Greetings from North Florida

Greetings fellow Manta lovers, I'm new to the group, but I have followed the Manta cars from all the way back to the early 80's. I am originally from So. Cal. and visited the Santa Ana factory on more than one occasion. I had it bad for a Montage, but my now ex-wife hated the car, so she put the ka-bosh:mad: on building one. Here I am at 58 years old, I'm selling off my motorcycle collection to generate funds to search for a Montage project. I've been building Cars, Trucks, Motorcycles, and Airplanes most my life. So if anyone has a lead on a Montage, as soon as I sell my bikes I'm in the market. I'm in North Florida, west of Gainesville. Thanks guys, Mike:cool:

Welcome to the site Mike. With your experience, you'll do great, even with a real beater. Keep us informed on what you find, and the build progress when it starts.

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Originally Posted by MKHYTEK

I'm in North Florida, west of Gainesville. :cool:

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Mike..... I'm Ken..... located WAY west of Gainesville, in Santa Rosa Beach (near Fort Walton Beach). If you want to check out my Manta (a Mirage), please RSVP to this forum. Perhaps when you are in the neighborhood..................

P.S. You're a "youngster". 69 years old here--I used to watch the original McLarens race at Bridgehampton when I was growing up.....

Ken

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Originally Posted by Ken Walsh

Mike..... I'm Ken..... located WAY west of Gainesville, in Santa Rosa Beach (near Fort Walton Beach). If you want to check out my Manta (a Mirage), please RSVP to this forum. Perhaps when you are in the neighborhood..................

P.S. You're a "youngster". 69 years old here--I used to watch the original McLarens race at Bridgehampton when I was growing up.....

Ken

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When I'm ready for a little "Road Trip", I'll get with you and plan it. Thanks for the offer. I am originally from So Cal, and was around North Orange County when Manta was at there peak. My Ex would now allow me to build a Montage back then so I had to settle on a 1970 Corvette ragtop/hard top. Now I'm all "growed up", so I won't make that mistake again, when I find one. Funny, I don't feel "Youngster" very much!:cool:

Hey Mike, Welcome to the site...Dan here from Southern WV. Ive been looking for a Manta for a long time, just cant seem to find any for sale within traveling distance for me. Good luck and hope you find one. Keep us posted.

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Originally Posted by D Morgan

Hey Mike, Welcome to the site...Dan here from Southern WV. Ive been looking for a Manta for a long time, just cant seem to find any for sale within traveling distance for me. Good luck and hope you find one. Keep us posted.

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Yeah Dan, I know what you mean. When I search sold Mantas, there were a flurry of cars for sale between 2012-2015. Now, Nothing. If the right cars comes along, I'll do a big road trip. I don't care anymore. Life's too short. The V8/tube frame cars are bringing serious $$. I'd like to find a T car, but even those cars are $$, even if they are turds. The VW cars are starting to go for 10K now, and most of them are not really that nice, just so so. I may have to buy one of those if I can get the price down to a realistic number. Then I could build a chassis and have something. The VW cars, mostly the 68 and earlier chassis ones, ride like a buck board, and handle squirrely on rough or uneven surface. The IRS ones can be set up alot better. I'm not a huge fan of VW motors, either. I had a 72 Ghia a ways back. Not real impressed. Some people just love them though. I'd be tempted to do a Rotary swap. With IRS. Or Porsche, but that's just an expensive VW really, air cooled wise.

I still have 2 bikes to sell, then I'm going after one hot & heavy, before I get too old and such to tackle another big project. This might be my last Hurrah! If you see anything, give a yell. I check this board almost every night. The board is slow, but man, for such small interest, nobody is selling there cars/projects. I saw the Manta production in 81-82ish, before they filed. The orvette was just coming out of the molds. There were Montage and Mirages STACKED there. I know they made a bunch of cars. This time I'm not going to settle for something else.

I may have to look into a new M6BGT body since there are 2-3 guys doing them. Hard to find a glass windshield though. Just the Lexan/plastic ones. that I've found. I've seen some pics of the bodies, they look real sweet! Mike:cool:

Hello and welcome to the forum!