Whatever happened to the Panther Six?
Discussion
The black Panther Six was once at Auto Becker in Duesseldorf/Germany. Since they were a big Panther dealer and exporting/importing a lot of cars, could be that they sold the car or it was only on display. Maybe some time I find the pictures that I took back then.
My first post, sorry for no introduction. I run a small website called www.ponysite.de. Might be enough for a first clue
My first post, sorry for no introduction. I run a small website called www.ponysite.de. Might be enough for a first clue
Edited by TransamEd on Monday 6th September 22:14
Edited by TransamEd on Monday 6th September 22:14
JulesV said:
http://www.kidston.com/view_car.php?id=93That was an interesting read, I remember the six from my "Observers book of Cars", a fascianting small, grainy black and white picture that really caught my imagination back them, this is one of those cars that, like John Dodds "Beast", the "Vector" and the Aston Martin Bulldog are kind of motorings Unicorns, mythical beasts that people remember from a 1978 edition of Hot Rod magazine or a brief snippet on the end of the regional news before Blakes Seven came on, there was this awareness and folklore but little actual knowledge, the internet has changed things somewhat in that information is much more readily available but sometimes stuff like this is best left as a childhood memory, I would imagine all the cars mentioned would actually be utterly crap, its like my uncles Norton bike in the seventies that looked futuristic and the height of sportiness, thats how it stayed in my mind until a I saw a photo recently and it looked like a Lego model with ice cream containers strapped to it !
I believe that there were at least three.
There was already two on the road when I met someone who had bought the final Panther 6 as parts from the factory and was building it in his garage near Farnham in Surrey. He was fitting it with a twin turbo charged Jaguar 4.2 litre engine. This was the second he was building I seem to remember.
I believe that he was the interpreter for the Saudi Royal family and was playing with turbo charging a number of different vehicles. He also had a Vauxhall Chevette HS2300 that had been customised by Panther with body kit, badging and bespoke leather interior. He also had a 6.9 litre Merc 450 and 3 litre Capri that he was going to turbocharge.
This would have been in the late 70's.
Andy
There was already two on the road when I met someone who had bought the final Panther 6 as parts from the factory and was building it in his garage near Farnham in Surrey. He was fitting it with a twin turbo charged Jaguar 4.2 litre engine. This was the second he was building I seem to remember.
I believe that he was the interpreter for the Saudi Royal family and was playing with turbo charging a number of different vehicles. He also had a Vauxhall Chevette HS2300 that had been customised by Panther with body kit, badging and bespoke leather interior. He also had a 6.9 litre Merc 450 and 3 litre Capri that he was going to turbocharge.
This would have been in the late 70's.
Andy
Nice thread resurrection!
It's a car which I've always been fascinated by since seeing it in a car 'annual' in the early 1980's, which I no longer have.
In case it's of any interest to anyone, here's a little tale of mine.
In July 1988 I was in the back of my dad's car on a family trip to London, when going along Park Lane I looked across the lanes and on the other side of the road, between the traffic, I spotted a familiar set of twin front wheels, parked, and I knew exactly what it was immediately.
My dad wouldn't let me jump out and scamper across the lanes of traffic (quite rightly too I expect) and by the time we'd parked and I'd run back down the road, camera at the ready, the Panther 6 was loaded into the back of a lorry.
The lorry driver was very kind and waited while I took photos and even lifted the engine cover for me.
As there was no internet back then I found no information on the car until a short lived magazine called 'Alternative Car World' ran a feature in August/September 1994 on the white Panther 6 and stated that it was located in Norfolk and still had the dark interior trim and original bonnet / wiper arrangement.
It also states that the Cadillac turbo engine had been replaced in around 1980 with an normally aspirated Oldsmobile engine, and that the digital dash had been replaced with conventional analogue dials.
Here are some of the photos I managed to take;
It's a car which I've always been fascinated by since seeing it in a car 'annual' in the early 1980's, which I no longer have.
In case it's of any interest to anyone, here's a little tale of mine.
In July 1988 I was in the back of my dad's car on a family trip to London, when going along Park Lane I looked across the lanes and on the other side of the road, between the traffic, I spotted a familiar set of twin front wheels, parked, and I knew exactly what it was immediately.
My dad wouldn't let me jump out and scamper across the lanes of traffic (quite rightly too I expect) and by the time we'd parked and I'd run back down the road, camera at the ready, the Panther 6 was loaded into the back of a lorry.
The lorry driver was very kind and waited while I took photos and even lifted the engine cover for me.
As there was no internet back then I found no information on the car until a short lived magazine called 'Alternative Car World' ran a feature in August/September 1994 on the white Panther 6 and stated that it was located in Norfolk and still had the dark interior trim and original bonnet / wiper arrangement.
It also states that the Cadillac turbo engine had been replaced in around 1980 with an normally aspirated Oldsmobile engine, and that the digital dash had been replaced with conventional analogue dials.
Here are some of the photos I managed to take;
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