Thank you for your insights Doug.
My Pantera is a narrow body without any attempts to get it to a Group 3, 4 or anything like that. But you are right, I know several Panteras here in Germany that are all widebodies, with racing seats and uncomfortable suspension. One of these is the only other Pantera I ever drove, it has a stockish 351C with closed chamber heads, a Torker and a 750 Holley double pumper and I wasn't impressed at all. I understand that with enough duration and overlap with a mechanical cam, you need a mechanical carb, if it is a Holley Double Pumper or a Weber 8 Stack, but my relatively mild engine doesn't need that.
Where I disagree is the Intake. Personally I don't like the Torker, the modern single planes like the CHI make the turn towards the heads early to let the mixture go straight towards the inlet on all 8 cylinders, while the older intakes like the Torker have 4 cylinders that go straight and 4 that have a turn directly in front of the head.
I am surprised that other don't have the same problems with the air cleaner assemblies.