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I am 34 now and have owned 6243 (also known as the Ray Ban car) for just over a year. I saw my first Pantera in person at the International Mustang meet hosted in Saskatoon Saskatchewan when I was 7 years old in 1988. My dad owning Ford muscle performance products would take me to shows and school me on Shelby's and various other Ford products throughout my youth and we still enjoy looking for cars together today. He has always been a big block guy, but loves all of the cars from Fords Total Performance campaign. From being taught and learning about all of Ford's racing history at a young age, I became hooked. I loved the looks and how exotic the Pantera was and knew a 60's Ford GT 40 would never be obtainable so the Pantera was the next best thing for the street. I love my Pantera and now driving other vintage cars like Mustangs, just can't compare. Smiler
Ok, Otis... I think you have the record ! It's funny you say that about your Pantera because I have never kept a hobby car for more than a year or two. I usually switch to a different flavor, but not with the Pantera, it really checks all the boxes !... I will be shocked if someone unseats you at 34 years old.
I bought mine in 2003 when I was 37. Saw (and heard!) my first one when I was around 8. Knew I would own one eventually. Can't believe I've already owned it for 12 years.

Bought my corvette with my dad when I was 15. Insurance salvage with no title! Used my paper-route money. REALLY can't believe I've owned it for almost 35 years!
quote:
Originally posted by sgarrett:
I bought mine in 2003 when I was 37. Saw (and heard!) my first one when I was around 8. Knew I would own one eventually. Can't believe I've already owned it for 12 years.

Bought my corvette with my dad when I was 15. Insurance salvage with no title! Used my paper-route money. REALLY can't believe I've owned it for almost 35 years!
What year was the Corvette, color, engine size, manual or auto, posi-traction?

Salvage title due to damage or theft recover?

Did you use a modicum of self-control? or did you wreck it?

The reason I ask is because I went to school with rich kids ( My parents were working middle class, just went to a school in the right ( read RICH)school district.

These RICH kids would be driving 69 Z-28 cross ram Camaros, 428 Mach 1 Mustangs, 440-6 pack Chargers, 427 Corvettes, ad nauseam...couldn't count the number of cars that wrecked just leaving the school's parking lot.

Learned very early that you DON'T jump on a muscle car with Posi-traction whilst making a turn!!!
I never wrecked it...we rebuilt it frame off. I was no rich kid and had way too much time invested in it to behave like an idiot. Spent over three years scouring junk yards across Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska for parts. I remember beating an A-arm into shape in a barn and rewelding the giant crack in it. Laid out all the fiberglass from the windshield forward using parts from probably 30 different cars. Drove it to high school for two years with the only fiberglass on the front being the hood. I strapped on two bags of sand to simulate the weight of the missing fiberglass. No title due to it being two stolen cars literally spiced together. Ended up buying a second frame out of a junk yard just to get the vin number so I could retitle it. We got ripped off...but learned a lot.

It is a 73 roadster. Started out as a 350 with an automatic. Found an old 68 chevy pickup someone had put an LS5 into. Bought it for the engine and sold the rest and not only covered the cost of the truck but also had enough to pay for the parts to rebuild the engine. My dad tracked down an M22 (rockcrusher) that was trashed and got it for $50. Rebuilt it too.

Now I am a little richer Yeah Baby!. I paid someone else to repaint it for me in 2003 and I put in a new interior. It is a vintage seventies looking copper metallic. The old engine final gave up the ghost last year. I traded it to a guy who had a 71 Chevelle to restore for a brand new 502 crate motor. With that thing paired up with the rockcrusher, new suspension, and radiator the thing is a beast. Literally a wolf in sheep's clothing. Looks like a stock 73...but sure doesn't sound like it.

I have such good memories of doing it with my dad that my plan is now to build a car with my son starting next year. Don't have quite as much time to do the junk yard thing with him (plus I have a little more money than I did when delivering papers), so we are going to do a Factory Five type 65 coupe. I hope he holds onto it as long as I am holding on to mine: until death do we part.

...and now we are probably off topic. So to get back on topic and prevent George from locking this thread I will say that the Vette is a level 42, but the Pantera beats it since it is a level 43. I become a level 50 next year and will only become more powerful than you can possibly imagine (RIP Obi-Wan Kenobi).
^^^^^...THANKS!!! for replying as I really ENJOY stories of auto ownership.

I believe I was early 40's when I purchased my 1972 Pre-L chrome bumperettes Detomaso Pantera.

Was doing a bathroom edition for my friend's sister & SPOTTED the DeTomaso just around the corner from her home.

FOR SALE sign in the rear window, remember thinking...THAT'S a PANTERA!!!


A phone call to the seller, a test drive & a
PPI & the Pantera was mine!!!

Growing up as a young teenager,the neighbor a few houses away had a Brand New 1971 Lamborghini Miura Black on Black.

Would hear that car start up & I'd RUN down the driveway & watch it drive down the street & GRoooooooooooWL!!!!...by.

NEVER heard that Miura get out of first.
gear!!!

First car I ever LUSTED after!!!...that & the 1955 Red Mercedes Gullwing that I occasionally would see, I believe Neil Young owned that Gullwing as Neil was & still is living in Woodside, Ca, relatively close to where I grew up.

You ever consider a RCR Lola T70 build with your son?!

https://www.google.com/search?...rc=KaG8XskBgFDdrM%3A
quote:
Originally posted by sgarrett:
No title due to it being two stolen cars literally spiced together. Ended up buying a second frame out of a junk yard just to get the vin number so I could retitle it.
...and now we are probably off topic.


Isn't this vehicle title fraud, technically? If so, you might want to refrain from posting about it online.
Not fraud. I bought and titled a 73 corvette. I paid for and received the entire vehicle. The parts I used were the frame, some front suspension pieces, the vacuum canister for the front headlights, some bits of fiberglass for the front clip, and the vin number that goes behind the windshield. I also brought home the title of course. I cleared it all with the Wyoming DMV before going down this path since they wouldn't let me title the first car I bought. The guy who sold me the first car (which I turned into a donor car since I put all of the parts from it onto the second car I bought) was wanted and sold me the car under an alias. They did end up arresting the garage owner since he assisted in selling the car to me and about 5 other cars to other people. If anyone ever meets a guy who goes by the name Ron Graft and has one blue eye and one brown eye let him know someone is looking for him (kind of like the six-fingered man).

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