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Panther Solo 2
Panther Solo
A “could have been” that never really took of. It was presented in 1987 as an AWD mid engined sportscar by the British Panther company, which at that time was already owned by a Korean industrialist. It was actually called the Solo 2 as the Solo 1 was a 1600 cc prototype, which was unlikely to be able to compete with Toyota’s MR2 and was therefore abandoned.
The new car featured an aluminium and carbonfibre monocoque. Propulsion was done by a 2 litre turbocharged Ford Sierra inline four, giving about 200 bhp. Zero to hundred was said to be done within 7 seconds and topspeed was about 235 kph.
Despite these promising specs the car was not a success. Some sources say 34 examples exist, other mention that only 12 were ever sold. No further cars were produced by Panther after this.
Shown is an example presented in one of the second floor halls at the Essen Technoclassica in 2004
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what a great story. is panther featured on ucp?
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[QUOTE=TVR IS KING]what a great story. is panther featured on ucp?[/QUOTE]
it is now:D
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[QUOTE=henk4]No further cars were produced by Panther after this.[/QUOTE]
what about panther solo 3?
[img]http://www.mcarsweb.com/panther/solo3.jpg[/img]
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that indeed is confusing as you publish the only pic available of the Solo 3. Nowhere could I find any description of the technical differences between the 2 and 3, and reported production figures vary between 40 and 12, and sometimes 12 is being related to the 3. The "Panther club homepage" also does not provide much info.
The car in my pic was reported sold earlier this year for 14,000 pound.
Any further info would be welcome, it is always nice to solve mysteries:)
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i don't have any info about that car right now as well, but what i think is that panther solo 3 was only a solo ii with some minor changes to make it look more attractive
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i have a solo
solo 1 from what i have heard got cut into 4 parts and they were then used to make the mock up of the solo 2.
there are about 25 ish solo 2 cars around but only around 13/14 were sold to customers the rest came from pre production cars made for crash testing, customer test drives etc i think most of these pre production cars were given away to people of panther car company. i have read also that one was converted to run a rover v8 and be rear wheel drive but i think it got shipped to korea/japan when panther closed its doors.
solo 3 in the picture is really a solo 2 in a dress ! the koreans had some of the english panther workers shipped over to refit it as a prototype solo 3 which was planned to have a merc v8 planted into it. i have tried to find out details about it and think its in the korean car makers collection somewhere no dont never to be seen again.
if anyone else knows anything about the cars would be great to hear from them , my solo2 is number 24.
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Welcome to UCP, and congratulations on this rara avis. Judging from the picture there are some more examples existing? Any idea how many? Is there a chassis register? and for most of us, how does it/she actually drive?
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The Panther Solo 3 looks like it was taken on a Ssangyong stand (or at least nearby). As that is what the badge is on the right hand side of the picture.
I would suggest perhaps the photo was taken in the early 1990's.
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solo
she drives great, can be a bit load at times but a great car with lots of space inside. im still fixing her up really and finding out what parts came from wear as most bits seem to come from ford or other companies like the front indictor lights are off a alfa spider!
and yes panther was taken over by sangyong they have a link to the solo3
[URL="http://www.smotor.com/en/overview/solo3.jsp"]http://www.smotor.com/en/overview/solo3.jsp[/URL]
there is also a solo le mans car but no idea if that has anything to do with the panther solo
[URL="http://www.smotor.com/en/overview/solo_lemans.jsp"]http://www.smotor.com/en/overview/solo_lemans.jsp[/URL]
for a list of solo 2 cars best look at this link
[url=http://www.pantherclub.co.uk/Georges/solo/solo.htm]Another Solo joins the Club...[/url]
my car is number 24 the green one
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Thanks, the "smotor" links seem not to be in working order, at least here.
On the basis of the chassis list, is the car shown in the first post chassis #15?
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a warm welcome to ucp, and nice car too!
thanks for the additional info :)
EDIT: first two links are dead here
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sorry about the links to smotor hope they dont scrap these pages but anyway i think numbers 1 to 19 or 20 were the pre production cars used for the crash testing etc so i think numbers 1 - 10 may well be very dead.
some sad news i did hear was when the koreans closed the panther uk site and wanted to change production to korea just about all spares and tooling was taken including 150 sets of recaro (sorry my spelling is bad) to korea. this is when solo 3 was pushed and when no one paid attention they scrapped everything and put it into landfil! only thing to still be around is the solo 3 prototype somewhere i think.
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here are some images of the my car while when i started work on it
note as well how they have to place the motor in at an angle !
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Wow, welcome to UCP, Congratz on driving a piece of automotive history! ;)
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[quote=dydzi;416207]what about panther solo 3?
[img]http://www.mcarsweb.com/panther/solo3.jpg[/img][/quote]
[quote=IBrake4Rainbows;891921]The Panther Solo 3 looks like it was taken on a Ssangyong stand (or at least nearby). As that is what the badge is on the right hand side of the picture.
I would suggest perhaps the photo was taken in the early 1990's.[/quote]
yeah looks like it was taken in the early 90's. the Terminator is standing right there.
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[quote=henk4;416211]that indeed is confusing as you publish the only pic available of the Solo 3. Nowhere could I find any description of the technical differences between the 2 and 3, and reported production figures vary between 40 and 12, and sometimes 12 is being related to the 3. The "Panther club homepage" also does not provide much info.
The car in my pic was reported sold earlier this year for 14,000 pound.
Any further info would be welcome, it is always nice to solve mysteries:)[/quote]
back in the 80's i was part of the team that built the first "solo" 2 working many a long day and night getting it ready for the frankfirt motor show ,at the time panther were owned by yc kim and the car was designed by ken greedly from the royal collage of art auto motive dept.loads of silly storys and a large number of photos of the car in stages of build,the owner of the company and the designer, also the factory inside the brooklands raceing track in westbyefeet in surrey.if any one wants to know more or see the photos just ask . cheers.
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[quote=bigstue;894971]back in the 80's i was part of the team that built the first "solo" 2 working many a long day and night getting it ready for the frankfirt motor show ,at the time panther were owned by yc kim and the car was designed by ken greedly from the royal collage of art auto motive dept.loads of silly storys and a large number of photos of the car in stages of build,the owner of the company and the designer, also the factory inside the brooklands raceing track in westbyefeet in surrey.if any one wants to know more or see the photos just ask . cheers.[/quote]
yes please! please just post them here.
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[quote=panthersolo;891911]solo 1 from what i have heard got cut into 4 parts and they were then used to make the mock up of the solo 2.
there are about 25 ish solo 2 cars around but only around 13/14 were sold to customers the rest came from pre production cars made for crash testing, customer test drives etc i think most of these pre production cars were given away to people of panther car company. i have read also that one was converted to run a rover v8 and be rear wheel drive but i think it got shipped to korea/japan when panther closed its doors.
solo 3 in the picture is really a solo 2 in a dress ! the koreans had some of the english panther workers shipped over to refit it as a prototype solo 3 which was planned to have a merc v8 planted into it. i have tried to find out details about it and think its in the korean car makers collection somewhere no dont never to be seen again.
if anyone else knows anything about the cars would be great to hear from them , my solo2 is number 24.[/quote]
hi , your lucky to have a solo 2 ,i was part of the team that built the first solo 2, i have a photo of me sitting in the solo 1 at the time we built the solo 2,we didnt cut it up to make the prototype ! totaly differnt car, have phoots of the build ,the owner ,yc kim and the designer ken greedly if your intrested?
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[quote=panthersolo;891951]here are some images of the my car while when i started work on it
note as well how they have to place the motor in at an angle ![/quote]
wow nice to see the actuall production car ! i have simular photos of the original one beeing built!
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[quote=cmcpokey;894973]yes please! please just post them here.[/quote]
ok will dig them out and scan them in .!
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[quote=cmcpokey;894973]yes please! please just post them here.[/quote]
I concur 100%....(and welcome to UCP).
If you post them through the attachment system, they are here to stay....
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[quote=bigstue;894971]back in the 80's i was part of the team that built the first "solo" 2 working many a long day and night getting it ready for the frankfirt motor show ,at the time panther were owned by yc kim and the car was designed by ken greedly from the royal collage of art auto motive dept.loads of silly storys and a large number of photos of the car in stages of build,the owner of the company and the designer, also the factory inside the brooklands raceing track in westbyefeet in surrey.if any one wants to know more or see the photos just ask . cheers.[/quote]
hi, id love to see the pictures you have, i will try and add the pics i have somewhere from when i was 10 to see the cars being made in harlow and whos knows you may be in one.
have you any idea on where some of the parts were from ? i have a list of things from other cars like some alfa spider light clusters, lotus motors for head lights and the mix of ford parts in switches and front suspension but no idea about the rears. i keep looking and thinking the windscreen is from the old panther 6?
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Here's my new purchase.
1990 Panther Solo 2 , number 27 on the bodywork it says!
[IMG]http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk237/JollyJeweller/P1.jpg[/IMG]
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Congratulations on a special vehicle.
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Welcome Jolly, Looking forward to additional shots.
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[quote=henk4;897425]Welcome Jolly, Looking forward to additional shots.[/quote]
[IMG]http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk237/JollyJeweller/Panther3.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk237/JollyJeweller/Panther4.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk237/JollyJeweller/Panther5.jpg[/IMG]
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thanks, looks great, what miles has it covered so far? Any further plans with the car?
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Hi, I've just come across this website and am delighted to find a few people discussing the Panther Solo 2. I'm fortunate enough to be the 3rd person on this thread to actually own a Solo, mine being No 22, which I believe was the second or third customer car.
I've had the car for about a year and a half and can honestly say I've never driven anything like it - for mostly positive reasons. As a driver's car it is amazing if quite heavy to drive (due to no power steering), but it's grip and balance puts my old Evo 6 completely in the shade, something I'd never have thought possible without driving them both.
Cheers, Slowboy
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Welcome to UCP and congrats on a very interesting purchase.
Any pictures that you have that could supplement what has already been posted would be greatly appreciated. ;)
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Hi, most people who see a Solo in the metal (or epoxy / glassfibre in the case of the Solo) often comment on its unusual shape and proportions. My brother probably captures the sentiment best when he says that it looks as if the front (rounded and sleek) and back (square and festooned with ducts) were designed for 2 different cars. The pictures I have included hopefully give some sense of this difference.
Cheers Slowboy
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Your right Slowboy. He did a good job on the photography of the Solo.
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Typical 90's concept car look to the Solo! Certainly not ugly though. Panther used to sell the Kallista in New Zealand in the 1990's. Can't have been much of a success though cause I've never seen one..
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Wonderful shots, it really is similar in styling to Toyota's MR2. I'm only familiar with the J72 and Kallista (a neighbor had one) and find it interesting they took on a project like this. So... several :D questions: Were they priced to compete with the MR2?
Are they steel or GRP, and tubbed or tube framed? How many are still in use?
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Hi csl177, a lot of people comment on the similarity to the MR2, although the Solo was built to compete with the Lotus Esprit and (rather optimistically) Porsche 911 of the late 80's and early 90's, rather than the cheaper MR2.
The basic price of a Solo in 1990 was almost £40k or nearly £80k in today's money. At the same time the Lotus Esprit Turbo was about £33k. Road tests of this period spoke in glowing terms of the Solo's grip, handling and fine ride all of which many felt eclipsed both the Lotus and the Porsche, but were, at the same time very scathing of the lack of refinement of the rough Ford Cosworth engine which for some ruined the car.
A surprising fact is that the car achieved its amazing roadholding and fine ride without the use of antiroll bars (sway bars) at either end - very unusual.
The body structure broke new ground in the late 80's by incorporating formula racing technology in a road car for the first time. The key breakthrough area was the development of a woven glass fibre / kevlar reinforced epoxy driver / passenger cell which was bonded to a steel floor and front / rear bulkhead structure. The rear double wishbone suspension and engine were carried on / in a steel spacefame structure which was attached to the rear bulkhead. The front strut suspension was attached to a more conventional steel front bay which incorporated advanced steel box section crush zones.
All external panels are high impact resistant woven glass fibre / epoxy, except the rear wing and rear bumper and on most cars you can see the woven glass pattern through the paint in some light conditions.
I believe that 12 customer cars were built during 1990, with a total of about 14 being eventually sold to customers (the extra 2 being an ex-demonstrator and a road test car). There were also a few development cars that have ended up in a number of museums around the world. Since 1990 at least 2 of the cars sold to customers have been written off, leaving no more than 12 still on the road, with the majority of the surviving cars in the UK.
Cheers
Slowboy
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Many thanks Slowboy, I've since gone searching for more on the Solo.
Considering the climate of the time, it's amazing they tried to market the car at all, let alone at the price point. Nonetheless, a substantial car compared to the neo-classics Panther originally marketed. Too bad they couldn't bring it in for half the actual cost, it probably would have done well.
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Thanks for nice info slowboy.:D
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csl177, your comment on pricing is absolutely right, based on the combination of market conditions, competition, marque reputation and the inconsistent quality of the customer cars meant that it was too highly priced for the time. Interestingly, when the car debuted at the Frankfurt motorshow in 1987 the anticipated selling price was £28k, but problems in productionising the car resulted in the increased in price.
Unfortunately, the Solo 2 was probably always destined to fail, as I have read that the complexity of the glass / kevlar / aluminium honeycomb / epoxy and steel passenger cell resulted in the production costs of this item alone being in the region of £75k! or £35k more than the final selling price of the car. Sadly and not surprisingly the Solo 2 was the last model Panther ever made.
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just in terms of styling (and who imitated who), the "lookalike" MR2 Mk2 appeared in 1989, so when was the styling for Solo 2 completed? Does it differ much from the 1987 Solo 1, never seen any picture of that.
And welcome, Slowboy. (I hope this name refers to your "other" car)
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henk4, in terms of timing, the design of the Solo 2 was finalised, bar a few minor tweeks by the time of the 1987 Frankfurt motor show so predates the MR2 Mk2 by 18 months or so.
The design of the Solo 1 broke cover in the UK press in late 1984 and was a smaller simpler mid engined sports car with none of the wings, scoops and vents of the later car. Pictures of this original car can be found near the bottom of the attached link.
[url=http://www.pantherclub.co.uk/Georges/solo/solo.htm]Another Solo joins the Club...[/url]