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