The 1954 Packard Panther Convertible was bring on as a conception car with muscle . Packard also contrive the Panther with then - revolutionary materials in mind .
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Chevrolet was n’t the only major car maker monkey with the enjoyment of ice - reinforce credit card ( GRP ) in auto soundbox in the 1950s . Packard – which had considered using this then - radical textile as early as 1941 , mainly as a mean value of continue auto output in the face of wartime blade shortages – was dabbling in the field , too .
In 1953 , the caller again view using the cloth and decided to establish a two - buttocks convertible athletics railcar with a GRP body .
Packard ’s chief stylist , Richard A. Teague , was given the task of hurriedly style the elevator car . No time was allowed for him to construct a full - size of it mock - up , so management approved his pattern directly from a small one - sided model .
A running version was completed in 1954 , using the 127 - in wheelbase chevalier frame and the metal floorpan common to all Packards of that year .
It was primitively to be called " Grey Wolf II , " after Packard ’s noted 1903 race car . But upper management did n’t like the name ’s intension , so " Panther " was chosen or else .
To impart its monumental " sport car " some performance certification , Packard gave the Panther a 359 - cubic inch straight eight , the bountiful locomotive engine usable . The first two railroad car got McCulloch motor superchargers , boosting the engine ’s output signal to 275 horsepower .
Despite the car ’s rather generous dimensions , it actually performed well , at least in a straight line . With no major modification other than a pocket-size racing windshield , Panther Number 2 went 131.1 mph at Daytona Beach , Florida , an unofficial class record .
But at last , the Panther was overshadow by Packard ’s many other woefulness , relegating the car to a sidebar in the last chapter of the venerable fellowship ’s history .
Only four Panthers were made , all of them essentially hand - build prototypes . Packard never seriously considered putting the railcar into production , despite lowering lobbying by one of its distributors .
Today people ’s ruling of the Panther seem to be assorted . Packard partisan will broadly speaking admit that the front end is not particularly refined but consider the rest of the car sleek and interesting .
Designer Richard Teague was n’t so tolerant . In 1986 , he said of the Panther , " I ca n’t support it . But then , I did n’t care anything I did . "
All four Panthers are believe to still live . The fluent example designate here is the first one . It is owned by the Mitchell Corporation of Owosso , which finished the body and interiors for the Panthers . The car , bear supply Mitchell nameplate , is presently put up in the company ’s private museum in Owosso , Michigan .
