Hey GR8KAT,
Nice to have a sympathizer! I have a buddy who left for Palo Alto about 10 years ago and doesn't seem to regret it much either!
The first car that ever made me stop cold was a red Pantera I saw in a hotel parking lot in Pennsylvania in 1971. I was 11, and that started my obsession with cars. Last year I spent quite a while deciding that I needed to start enjoying things more and needed a hobby car. Thanks to Mile Daileys panteraplace.com and this forum, I decided a Pantera was the right car for me—simple, exotic, rare and affordable. My wife (who also loves cars) agreed and I started to look. Two days later I saw a listing in the PI For Sale forums for my car. I contacted the seller in Toronto and drove down to see it early that Saturday morning. I spent 2 and a half hours inspecting the car, twenty minutes driving it and 2 minutes negotiating the price. I had pre-arranged a draft at a nearby bank, paid the seller (a great guy who loved the car and cared for it well) and drove it home. I was almost in shock about half an hour later when I realized that I was driving my dream car home. Then I started to wonder about the wisdom of driving a 33 year old car for 5 hours on the highway without having it properly inspected by a real mechanic. My panic was for nothing as the car ran great the whole way home.
Funny thing is, I’d never seen another Pantera in Ottawa either, and I’ve been here 30 years too. One weekend I met someone at a car show who connected me with another local Pantera owner. I called they guy and after talking for a bit it sounded like he lived nearby. Turned out he lives three minutes from my house! Weird! There are apparently a few others here too, but they keep a low profile.
Let me know if you ever get back here, I’d love to chat!
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