby who upon discovering the whereabouts of the singed Pantera had it removed to his own facility until Jeff Maxwell graciously volunteered and towed the car back home, helped get the ball rolling. After that, checks and parts began flowing in from generous friends and even strangers that all shared an interest in seeing Dennis and his Pantera return to the road.}

^{The car was taken to be restored at Precision Proformance after the tragic fire. The car didn’t look too promising when the flatbed first arrived. "The car was destroyed at the Silver State. Even the lead seams melted so the biggest problem was ensuring that all the warped body panels did not affect the chassis," recalls Antenucci. "We ran a laser over the frame and it was judged to be perfectly straight. In fact, once I had this new information, it made alignment easier than it has ever been before."}

^{The first step taken was to media blast the body. "Media blast" doesn’t refer to the way the media blasted the Pantera when it was first introduced, but to a machine that pummels the car’s surfaces, removing all paint and primer and getting you down to bare metal.}

^{The aim was to find any rust and repair it. Rust was found on the driver’s side rocker panel and a small spot on the door opening. Both spots were cut out and new metal welded in place. All the body panels needed to be reworked and rewelded. Since the car was going to have a 180-degree exhaust, the lower body openings for the stock exhaust could be closed up.}

^{The paint chosen was House of Colors, Cobalt Blue-a three stage enamel paint with clear overcoat. The painter was Enrique Cruz of Santa Ana, California. "Considering the car was engulfed in flames in the Silver State, the cost of body repairs and paint was reasonable," recalls Antenucci. "It is not a show concours finish but I intend to drive the car so I don’t want a show car for what I plan to do with it during this lifetime."}

^{Antenucci stuck with a Ford pushrod engine but in the rebuild chose to stroke it out some. "I figured 393 cubic inches was about the max I could take a 351 without breakage," he says. "I know of others with larger displacement but was interested more in reliability than any bragging rights about engine size or horsepower."}

^{He used as his foundation a Boss 351 type block, actually an Australian block which weighs slightly more but is beefier than the one from Cleveland, Ohio. The heads and block were located in St. Louis by his friend Dan Jones. The heads are 302-B aluminum heads that were modified by a local circle track racer prior to Antenucci acquiring them. The crank is forged, the rods are H-Beam, and the pistons by Scat Crank. Antenucci chose a 11.2:1 compression ratio.}

^{Antenucci is fully aware of the fuel injection kits for the small block Ford but chose to go with a simpler carburetor, mainly to keep within budget. The intake manifold is a Roush intake, Roush supplying many racing Fords with his designs, even making his own special Mustang model to compete with Saleen. Atop that went a Holley 750 cfm double-pumper four barrel. Resting on that Holley is a K & N air cleaner but that’s only temporary-by the time this article reaches print he will have adapted an air box and air intake for the Silver State so the engine will be force fed cool air.}

^{One major fix on the engine’s basic design was to the oiling system. "It’s been modified for open road racing," he explains. It has a PPC road racing 12-quart oil pan, dual remote oil filters and the new NASCAR Fluidyne oil-to-water cooler.}

^{"I plan to test the efficiency of this cooler in the September road race. If it doesn’t do the job I will go to a taller ring gear in the next race thereafter. My goal is to be able to run the car at full throttle for a minimum of 40-45 minutes. "Similar to the Ford GT race cars of ’64-’67 Antenucci runs 180-degree tuned {"bundle of snake") headers, though with mufflers (as the few street GT40’s had-Ed.)}

^{The output of the engine is approximately 400 horsepower at the rear wheels, with 380 ft-lbs. of torque at 6,200 rpm. We believe the output is conservatively stated.}

^{Not a great deal was spent on cosmetics because this is a "working" engine, but he couldn’t resist polishing the aluminum intake manifolds, aluminum heads and aluminum valve covers. The clutch is a Centerforce, which reduces clutch effort. The flywheel is aluminum.}

^{A racing engine generates a lot of heat when at full throttle so a 45-degree brass radiator was ordered from Hall Pantera, one that sits at a 45-degree angle so you get more surface area than a shorter radiator that sits at 90-degrees. Two Hall sucker fans are installed, called "suckers" because they are behind the radiator and pull air through. Gates green-stripe hoses are used, these being the best hoses on the U.S. market. The hood had "reverse" vents installed from Hall, these allowing hot air that has been through the radiator someplace to escape, a la Ferrari 365GTC/4, thus improving airflow through the radiator.}

 
^{Linda Adler, Tom Tjaarda and Dennis Antenucci}

^{The Gearbox}

^{It is well known that the ZF (pronounced Zed-Eff in proper Deutsch!) gearbox is the most precise and most expensive part on the Pantera. After its trial by fire it needed some attention. The "-2"gearbox (the number referring to the fact that there was a "plain ZF/DS 25 gearbox and a DS/25-1 version before the DS/25-2-Ed.) and replace the seals and gaskets. New synchros were added ten years ago but they were judged still in good condition. The serviced gearbox was then filled with Motul synthetic fluid. He replaces the fluid once a year. The stock half shafts were judged inadequate for competition use so Spicer units replaced the half shafts and U-joints.}

^{The brakes are Hall II competition brakes, donated by club members, installed in August, 2000. These use a Hall master cylinder. There is no emergency brake. The pads are composite, a combination street/competition item, because if he chose strictly competition, they would be too hard for the street. Antenucci also went to Paige Adler Racing to obtain a supply of Motul for the brake fluid, choosing their 585F high temp competition fluid.}

^{The seats are different. Since this is a driver’s car designed mainly for racing. A Momo NASCAR seat was adapted for street/race use by upholstering it. The passenger seat is a stock one that’s been reupholstered to match.}

^{The steering wheel chosen is a small LaCarra with thick padding, since Antenucci likes a certain amount of "give" and it has a polished center. The stock Pantera gauges were judged inadequate in terms of visibility and reliability and therefore, VDO white-faced gauges were substituted in their place. The floor pan was dropped 2 inches to give a little more legroom, the modification being performed by Dick Drenske. Dick, a PI member, fabricated and installed the fuel cell, custom roll cage and fire suppression system. Additional gauges include an oil temp, Pro-Lite warning for oil temp and if the oil pressure should fall below 30 pounds.}

^{Naturally a car that has to run at over 170 mph for 45 minutes has to have a beefed up suspension. Antenucci chose to have Aldan 3-way adjustable gas shocks. The springs are 450 lbs. In front and 550 in the rear, from Hall Pantera. The bushings in the stock Pantera are rubber, with too much compliance for racing so Antenucci replaced them with poly/graphite units.  An adjustable hollow sway bar, 7/8" in diameter, is used in the rear. Dennis has found that adding too much bar actually increases understeer or push in corners.}

^{"The car rides better than when I bought it," says Antenucci. The wheels are sizes 8" x 16" in front and 11" x 17" in the rear. They are fitted with Michelin Pilot Sports 345-45-16 in front and 335-35-17 in the rear. Surprisingly no modifications to the wheel-wells were required to make these wheels and tires fit though the footprint is approximately 50% wider than the Pantera left when the model was first imported to the U.S. with Michelin tires (the push button cars).}

^{Antenucci now has about $45,000 invested in his blue bomb, not counting the parts donated by Pantera fans who want to see the car race again. "I don’t think I would or could sell it. If I couldn’t sell or salvage it after the fire why would I ever sell it now? No, it’s staying with me. It’s part of the family now" says Antenucci.}

^{We believe him, for like many others who have met him, we found that Dennis Antenucci is a most determined man. Dennis gets strength from the following quote that Carroll Shelby sent him:}