Panther 6

The Panther 6 is a six-wheeled convertible introduced by the company at the 1977 London Motorfair. The convertible was largely designed by Robert Jankel, the owner of the company. They adopted the design concept of the six-wheeled Tyrrell P34, which caused a great stir in the Formula 1 World Championship in 1976. The layout consisted of one pair of large rear wheels with Pirelli 265/50 R16 tires and two pairs of smaller steerable front wheels with Pirelli 205/40 R13 tires.

The first copy was painted black and had a steering wheel mounted on the right. It was equipped with a bench seat with three seats and a gearshift mechanism on the steering wheel. Panther 6 was presented to the public in 1977 at the London Motor Show and made a splash there. Its purchase price was £39,950. The car was sold after the exhibition and changed hands several times.

The second copy was left-hand with two separate seats and a central gear change. Panther began building it in 1978, but soon ran into economic difficulties and the finishing of the car was delayed. In 1985 the car was sold for £150,000.

Both copies are known to still exist. One is in Saudi Arabia and the other was shown at the 2008 NEC Classic Car Show by the Panther Car Club and 2015 at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este by Albert Fellner.

The convertible was powered by an 8.2-liter eight-cylinder engine mounted above the rear axle, which was purchased from Cadillac and modified by American specialist Ark Miller, who equipped it with two turbochargers. As a result, power increased to 600 hp, and the maximum speed was supposed to be about 320 kph. As a power transmission, an automatic three-speed gearbox from General Motors was used.

A double wedge-shaped body with a panoramic windshield, designed by Vauxhall designers, was attached to a tubular chassis. They also advised Yankel on chassis design and steering setup. Other design features were a car-colored front bumper with wide recessed lighting elements. The main headlights could be laid out. The car had a large panoramic window and recessed wipers. The package included a removable hard top and a folding soft top.

In the cabin, two telephones were installed in the doors, and a TV was installed in the dashboard. There were also combination locks in the doors, expensive finishing materials, air conditioning, an automatic fire extinguisher, electric seats and windows.

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