Panther-Callista Sports Roadster

While walking through the streets of Kartaromana, we met a rather rare rare sports car of the British company Panther-Westwinds.

Robert Jankel (1938-2005) built his first car in 1954, as a student of engineering College in Chelsea. The young man got into the hands of a broken Ostin-7, on the basis of which he created his first design, which determined his further occupation. after graduating from College, he worked for a long time in the design company Goldenfields, which was engaged in the production of custom limousines based on the rolls-Royce chassis.

Yankel's works have always attracted the attention of wealthy car enthusiasts for their originality and unconventional approach to design, which eventually prompted him to create his own company. In 1971, Yankel founded the company Panther-Westwinds, and a year later released a luxury Roadster "J-72", stylized as a pre-war sports Jaguar SS-100, built on modern units of the same Jaguar Cars. Despite the high price, twice the cost of a serial "Jaguar", the car immediately gained popularity, and was produced until 1981, a total of 386 copies were sold.

После J-72 последовало несколько оригинальных и очень дорогих моделей, выпускавшихся совсем маленькими партиями, а в 1976 году Янкель запустил в серию относительно недорогой спортивный олдтаймер "Лайма" (Panther Lima). Ходовая часть строилась с использованием агрегатов Vauxhall моделей Viva и Magnum и имела кузов из стеклопластика.

Despite the fact that the car was a commercial success and 897 units were produced until 1982, the financial Affairs of Panther Westwings were not important, in 1979 the company declared bankruptcy and was bought by the South Korean industrial group SsangYong. The new owners did not change the trademark and in 1981 modernized the lime tree, giving it the name "Panther Callista".

The new model received a Ford V6 2.8 engine and a light aluminum alloy body on a tubular frame, thanks to which it has a light weight and excellent dynamics, accelerating to 60 mph (96.6 km/h) in 8 seconds. The car was produced until 1990, but never gained popularity of its predecessor, a total of 73 pieces were sold.

And Robert Yankel, having failed in business, focused on design - his company, called "Yankel Group", collaborated with Rolls-Royse, Jaguar, Bentley, Mercedes-Benz, fulfilling orders for the development of non-standard cars, from 1995 until his death Yankel was engaged in the development of special vehicles for the London police, built on the basis of Ford and GM. In 2001, he bought the rights to the trademark from the Koreans, planning to revive the brand with a new sports supercar, which was supposed to be produced with the United States, but did not have time to finish work on this project.