I flew down to San Diego from San Jose and was meet by Mike at the airport in the Pantera. On the way back to his house in the hills of La Mesa, we came up to a stop light next to a taxi driver in a station wagon. He had a big smile and an offer to race for pink slips. We declined.

When we got to his house, I found he had built a four car garage on some flat land behind his house where is his restoring some race-ready vintage VW bugs. He had a truck with an enclosed hauler - I am jealous.

Mike is 6' 6" and his wife Yvonne is 6' 2", so there are some special mods to the Pantera. I am 6' 5", so it is a nice fit in his king size car.

Mike showed me the engine mods for about an hour then took me out for a test drive around the hills. I am ashamed to admit it, but it has been awhile since I had driven a stick. No problem, it shifted smoothly and went where I pointed it. The Euro style gate took some getting used to.

Mike told me in advance that the turn signals did not work, so I had sent an e-mail to this group about some things I could try to fix before I took it on the road. After looking at the wiring for about 3 seconds, I decided that this was a job for somebody who actually knew what they were doing. I concluded that the advice about hitting the gas petal to change lanes wasn't so bad after all.

After we took care of the paperwork, I went down to the gas station to tank up then headed north on I-5. About 45 minutes into the trip, the gas gauge read half full. I got worried about the gas mileage, but it turned out that the gauge was non-linear. I think that I managed about 14 miles/gallon over the 500 mile trip home to Mountain View.

A few nice surprises: I do not need to downshift for passing. There is plenty of power in fifth. A quick tap on the gas is enough to rocket me past pretty much anything that I need to get past. Also, the turning radius seems pretty good.

On the way, I ran into an older gentleman who hadn't seen a Pantera since the mid-70s and was quite pleased to see one on the road again.

I stopped a hotel in Bakersfield and backed the car into a space a few doors down from my room. The next morning a maid happened to be standing in the doorway of the room directly behind the car when I started it. She said something in Spanish.

When I got home, I ran it around the block about 20 times with various family members. I am sure the neighbors were not too happy.

Of course I had to drive it to work in downtown San Francisco the next day to show it off. When I drove it into the underground packing garage, I got a symphony of car alarms.