Reply to "Looking for a pantera"

good morning

thanks for the texas referral, looks hot, and probably worth every buck, but probably in "too" good of shape for me.

parts of this posting will probably seen contradictory and tell you that i am confused and have not totally made up my mind yet, if you come to that conclusion-you are correct.

first and most important, there is no way that i want to get involved with a chassis with major (or even intermediate) rust damage. minor rust damage and/or surface rust i totally expect and can accept. that issue aside, price will be the determining factor for the remaining vehicular condition that i will accept.

part of me says, it would be real cool and fun to get a car that i can do some remaining major work on, ie: engine replacement, suspension upgrades, interior etc., but practically speaking to replace/repair/restore/upgrade each of these component systems will require the purchase of parts at retail and before not too long, the amount invested starts to climb real real fast, my own labor is not really an issue-much of it is fun work. after all, this type of "hands-on" rebuilding is what really brought me to decide on a pantera rather than a viper or elise as we were considering.

so, i guess ideally the vehicle which would suit my purposes best would be a partially completed pantera. price of course depends on how far along the car is, but i can forsee spending (or can i call it investing to make it sound better) about 40-45k for the acquisition.

location is not a concern, however i will under no circumstances buy without personally inspecting, and i will not be put under a time-pressure gun (ie: the e-bay time limit is ok for small ticket items, but not when you start talking the cost of a pantera).

as far as carchex goes, i engaged them to look at a pantera last week, the report was absolutley superb. from what the vehicle owner says, the inspector virtually drove him nuts, the report had over 100 pictures, and very nice written notes. well-well worth the $150. before the report, i truly had planned to go and inspect, the report changed that. maybe i just got a great inspector, but i will use them again.

nazgul