Do you ever take a look at a few of right now’s unimaginative supercar startups, firms that assume they’re actually pushing boundaries however are literally barely touching them, and need they’d go just a little loopy, put their enterprise capital cash the place their mouth is, and makes one thing actually outrageous?

And I’m not speaking about turning the identical previous wedgy supercar package deal into an EV, or making a non-driving one-off particular for the present circuit. I imply one thing actually loopy like a six-wheel, 200-mph convertible that appears just like the lovechild of an offshore powerboat and a BMW M1 that you could truly purchase and drive.

In 1977 Panther Westwinds did precisely that. Panther and its founder Robert Jankel are each attention-grabbing sufficient to warrant posts in their very own proper, however the tough define is that the corporate burst onto the bespoke automobile scene in early Seventies Britain the place it made a reputation for itself with the J72, a dear sports activities automobile constructed across the mechanicals of the up to date Jaguar XJ sedan, however styled to seem like Jaguar’s SS100 two-seater of the Nineteen Thirties.

An equally retro Panther De Ville sedan impressed by the pre-war Bugatti Royale limousine adopted, as did a second, smaller Nineteen Thirties-style sports activities automobile, the Lima. After which there was the Panther Rio, a misguided try to show Triumph’s Dolomite sedan right into a bonsai Bentley.

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F1’s Boldest Interval Offered Inspiration

However there was nothing backward trying concerning the Panther 6, except you remembered the pink monstrosity pushed by Girl Penelope’s chauffeur, Parker, within the Nineteen Sixties sci-fi puppet present Thunderbirds. Jankel although, by no means urged that the 6 drew from Thunderbirds’ Fab 1, or that he’d arrived on the idea after a three-day cocaine-fulled after-show social gathering session with Led Zeppelin, regardless of the completed product may lead you to think about. As a substitute, it was impressed by the P34, an experimental six-wheeled single-seat racer then being campaigned with some success by Tyrrell in System 1.

Just like the P34, the 6 had 4 small wheels on the entrance and two on the again. And in contrast to Panther’s different vehicles, this one had its engine mounted behind the entrance seats. That engine began life as an 8.2-liter Cadillac V8, the sort that made simply 190 hp in an emissions-emasculated Eldorado. However de-smogged and twin-turbocharged for the 6 it made a reputed 600 hp, and supposedly despatched the leather-lined aberration to 200 mph (322 km/h), which was conveniently increased than every other Seventies supercar may handle, and also-conveniently by no means substantiated. Jankel cherished publicity.

Six Wheels Or Two Porsches?

All the things concerning the 6 was excessive. It value £39,995 in 1977 (£254k/$348k right now), which might have purchased two Porsche 911 Turbos or one and half Lamborghinis. It had the air con system from a truck to make sure the Arab consumers who may afford it may keep cool even with the highest down, and there have been two telephones, one in every armrest, and a TV within the dashboard.

Talking to reporters on the 1977 London Motorfair, Panther claimed to have taken order for eight vehicles, although solely two have been constructed earlier than the corporate went stomach up. Jankel turned his consideration to his separate coachbuilding firm and went on to forge a profitable profession creating particular undertaking vehicles for the likes of Bentley and Rolls Royce within the days earlier than they introduced these actions in-house. He died in 2005 however the Jankel Group continues to be round and closely concerned with closely armoring autos for armed forces and safety providers around the globe.

As for the 6, the unique right-hand drive present automobile is believed to be within the Center East, whereas the second automobile, seen right here in white, was rescued from close to abandonment and restored within the 2000s. So far as we will inform it final modified fingers a decade in the past promoting at a Bonhams public sale for $47,995, which looks as if a discount for a automobile with a lot historical past and head-turning potential.

Too Wild For Its Personal Good

However possibly now, because it was in 1977, the 6 is just too loopy. All people likes the thought of turning heads in a supercar, of showing courageous and assured, however when was the final time you examine a supercar that actually seemed prefer it was breaking the mildew the least bit past being sooner than what has gone earlier than?

We’re nonetheless beholden to the identical structure and fundamental form laid out by the Lamborghini Countach half a century in the past. The Countach shocked – it even earned its identify, a Piedmontese expression, on the again of its skill to do exactly that. And so did the Panther 6 shock. Fashionable supercars? Not a lot. Perhaps we’ll have to attend for the likes of XPeng to come back good on their flying automobile guarantees earlier than the supercar world will get an actual shake-up.