Well, after spending the last year and a half looking for a Pantera has ended. I've been persuaded to join the Darkside. I, I've bought a Corvette. Not just a Corvette, but a Z06.
Let me defend myself. I've probably looked at about 10 Panteras along the way. The last one I found was a '72 GT5 clone on Ebay a couple of months ago. In the past, the Panteras that I have driven have only been quick jaunts around the block, on the freeway and back. This time we spent some time in the hills and then about 10 miles on the freeway, it was about a 45 minute run.
The car was a blast to drive in the hills, but on the freeway I really noticed that if you're not working the clutch, there's no place to put your foot except behind the pedals. After having knee surgery a few years ago, it really bothered me not being able to move my leg around.
I told my bother-in-law, who last year bought an '07 Z06, lives and dies by the Corvette Mantra - "Always wear a piece of Corvette clothing, and dominate all family conversations of his latest standings at Spring Mountain or watch his stupid, boring videos of the Silver State Race in Nevada". He told me to check out the new C6 Z06.
I really resisted until one Sunday the wife and the kids went down to the beach for the day. I went to a local Chevy dealer and checked one out. They had 4 in stock with no mark-up. I even got to drive one. Wow what a rush! 505 horsepower... with a 100,000 mile warranty! It was like luxury car (in comparison to the Pantera, but of course the Pantera is a 36 year old car, and the early 70's Vettes were pretty crude too), I was smitten.
I had been looking at Ebay and the Auto Trader and found a few locally, but either they had been purchased with a $10,000 - $20,000 mark-up and the owners wanted to recoup their losses, or they had just had the crap driven out them.
I found an '08 in Phoenix with only 2600 miles for about $20,000 below what I could buy new. I flew out to Phoenix and picked it up yesterday and drove it back to San Dimas. Man, what a blast...and, at 85 mph it got 24 mpg, and that includes a few 130 mph blasts along the way on the I-10.
I know that Vettes are a dime a dozen, and lack the classic Italian lines of the Pantera, and in about 10 years it'll probably be worth 25% - 30% of what I paid for it, unlike the Pantera, which will only keep or appreciate in value. The Z06 just made sense to me.
I'll miss the Pantera Community who are a very generous and very helpful bunch. I haven't found that in the Vette or Z06 forums yet.
I'm sure someday at some car function we'll cross paths.
It's been a great ride.
Signing off,
Mark aka SoCal
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