I have been a Pantera owner for almost two years now, and I
always thought that there weren’t many Panteras in Utah. I was half-right; there aren’t many but there
are more than I thought. As I met and
introduced myself to Pantera owners in Utah, it became clear that those who did
own cars in Utah didn’t know a lot of other owners. So, I decided to make some calls, send out an
email or two, and see if I couldn’t get some people together for a few hours to
talk about their cars.
September 15th seemed like a great date for a
“meet & greet”, so I emailed and called people. Before I knew it, people were telling me
about another owner, who would tell me about another. We soon had about seven owners who said that
they could come, and a few of them had running cars to drive. The owners who came besides myself were Rich
Papworth (Pappy), Brooke Pitt, Art Wright, Rex & Debbie Marshall, Evan
& Zach Deneris, and Bill Robbins.
My wife commented on how much she liked the cars, especially
Rex & Debbie’s flared ’74 with its white racing stripes. She suggested that I should put flares and
stripes on my ’71, and I definitely think she liked the Pantera in general a
lot more. Instead of being a primer-gray
shell taking up space, she could see the classic style that these cars ooze in
large quantities.
We agreed to meet up once again in a few months, hopefully with
more cars and less mosquitos. Until
then, the get-together left us a little more enthusiastic for the Pantera!
Rex & Debbie Marshall's '73 supercharged flared custom Pantera GTS
Evan Deneris' '71 beauty
Rich Papworth's '72 original car, complete with original owner
Four Panteras on my driveway is such a beautiful sight. Even better that one of them is mine!
Zach Deneris, Art Wright, Evan Deneris, and Rich Papworth (left to right)
Rex Marshall and Brooke Pitt (left to right)
