DeTomaso Mailing List: March 2000, Message #132

Hi guys,

I had a great night last night, whooping it up in the Roppongi district of Tokyo (the happening nightclub area where all the young hipsters go to party.)  What made it so great was that I linked up with an expatriate American named Martin Mitchell, who's a lurker on this forum and the recent purchaser of a '72 Pantera, sight unseen, off of E-Bay!

We linked up at the Hard Rock and then spent the next five hours hanging out in various bars and talking Panteras.  His car came out of Massachusetts and was shipped last week to San Francisco.  Martin has been living in Tokyo for the last six years but will be moving back to Nor-Cal (to be with his Pantera of course) next month and is planning on joining PCNC and driving the car to Vegas.

Apparently (according to the S.F. mechanic to whom the car has been entrusted temporarily), the car is mechanically and structurally quite sound, which comes as quite a relief I'd expect.  When I get home (when is always in doubt, as I'm continuing to suffer at the hands of the worst pig of a C-5 in the fleet, continually breaking down all over the Pacific) I'll be running down to S.F. and performing a full inspection of his car for him.  

Martin, quite the trusting soul, has never met me and doesn't know me from Adam, yet due simply to the Pantera connection he felt confident enough in me to entrust me with his $$$ digital camera, so I can shoot photos for him and beam them back to him.

Anyway, the whole point of this rambing message is to again praise this forum (and Shane, the originator, and Andy, the behind-the-scenes mechanic) for helping me get together with yet another Pantera owner in a far-flung corner of our little (very little) planet.  And yet again I've found that Pantera owners are universally Good People and fun to hang out with, no matter where you happen to find them!

This forum rocks!  

Mike