General Questions

Welcome to the Pantera extended family!
1)- Tell the tire shop that the wheel is cast magnesium and replacement costs are $250-400 each. They'll be careful! Power changers have a polyethylene sleeve that can be added to the remover to protect rims.
2)- any shop that does Corvette 4-wheel alignment can do a Pantera- if they want to. You'll have to give them the specs, though.
3)-The front hood cable issue was addressed by Ford in 1974; essentially, they drill a small hole in the side of the toe-box and run a second, short cable with a knob or something swedged on it, as insurance.
3)- I know no one who still uses the stock push-pull distributor with both its lines. Vacuum advance will help mileage but you can certainly dispense with the rest, with no power penalty or smog impact.

Thanks, I appreciate the response.

Automatic tire changers can and have broken alloy wheels in two. insist on a semi-auto tire machine where an operator must use a nickel's worth of skill. Also mention that replacement wheels are $250-400 each! They'll be careful..
Pantera wheel alignments can be done at any shop that does Corvettes or other full-independent suspension cars.
Ford reccomended adding a 12" long aux cable thru an extra hole in the toe-box. The end of the short cable hangs down just above the accelerator. Most Panteras were so equipped.
Don't worry about running a push-pull distributor. Your car will run fine and pass somg tests fine without it. All the thermo switch did was advance the spark when the engine overheated. Shutting it off to cool down, or fixing the problem once and for all, works better.