We have featured a few of these fish-faced frencies before. Love ’em or hate ’em, there is no denying that the Panhard Dyna was one of the most unique cars ever built. They can be hard to find on these shores, but one man in Port Ludlow, Washinton has accumulated four of them and has now listed the lot here on eBay in various states of disrepair.
The styling was not for everyone, but there was some interesting technology lurking under the skin. Fully independent suspension and hydraulic brakes may be commonplace now, but they were unheard of in the fifties. The Dyna came standard with those and the early cars were even fitted with lightweight alloy bodies. Power was provided by a tiny twin-cylinder engine which was air-cooled and placed way out front to provide more room for the six people ridding inside.
You are going to have to really love these cars to purchase this stash. There are four cars, two alloy bodied and two steel. One of them is sitting inside and others are out in the backyard. Only one has a title, but there is a bus full of parts. We would not even know where to start with this project. You could pick the best one and attempt a restoration, or if you already own a Dyna, just buy them all for spares.
“…hydraulic brakes may be commonplace now, but they were unheard of in the fifties.” Huh? Which century are you referring to?
Caught me there! Hydraulic brakes have been around for a long time, but full independent suspension was a rare thing back then.
ship them to france cod.
They look like they could be a salt flat car !
These cars were relative hotrods in their days – the 850 CC flat aircooled twin with 4 speed FWD put out 40 hp in the standard model, 50 hp in the Tigre model with a bigger carb and different cam. So this engine outperformed the early VW bugs on 2 fewer cylinders, were capable of 90 mph and space for 4-5 passengers in considerably more room than a Bug. Believe it or not, if you research the inventions of Da Vinci, you will find his design for a very low friction rollerbearing in the archives, invented around 1451!!! So Panhard, being French, and Da Vinci living in his last home in the Loire valley of France, the dual diameter rollerbearing came to be used first in the conrod bearings of these small but powerful engines, while the crank bearings are larger conventional rollerbearings – no shell bearings here and very little drag. BTW, for the Detroit crowd, this engine was a Hemi in the late ’40s – nothing new about the hemispherical combustion chamber, and the valves of the Panhard were sprung not with coil springs, but torsionbars, for near zero recprocating mass. These little buggers could rev very freely and pull strongly at 70 mph. I was clocked at 85 on Rte 23 in Michigan in my 1959 Dyna Z16 by a friend in his Chrysler, and I wasn’t flat out. Oh, the car also gets 40 mpg – no need for a hybrid here. A racer on the W coast gets 100 hp out of his engines – when he can keep them together!
LOAD THEM ALL UP IN THE BUS–AND DRIVE THEM OFF A CLIFF—
do some research and find how advanced these cars were you would probably rubish d model Citroen,s as most people who have never had any thing to do with them do.
…someone out there has been waiting patiently for these to show up for sale! …not sure if it’s because he has one he’s trying to finish, or if he will make wall art out of them, but I just know that there is a “driver” for even the weirdest stuff!! I wonder how many of these might still be on the road today?
Ebay does have spell check. What’s with the last line in the presentation “ass u me”….?
Panhards are neat looking. Do a search and find a complete one that has been restored. Nice styling. Not your cup o’ tea? So be it……………
My take on the guy is he is a dreamer, thinking he would restore one….nay, all of these.
Aluminum bodies on two……that is something.
Nice Car’s with exotic technique.
I had a Volvo Aamzon B18B and a Panhard Pl17B.
The panhard PL17 is faster and better handling as the Volvo up to 75mph.
the dimensions of the cars are almost the same.
Parts are still good availble. Only original pistons and cranckshafts are a problem.
But there are aftermarket cranshafts and pistons. Only not compatible but the original Panahard pistons / cranckshafts.