Exaggeration is also a profession. And sometimes even cool: the Panther Six.

You can exaggerate everything of course. But if you want to give the established Italian order in the supercar class a sensitive twist, you'll have to come up with something very special. Panther Westwinds Ltd did that in 1977 and in fact it was still a huge understatement for their Panther Six. Even the Thunderbirds clapped for a moment close to the first sight and hung limply and with nodding knees in their strings.

Creator and builder Robert Jankel pulled out all the stops and fully embraced his design. To start with the motorization. For that effeminate Italo-groan with 4 or 5 liter capacity he shrugged and mounted a Cadillac Eldorado V8 block with 8200 deeply gargling cc's in the back. With 2 bulky turbos, that'll do. The power now came to a sloppy 600 PK and the Six was the fastest of its time, with a top speed of 200 mph. At least they suspected that. In 1977 that was almost extraterrestrial.

That was even more true for his appearance, he was really nothing like his competition. That was of course due to its special 6 wheel configuration, especially inspired by the Tyrell P34 formula 1 car with 4 small wheels in front and the 2 usual jetsers behind. The idea behind this was that 4 smaller wheels experienced less air resistance than 2 large ones, there was more braking force (surface area) due to the 4 discs and more contact with the asphalt. Moreover, it had been thought that the front set of wheels would dry the road surface and wipe it clean for the rest, resulting in more traction and braking power. On paper, the Six therefore seemed unbeatable on all fronts. But that was the theory.

The special wheel configuration here mainly had an aesthetic function. Of the intended clientele, probably no one had the talent or the will to drive the thing up and down its theoretical boundaries. The money: the Six was 40% more expensive than the top Ferrari's and coolest Lamborghinis of those days. But you also attracted at least 40% more attention with this one mean machine, you certainly shouldn't be too shy about it. A Countach even seemed a bit ordinary next to this thing, as if the guy drove a Manta next to you. The prutser.

The extra price was also due to the excessive interior design. Not so much the materials, which had been picked in part clearly recognizable from the American GM boards. The thick front seat, the steering wheel and the gear lever on the steering column probably came from the same Cadillac who had donated his engine. The exclusive was mainly in the gadgets: digital dashboard with television, telephone built into the door, air conditioning of a truck and even an automatic fire extinguishing system were all fitted as standard and that put the competition at a considerable disadvantage. That was the intention in any case.

The Six was of course very progressive in the seventies, perhaps a bit too much. The practice turned out to be a lot more unruly than the extremely wild plans of Jankel, the technically skilled fashion designer who had previously produced the J72 and the De Ville. Initially, after the introduction of Jankels, 15 orders for the Six were secretly and hand-built. These fortunate and especially extroverted candidates, however, eventually had to divert to such an everyday 512 BB or Countach that the neighbor was already bored washing on his driveway every Saturday. Because the Six never came and the local tire farmer was very disappointed.

Pirelli could not or did not want to deliver the small 205 / 40VR13 front tires at the time production would commence. Moreover, Jankel's project for a conventional sedan, the Panther Rio, also failed. That was actually a heavily upgraded Triumph Dolomite, but still too recognizable as such. Hardly anyone fell for that money: it was more expensive than a Jaguar XJ12! After 35 Crazy Henkies the phone remained silent and the order book empty in Weybridge and Panther was forced to close the doors. Not much later there was a restart under the Korean flag, and Panther returned with the existing Lima and the new Kallista and Solo. But they just had 4 wheels. Bore.

As a result, only one Six was officially built. It is said that it still exists and is somewhere exclusive in the Middle East, probably on a heated marble floor and under a gold embroidered cloth. There is, however, a second copy in circulation that occasionally popped up at an auction or an exclusive dealer. The second copy was completed with the stock and spare parts of the first, right-hand drive Six. Apparently the stock was not entirely in order because there are quite big differences with number one. Which is great if the aforementioned neighbor suddenly manages to get the first one upside down.

For example, the second is left-hand drive. He also has two separate front seats and a much more conventional dashboard with normal counters, even quite messy. The lever of the automatic transmission is on this floor and no longer on the steering column. And where the first had a normal bonnet, the entire backside hinges up at number two. Where according to rumors the two turbos shine because of their absence ... Furthermore, it is white and chrome-free, where the first was black with a chrome front part. Clearly distinguishable. But the chance that you would confuse them in the parking lot of your Halfords was pretty small anyway. Or Buurman must have just parked it for a new bottle of car shampoo and a pile of cleaning rags. And a lot of tire black.

Photos: bonhams.com