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We've been on a 3-day cruise with Pantera's Northwest to Coeur d'Alene, ID that included some of our "RMR" friends. After spending the day hanging out in Winthrop, WA on the way back to Sun Mountain Lodge, I decided to give the keys to the Pantera to my wife...I may not get them back...she had a blast and is still smiling. Smiler
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The Rest of the Story...
The next day(thurs) we went to have lunch with an old ski racing friend in a nearby town. The route took us through a mountain pass called the Loup Loup. It's about 40 miles of 20, 30, and 40 mph twistys and a good mix of triple diget straights. It was a blast. After a great lunch we fueled up and when I returned from paying for the gas my lovely wife is in my seat...I mean the left seat. So I did what any wise man would do under these circumstances, I got in the right one and shut up. We headed out of town back to Sun Mountain Lodge. About a mile out of town she was still getting used to shifting (not an easy task in our beloved cars) when a touring bike went around us; that only lasted about 5 minutes and coming out of the first set of twistys she was back on his ass until he pulled off for parts unknown. She did me and the car proud. If any of you have never drifted into a big sweeping left at well above the posted 60 mph from the right hand seat looking under a guardrail with a 500 foot drop it is an eye opener! My sweet, Mercedes-drivingp Princess wife never stops amazing me. The only thing better than her rumbling through the little town of Twisp, WA at the west end of the pass at 25 mph (the speed limit) and seeing all the heads turn and mouths drop when they see her pony tail blowing out the window, including the local marshall who gave her a tip of his hat and a smile, was her smile. It was awesome!!
You guys may have picked the wrong woman. My wife is the one that fell in love with the Pantera in 1980, and we trade off driving, which forced me to make the passenger side seating as comfortable as the driver's side. The advantage is, she encourages my mechanical adventures with the car, as long as it remains stock-looking and comfortable to drive. But I never noticed the amount of wind noise at 145 mph until I was in the right seat.....
Bosswrench is right on. The right seat is way diffrent from the left. You hear thing and feel thing you don't in the left. My wife fell in love with the Pantera on the Rocky Mountain Rumble. We got to meet and know some of the nices people anywhere and for a bonus we got to spend several days driving in the triple didgets with no real problems.(ie.crashes) We drove almost 3000 miles in 10 days and she was hooked. That's when she knew she wanted to feel the power of the cat too.
Aside from it being downright uncomfortable, sitting in the passenger seat is a whole different deal.

I remember sitting there once while I let my son give it a rip. At first he was just cruising, but when I pushed him to hammer it he sure did.

I don't quite remember exactly what the situation was, but later on he said "Um... Dad, you were screaming 'slow down'."

I wouldn't wanna be a passenger again. Especially with me behind the wheel. I have a lot of respect for our wives who sit there quietly, for so long.
David You have a point about respect for the misses, years ago I owned a Ducati 916 and me and bunch of guys took the wifes sometimes to go driving (racing) around the Eifel region near the nurburgring. If You now a 916, the seat at the back is very small. having a habit of driving not extremly fast on the straitaway, I also try to maintain the same speed in the turnes. If I think about it now that must have been scary as hell on that litlle seat holding on for dear life. Still ,driving home on the highway she managed sometimes to fall asleep, so must have been doing something well Cool
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