Dream cars: Panther Six

Four wheels good, six wheels better?

How many wheels should a car have? Most of you would agree that four is the right number but there have always been those people who think differently. There was never a more extreme expression of this idea than the absurd six-wheeled Panther Six, the closest thing ever made to a real-life version of Lady Penelope's FAB1 and something that wouldn't look at all out of place in a Gerry Anderson show. Normally I like subtlety and understatement in my favourite cars and don't go for showy types, but I can't help admiring the Panther Six for its sheer audacity: it is unashamedly vulgar and designed purely to attract attention, and is a magnificent monument to 1970s excess so I would find a place for one in my dream garage.

What do you do when four wheels just aren't enough? (Panther press photo via AROnline)

Robert Jankel was an unlikely car maker, having started his career as a fashion designer. Among the weird and wonderful things turned out by his Panther Westwinds company were the Rio, a hugely expensive aluminium-bodied Triumph Dolomite, the J72, a V12-engined vintage-style roadster inspired by the Jaguar SS100, and the De Ville, a massive luxury car that none-too-elegantly featured Austin Maxi doors, but the Six was the crowning glory. It should come as no surprise that the regular clientele for Panther's ostentatious creations included such flamboyant characters as Elton John and Oliver Reed, and the Six was conceived with the Middle Eastern market in mind.

The Tyrrell P34 provided the inspiration for the Panther Six
(By Russell Whitworth - Tyrrell P34-5 (Mauro Pane), CC BY-SA 2.0, Link)

The layout of the Panther, with four wheels at the front and two at the rear, is known in bus and truck circles as a 'Chinese six' and was inspired by the Tyrrell P34 Grand Prix car. In the Tyrrell's case, this was done to exploit a loophole in the rules that didn't state how many wheels were permitted and allowed smaller front wheels to give better aerodynamics. Jankel claimed the Six adopted this configuration for the same reason, but it seems more likely it was simply to be different and make a statement. He originally wanted tiny 10-inch rims on the front of the type used on the Mini, but no one was able to produce a tyre in this size capable of withstanding its claimed 200mph top speed so they were increased to 13 inches, with massive 16-inch versions at the back.

A very seventies interior but the digital dash was cutting-edge for the time
(Image: www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au)

Styled by Vauxhall's Wayne Cherry in his favoured wedge shape, it was a leviathan of a car, almost five metres long, and had a suitably huge powerplant to match. Jankel took the 8.2-litre V8 from the Cadillac Eldorado, the largest engine ever used in a front-wheel-drive car, and turned it round to mount it behind the seats and drive the rear wheels. Not content with such a big engine alone, he then added twin turbochargers to achieve an alleged maximum speed of no less than 200mph, although this has never been proven and Mr Jankel was prone to exaggeration so it may be a fanciful claim. The Six was the ultimate in luxury too: the air conditioning came from a truck and was powerful enough to work in the desert with the roof down, and the digital dashboard featured a built-in television and mobile phone, very advanced for 1977.

There's a twin-turbo V8 of 8.2 litres under that massive engine cover! This is the second, LHD car.
(Photo: Kidston SA)

Exclusivity was guaranteed by the £40,000 price tag, some 40% more than the most expensive Ferrari or Lamborghini, and despite Jankel claiming 15 orders had been taken at the 1977 Motor Show, just two Panther Sixes were ever built. The display car was a black RHD example and was the only one completed by the factory. An LHD one then appeared, which was either under construction when Panther went bust or there were enough spare parts left over for their buyer to build another complete car. To give the impression that more than these two cars existed, both were painted several different colours and this one apparently started life in metallic blue but is now black and white. It was offered at auction a few years ago and is currently owned by a collector, but rumours abound as to the fate of the original black car. Some say it is in the Middle East and is now fitted with a smaller engine, others claim it belongs to a millionaire of possibly Greek, Bulgarian or Turkish nationality and is rotting away in a container while its owner serves a substantial prison sentence, and a third theory suggests it languishes much closer to home, in a dismantled state in a barn in southern England.

The first Six at the factory with Limas and a J72 behind. Nobody seems sure what happened to this one.
(Photo via Panther Car' Club forum)

The Panther Six is certainly an enigmatic car surrounded by rumours and exaggerations, and one so completely over-the-top and unlike any other. It may be vulgar and ostentatious but that was the whole point and it did it in style: something totally extravagant, big, bold and brash for the ultimate extrovert with more money than taste. Although very different from my other dream cars, it's so much a product of its time and you have to admire the single-minded determination of the unique man who created it purely to outdo all other supercars, so for that reason I would make a rather large space in my fantasy garage for a Panther Six as a tribute to the late Robert Jankel and his lofty ambitions.