Panther 6

[Tayne]

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[Mash]

Here it is:

 

 

[barrett]

The Six is great and everything, but i think the Rio is the only good-looking car they ever made, despite the dodgy grille. I guess i'm alone in that thought judging by the enthusiasm on this thread.....

[garethj]

I also like the Panther Solo, the page on wiki actually has a very comprehensive ID of who they belong to and what plates they have.

Wow, another person who's even heard of it :wink:When I was studying Engineering at Uni I got an IMechE publication about the carbon fibre monocoque of the Panther Solo and of course it was in quite a few car magazines at the time. Our man Trigger has been a star and scanned some in when I asked http://www.flickr.com/photos/triggersca ... 823219154/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/triggersca ... 823311412/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/triggersca ... 823469302/

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Has anyone else got any gen on the man Filby? Whats he doing now? He is a veritable DOYEN of shite i'd say.

Up until 18 months ago Filby, ably assisted by Sally Mitchell, was running Which Kit Car? magazine and promoting a number of kit car events but after a couple of wash-outs and subsequent event cancellations along with his involvement in the Python Cobra kit project he sold out to the publishers and Complete Kit car was born out of what was WKC headed up by Ian Stent, another kit car journo of many years standing.I've not seen Peter Filby at any recent kit car events but if I remember rightly he was looking for info for a TVR book he was working on, and I believe he is still involved in automotive book distribution.

Cheers for that! i'd love to know a bit more about the man, he must have spent a whole life around shite, and has written some pretty well regarded books on the subject. There also seems to be an interesting story between him and some 'Den Tanner' fella who runs one of the kit car mags, this Tanner guy goes to extreme lenghts to publicly give him a right old long, boring and childish-sounding verbal drubbing on his website.

[Tonka]

I've had dealings with both Peter Filby and Den Tanner over the last few years (was accosted by Den at the NEC last month) and our Club even provided the marshals for Den's show at Stafford in September.I have a great deal of respect for Peter Filby I remember his "kit-snips" in Hot Car in the 70's, sadly whenever you have two mags targetting the same audience there's bound to be friction and a bit of "ner-ner" instead of just getting on and letting their readers decide whether to buy one or both, far too much space was devoted to a subject nobody had any interest in any more.I have to keep friends with all the kit car mags as we rely heavily on them for sponsoring the Club by way of prizes and lots of free advertising when they feature the daft things we have been up to!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Hey i remember this other mental panther from my 'A-Z of cars of the seventies', this exact pic in fact:

 

 

Hey seemingly it lives in Iran now!

 

[Ratdat]

Cheers for that! i'd love to know a bit more about the man, he must have spent a whole life around shite, and has written some pretty well regarded books on the subject. There also seems to be an interesting story between him and some 'Den Tanner' fella who runs one of the kit car mags, this Tanner guy goes to extreme lenghts to publicly give him a right old long, boring and childish-sounding verbal drubbing on his website.

Haha, WTF!? I've just been reading a bit of Tanners "Filby files" on the kit-cars website. Man, those two should just go toe-to-toe and get their differences sorted the traditional way!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Yeah and then post it up on You Tube! BARE KNUCKLE KIT CAR FIGHTERS SLUG IT OUT (views: 2)

[pogweasel]

Hey, I tried to look at that KIT FIGHT, but going via google, the site tried to download something to my computer, some "antivirus" virus bollocks.

[Ratdat]

Dug these out of my magazine stash. Both from 1980. There's some right chod in them. I might have to get some scans up

 

 

[scruff]

They look great, love to see more

[Tonka]

Sadly I have to admit to having purchased a few copies of Alternative Cars in recent years just for the Jago features and adverts contained within. Ratdat , don't know if you will remember me from Thoresby Jap show in 2008 I was stood talking to you in the rain next to my Honda S-MX.

[Ratdat]

Sadly I have to admit to having purchased a few copies of Alternative Cars in recent years just for the Jago features and adverts contained within. Ratdat , don't know if you will remember me from Thoresby Jap show in 2008 I was stood talking to you in the rain next to my Honda S-MX.

I certainly do!

[Torsten2001]

Worthy as the six might be, but has anyone seen a Panther Rio in the flesh?

Unbelievably there was one I used to see doing a school run in the early 90's in Keston, I used to have to pinch myself on a daily basis, stunning piece of kit in metallic marron driven by a frustrated housewife and filled with kids

[andrew e]

Hey i remember this other mental panther from my 'A-Z of cars of the seventies', this exact pic in fact:

 

 

Hey seemingly it lives in Iran now!

 

Pug 504 coupe headlights?

 

Didn't Filby publish a piece about a factory Pilgrim Cobra (Tanner's company at the time) going to court for construction issues? A piece I wrote got a snippets name check in Which kit [/ego mode off] I love my stash of 80's kitcar magz. There used to be a great bit on www.totalkitcar.com "The ones that got away.

[RedSparrow]

That Panther Laser thing looks brilliant.I'm sure I had a matchbox car like that but a hardtop when I were a lad.

[Tonka]

Ironically Den has recently bought back Pilgrim Cars, presumably to save it from going under.

[Tayne]

.

[Guest]

What about the Solo? The Solo was awesome!

[wuvvum]

Doing a Google search for more pictures of the 6, I came across this ridiculous creation.

 

 

It's electric, too - at least the 6 had a proper engine.

[Guest]

I've always liked this car from seeing the review in 1977 in 'Motor'. Looking at at now, it does seem a bit odd. Not sure about the white one, it looks even more tarty than the original and the bumpers make it look like a kit car.

 

I wrote to Jankel (who made and designed it) many years back and he told me that there was really only 1 Panther 6 made, the other ‘incomplete’ non-turbo model was made from spares left in the factory after the project was cancelled and pretty well given away to the workers. It also missed many of interior parts like the tv and displays. This is likely to be that one and it has been doing the rounds for quite some time, being heavily refurbished into its present form in Canada some years back. The other one, the 'original', having gone though a few Sheiks, ended up with a Bankrupt Greek Shipping Mogul. And by all accounts, has been locked in a container there to this day.

 

PS, The easy way to tell which ones which in photos is the first one is UK spec and second is US spec ie left hand drive (though having said that, it could have been modified, as they've messed around with the rest of it pretty thoroughly).

 

PPS, I've got many more photos and info on the cars if anyone is wants them?

[garethj]

PPS, I've got many more photos and info on the cars if anyone is wants them?

Hell yeah

 

Welcome btw

[CreepingJesus]

I didn't know about this one at all; and I thought the Panther Solo was eccentric/exclusive!

Mind you, in terms of legendary 70's Top Trumps cars, there's the Monteverdi Hai. Wasn't just the one of those produced?

[Electric Leyland]

PPS, I've got many more photos and info on the cars if anyone is wants them?

 

Can't wait!!!

 

Very promising first post, welcome.

 

I didn't know about this one at all; and I thought the Panther Solo was eccentric/exclusive!

Mind you, in terms of legendary 70's Top Trumps cars, there's the Monteverdi Hai. Wasn't just the one of those produced?

 

2 were made, both with slightly different names (450SS and 450 GTS).

 

Apparently in the 1990s two replicas weer made from from spare parts that now reside in the official Museum in Basel-Binningen. I'm surprised they had them lying around for 25 years, obviously not much housekeeping done in that factory.

[ChinaTom]

Doesn't the Sultan of Brunei have a Hai? I may be confusing it with the Sierra limo though

[Barry Cade]

Mind you, in terms of legendary 70's Top Trumps cars, there's the Monteverdi Hai. Wasn't just the one of those produced?

 

Didn't they take off if driven a bit quickly?

[Flying Kiwi]

Always loved this car and the concept of it.  Saw in in a Look & Learn in the late 70's of the latest supercar that was coming out soon....  As a 10 year old this was my dream car, couldn't wait for it's launch and determined that one day I WOULD own one....  Look's like the only way that could happen is if I did something crazy like drop a v8 into a Toyota MR2 and add a second chopped off front

Here "down under" in New Zealand, the land of "the number 8 wire", we do all sort's of crazy shit with cars, possibly one day if have the time and spare funds I'll finally get my "Super Sixer". This vehicle, "The Card Car", I put together on a whim,  but that exercise was a little cheaper.