Panther 6

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The Panther 6 was a street sports car of the British car manufacturer Panther, which was produced from 1977 in two copies.

History of development

The Panther 6 was constructed in 1976 by Robert Jankel, the owner of the company, largely self. It was a two-seat convertible, which decreed as the most visible feature on six wheels. The car had two steered front axles, on which four small tires were in the format 205/40 VR13, and a rear axle with two much larger tires. The vehicle reached as far as the construction concept of the Tyrrell P34 on that with some stir in the Formula 1 World Championship took in 1976, and set it in the range of road vehicles.

The wheelbase of the second front axle to the rear axle is 2667th The car is 4877 mm long, 2032 mm wide and 1219 mm high. The curb weight is indicated with 1302 kg.

The vehicle was powered by a 8.2 liter, built over the rear axle eight-cylinder engine, which was purchased from Cadillac and provided here with two turbochargers. The work was the power of the engine to 600 hp; the top speed should be 200 mph ( about 320 km / h). As power transmission was an automatic three-speed transmission by General Motors.

More eye-catching design features were a color-keyed front bumper with wide recessed lighting units. The headlights were folded out. The car had a large-sized panoramic window and recessed windscreen wipers. Inside, two telephones were installed in the doors and the dashboard was a TV.

Each vehicle

Overall, within eight years, two copies of the Panthers emerged 6 Both were painted with multiple different over the years.

The first vehicle was a black painted right hand drive. It had a bench seat with three seats and had a column shifter. The Panther 6 was introduced at the 1977 London Motor Show at Earls Court to the public and made there a great sensation. His purchase price was reported to be £ 39,950. The car was sold after the exhibition, and changed hands several times. It was in the early 1980s for some time in Paris and was also shown by his owner there publicly. His current location is unknown. It is generally assumed that the vehicle is in the Arab world.

The second vehicle was a left-hand drive with two individual seats and a floor shift. Panthers started in 1978 with the construction of the second car; However, the company soon ran into financial difficulties and could not initially finish the car. The second 6 was only completed when already was Panther in the insolvency administration. It served primarily to opening up through the sale of the car further funding for the company. The car was sold in 1985 for £ 150,000. He changed hands several times and was in 2010, now painted in white and black, in the UK for sale.

Importance of the automobile

The Panther 6 was designed and built primarily to attract the attention of the public on the company. Whether a series production was planned, is doubtful. A major problem on the way there were the small front tire, the Pirelli had produced exclusively for this vehicle and its production would have been associated with very high costs.

The press took the Panther 6 of them with admiration, sometimes with derision and occasionally asked about the benefits. The Australian newspaper Fastlane, for example, asked in reference to the title of a song by Chubby Checker:

The Italian company Covini Engineering developed the Covini C6W in 2005, a similarly designed car.