I was accepted to show my Pantera in the Des Moines Concours d'Elegance last weekend. This is probably the classiest show in Iowa and brings exquisite cars from the surrounding states. My car was in the Exotic class which included the following cars. 1956 Ferrari 250GT 1 1965 AC Cobra 427 2 1973 DeTomaso Pantera GTS 3 1981 DeLorean 4 1985 Porsche Carrera 5 1987 Porsche Slantnose 6 1999 Dodge Viper 7 2000 Dodge Viper 8 2006 Ford Ford GT 9 2007 Aston Martin V8 Vantage 10 2008 Ferrari 612 Scag 11 2009 Ferrari 430 Scuderia 12 2009 Nissan GTR 13 2010 Ferrari California 14 I participated last year as well and placed 3rd in the Exotic class behind the 2006 Ford GT (with 300 miles on it) and a late model Ferrari. You can see pictures of us getting our awards at http://www.desmoinesconcours.com/gallery/ (end of the 6th row from the top). I didn't place this year. As I predicted the '66 427 Cobra (fresh off a restoration) took 1st and the same Ford GT took 2nd. An Aston Martin Vantage took 3rd. I was surprised the '56 Ferrari didn't place. It was billed as 1 of 15 alloy body cars made. Anyway, the point of this email is that during the day it was very common for spectators to ask what the Pantera was. I was taken by surprise when a young lad (maybe in his early 20s) knew exactly what the car was. After talking to him for a bit it came out that he knew what the car was because there was a Pantera in a couple of the racing video games he has played. If it weren't for the games he would not have had a clue. So now we know how to make our cars known to the younger generation. There was a other pleasant surprise in that POCA members James Velez and his wife, from Flagstaff, were on a driving vacation through Iowa and stopped by to chat when they saw my car. Small world. Tom 5186 I was accepted to show my Pantera in the Des Moines Concours d'Elegance last weekend. This is probably the classiest show in Iowa and brings exquisite cars from the surrounding states. My car was in the Exotic class which included the following cars. 1956 Ferrari 250GT 1 1965 AC Cobra 427 2 1973 DeTomaso Pantera GTS 3 1981 DeLorean 4 1985 Porsche Carrera 5 1987 Porsche Slantnose 6 1999 Dodge Viper 7 2000 Dodge Viper 8 2006 Ford Ford GT 9 2007 Aston Martin V8 Vantage 10 2008 Ferrari 612 Scag 11 2009 Ferrari 430 Scuderia 12 2009 Nissan GTR 13 2010 Ferrari California 14 I participated last year as well and placed 3rd in the Exotic class behind the 2006 Ford GT (with 300 miles on it) and a late model Ferrari. You can see pictures of us getting our awards at http://www.desmoinesconcours.com/gallery/ (end of the 6th row from the top). I didn't place this year. As I predicted the '66 427 Cobra (fresh off a restoration) took 1st and the same Ford GT took 2nd. An Aston Martin Vantage took 3rd. I was surprised the '56 Ferrari didn't place. It was billed as 1 of 15 alloy body cars made. Anyway, the point of this email is that during the day it was very common for spectators to ask what the Pantera was. I was taken by surprise when a young lad (maybe in his early 20s) knew exactly what the car was. After talking to him for a bit it came out that he knew what the car was because there was a Pantera in a couple of the racing video games he has played. If it weren't for the games he would not have had a clue. So now we know how to make our cars known to the younger generation. There was a other pleasant surprise in that POCA members James Velez and his wife, from Flagstaff, were on a driving vacation through Iowa and stopped by to chat when they saw my car. Small world. Tom 5186