back tracks 1986 arctic cat pantera

Mr. Mike Mattson had a great looking 1986 Pantera with a super story, too. Mike was driving a 1970 Scorpion Mark II at an old-time ride when it quit, as if it had run out of gas. Mike found out later that the gas filter that was screwed to the bottom of the Tillotson carburetor had come loose, so it sucked air, not gasoline. Along came Ray Kangus with his ‘86 Pantera, pulling him to a road so Mike could load his Scorpion on a trailer to take it home. Mike sat backwards on the Pantera while pulling his broken-down Scorpion. The ride must have made an impression because later Mike couldn’t get that cool-looking Cat out of his head.

Ray lived close by and Mike asked if he would sell his sled. They made a deal and soon Mike owned the Pantera, but it took over a year to rebuild. The hood had all kinds of cracks, but at the winter Vintage Swap at the Waconia Show he found a good hood—no cracks, but bad decals. Mike tried to find someone to make new decals. He put the old hood to use as a pattern and took it to different decal makers to see who, if anyone, would make them. It took a long time to get someone to do them, but he finally found a guy in New York Mills, MN that could and they came out looking great!