Panther cars!

[sierraman]

The Solo would have been terrible with the CVH engine, a really coarse unpleasant unit that wasn’t even that quick in it’s day.

There seemed a glut of these outfits like Rapport that specialised in really gaudy parade floats like Range Rovers with the gun racks and the hunters chair on the back. Obviously tailored to a certain market but very tacky and ‘of the time’.

Sadly I would imagine very few of Rapports efforts survive, they’d have been tossed aside after a few years as soon as they broke out in the Middle East. I don’t believe any Rapport Ritz survive at all. 

[quicksilver]

On 09/11/2023 at 14:21, motorpunk said:

Cool spot! I wonder if that's off to the classic car show at the NEC this weekend, perhaps for auction.

It was indeed going to the NEC, just seen it in dollywobbler's preview video on the Panther club stand. They've also got a Rio, the Castrol Lima, a De Ville and a lurid metallic green J72 there, so basically most of the cars discussed in this thread in one place.

[motorpunk]

15 minutes ago, quicksilver said:

It was indeed going to the NEC, just seen it in dollywobbler's preview video on the Panther club stand. They've also got a Rio, the Castrol Lima, a De Ville and a lurid metallic green J72 there, so basically most of the cars discussed in this thread in one place.

Great. I'm at the show prob Sat and definately all day Sunday, so will get some pics. 

If any other shiters are about, come and find me on the Absolute Lotus stand for a cuppa and talking of the bollocks.

[Macscrooge]

Not this then? 😀

[Richard_FM]

6 hours ago, Macscrooge said:

Not this then? 😀

The driver looked like a Kid who shopped at the same clothing stores as The Beach Boys!

[MiniMinorMk3]

Andy Gray had a Lima in 1980.

[MiniMinorMk3]

Here's a NEO 1/43rd resin cast of a Kalista 2.9i that was in my collection at one point.

[Captain Mainwaring]

On 08/11/2023 at 13:35, Spiny Norman said:

There was a convertible version of the De ville too.  Did they modify the Land Crab doors or are they from something else I wonder?
 

How did I miss this, I didn't know there was a convertible! IMHO that works so much better than the hard top. 

[Shep Shepherd]

Panther were also responsible for creation of the Vauxhall VX Prestige concept car, a car which was intended to take on the Ford Granada, had it made it into production:

It was used by Vauxhall for a while, after which it ended up in the wild, as per the photo. It was owned by the guy behind the Vauxpedia website for a bit (some GR9 content about it on there), but was probably scrapped years ago; its last tax disc expired in 1984, according to the DVLA. 

 

[cort1977]

On 10/11/2023 at 13:35, MiniMinorMk3 said:

I always thought the Panther Solo looked odd and quite ugly. 

No way! The solo looks amazing and I would love one. I am a tragic Ford licker though. 

There was a GT1 car by Sard which was essentially a stretched MR2 with a lexus V8 that looked similar, love them too.

https://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/a15635818/the-sard-mc8-is-the-v8-toyota-mr2-youve-never-heard-of/

[Shite Ron]

This is a great thread, Panther cars are fantastic in a mad way. How they even sold one Rio at the price they were is amazing. I love the Rio but there were far better cars at a fraction of their price when new, I am glad there were people with so much spare money to buy a few though. It was great to see the range at the NEC today.

[sierraman]

It’s hilarious they thought they’d sell any Rios at those prices. One cropped up for sale a few years ago but it looked rough as fuck. I’d imagine they’d rot like fuck underneath the aluminium panels. 

[quicksilver]

15 hours ago, Shep Shepherd said:

Panther were also responsible for creation of the Vauxhall VX Prestige concept car, a car which was intended to take on the Ford Granada, had it made it into production:

It was used by Vauxhall for a while, after which it ended up in the wild, as per the photo. It was owned by the guy behind the Vauxpedia website for a bit (some GR9 content about it on there), but was probably scrapped years ago; its last tax disc expired in 1984, according to the DVLA. 

 

Never heard of that but it sounds crap. Did they seriously think they could take on Jaguar with an underpowered, stretched and slightly restyled FE Victor? As Panther were involved, Jankel would probably want to sell it for eleventy million quid.

[MiniMinorMk3]

13 hours ago, Shite Ron said:

This is a great thread, Panther cars are fantastic in a mad way. How they even sold one Rio at the price they were is amazing. I love the Rio but there were far better cars at a fraction of their price when new, I am glad there were people with so much spare money to buy a few though. It was great to see the range at the NEC today.

 

Some people always want a bit of exclusivity. Panther was very much like Radford and Wood and Pickett.

Radford are well known for doing Minis and Shooting Brake conversions on Rolls and Astons, but they also did a conversion on the Alfa Romeo Giulia Coupe.

Wood and Pickett took this into the '70's with their Minis...

and Range Rovers, the pinnacle being the Sheer Rover

 

[sierraman]

Making nice cars look awful... 😂

[garethj]

2 hours ago, sierraman said:

Making nice cars look awful... 😂

Don’t knock it - that’s been BMW’s very successful business model since 2004.

[inconsistant]

Has also been Fiat’s facelift policy since the 90s

[garethj]

This video landed today, an amateur video about an amateur car.  Fabulous.

 

[warren t claim]

Beats a funky moped.

[anonymous user]

Always liked the look of them, tried a Lima years ago but was too tall/fat. Not tried a Kallista yet

[garethj]

Looks like one other person than me on the planet liked the Solo and made this Mini-derived version.  Although in the proud tradition of British engineering, it never got finished.

https://maximummini.blogspot.com/2019/06/mystery-mini-derivative-60.html?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2idrWSJ4ZNYE8FYue2ULCoMRW0sAYFGHq1yS9D6ayGp48G6BQWcapHVHo_aem_tKfykr44lUNh6Fl627ChTA&m=1

[grogee]

On 08/11/2023 at 09:21, anonymous user said:

If I remember correctly it had a compartment under the rear seat for his shotguns 

I had brief dealings with a SVO Range Rover special that included mahogany gun cases as standard. Can't remember what it was called. 

Made me feel a bit sick in my mouth. 

I also don't share the love for Panther, the 'Children's Film Foundation' of car manufacturer's. The pseudo-30s look just seems really naff, particularly when made from fibreglass. 

But I did get excited when reading about the Solo in the Eighties, and I share the view that the Rio is a good looking thing, if a bit of an own goal when priced higher than an XJ. 

[sierraman]

The 80’s were a bonanza of tasteless decadence so I guess the Panther fitted right in with the faux book VHS boxes and the alabaster base ornate telephone. 

[D.E]

This Panther I saw a few years ago is a rather strange one as it is registered as a 1989 J72, eight years after production ended.

On a side note, most of these neo classics (other marques such as Clenet as well) are usually quite pricey. This was 40k!

[DSdriver]

Where the styling went horribly wrong was the use of flat glass windscreens. I am surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet.