Michael's car is truly awesome, and we all have mixed feelings of pride (that we know the guy that owns it, and he's a cool dude), and envy that he owns such a rare and strikingly beautiful Pantera. And so, we'd all hate to see him and the car part company, we know it would break his heart in the long run, and it would do the same to us as you live on the other side of North America, and Denis, Mark, Michael, and I (and many others)all live in the east and might never see the Targa again if it moved.
SO STOP PUTTING EVIL THOUGHTS IN HIS HEAD!!!!!
As for the Pantera, I've had my narrow body car for 2 years now, I didn't look for long, I knew what I wanted, I looked at some cars locally (rusty $40K wrecks!), read up on the forums and carefully reviewed this document >> http://www.banzairunnerpantera.com/how_to_buy.htm then went on a road trip to look at MY car, the former caretaker had taken 5 years to restore her, with photo documentation of the entire process, I crawled around under the car poking, prodding and banging for ages (he had it up off the ground for me when I arrived with the wheels off - a sign that there was nothing to hide), and then the wheels went on and it was fired up for a road trip down some straights and some twisties.
If you're in no hurry, get out to some events and talk to some of the guys, sit in the cars, and find what feels right to you, watch the key selling sites and poke and prod the owners like you're doing and you'll get the car you're after (except Michael's, that one is off limits - we obviously have to protect him from himself).
Michael,
I have 4 kids between 6 and 13, they all love the Pantera and they use it as a personal motivator/reward (Kid 1 gets homework done by 5pm each day and gets to go to the car show on Tuesdays, Kid 2 practices his music each evening and gets a ride to soccer on Thursdays etc. as for me, I get to drive it all the time AND spend time with the kids!)