351BRO, Thanks for the story. There are few things in life that strike so deep that we carry the memories forever.
I, too, have a vivid Pantera memory which heavily influenced my automotive journey. The year was 1972. I just got my driver's licence and was getting into cars. At that point I was thankful to have a car with 4 wheels that ran. Fancy sports car were just a fantasy. Some friends and I were driving down Route 22 in Springfield New Jersey heading east. About a mile into Springfield the east bound and west bound lanes split to form an island of stores. The first store was the Lido Diner. Right in front of the Lido was a U-turn from the west bound lanes to the east bound lanes, The U-turn was a perfect sweeper to test the handling limits of your car (we never did that, LOL). So, while driving down Rte. 22 I witnessed a Pantera enter the sweeper, fly around the U-turn and floor it out of the turn. The Pantera was practically out of sight within a few seconds. Those images and sounds are burned into my memory forever. I knew then and there that mid-engine madness was my future. The funny thing is that I have no recollection of who I was with or what car we were in. 