1976 Panther J72 Roadster
This is an extremely rare car built by the Panther West Winds Car Company that was located at the famous Brooklands race track in Surry, England. This car was acquired by the Scottsdale Classic car collection that I represent.
The Panther appearance is similar to the famous Jaguar 1930’s SS100 but it was never meant to be a replica, rather it is a hand built, all aluminum custom body roadster with fabulous 1930’s style. There’s a bit of confusion as to how many of these cars were built. Some sources say that approximately 426 were built but, other sources say approximately 376 were built. Regardless of which number you prefer to believe, these are very rare cars today.
Originally, Panther was delivered new with a Jaguar six-cylinder engine. The frame was a super quality, fully boxed tube unit that provided excellent strength. The original cars only drove “so-so” but they looked really cool and were very prestigious to own. Numerous Hollywood celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor just had to be seen in their Panther roadster.
It’s important to note that if you are a Panther “purest”, this car might not be the one you want because it had been extensively modified. This body #306 was acquired from the original owner in 2003 with less than 26,000 actual miles. However, the new owner was not happy with the reliability of the Jaguar components or the performance.
Jaguar engines look cool and sound great but, they can be unreliable and finicky. Additionally, it’s been getting more and more difficult to find mechanics capable to work on them.
So, in 2003 the second owner decided to do a complete restoration and turn this car into a more reliable, higher performance sports car than it originally was. Now it can run as good as it looks!
Out went the original components and the party started.
Modifications
Drive train
1968 Chevy 350 block w/4 bolt main cast crank balanced and blue printed.
TRW forged pistons w/moly rings.
Edelbrock parts include performer heads, hi-rise intake manifold with 650 CFM carb.
Polished water pump and chrome valve covers.
MSD ignition.
Griffin aluminum radiator.
Muncie 4-speed transmission.
Chevy rear end w/3.09 gears
Difficult to put a price on this one, due to the lack of Panthers to compare it to and none that we can find with this degree of expensive customization.
We think $62,500 is a reasonable place to start talking about it. Impossible to duplicate at this price!
