Appreciate all of the input!
I decided to buy the Pantera (with the chirp) after negotiating a price with the dealer that I felt comfortable with. The car is 02605, which was owned by Rob Borruso back in 2014 (he is local to me - super nice guy) and I spoke to him at length about the cars history and current condition issues.
The owner after Rob has had the car since 2015, had a collection of 25+ cars, so they only drove it several hundred miles in almost 7 years. He is also local to me and has some parts/paperwork for me. It was helpful talking to the last 2 owners. The car has a number of good things going for it, so I decided it was worth it to fix the problems. It needs some love, but who/what doesn't when you are 50 years old!
I'm excited/honored to finally own a car like this. Having worked at Ford's SVT division, I was able to take several new 2006 Ford GTs home (Gulf blue livery - omg!) for the weekends and that experience has made me want a car like that ever since then! The GTs are out of my price range so the Pantera is the closest I can get.
I'll pick the car up Nov 1, get ready for a barrage of posts from me!
Rob