The Six-Wheeled Supercar From 1977!

The Six-Wheeled Supercar From 1977! In 1977, a British car designer named Robert Jankel created something that nobody had ever seen before: a six-wheeled supercar called the Panther 6. This wasn't just any car. It had four steering wheels in the front, two massive wheels in the back, a turbocharged Cadillac V8 engine producing 600 horsepower, and a top speed claimed to be over 200 mph. Only two were ever built, and this is their incredible story. Robert Jankel got his wild idea after watching a Formula 1 race in 1976. He saw the Tyrrell P34, a six-wheeled racing car, and thought: what if I could build something like this for regular people to drive on the street? He kept the project completely secret for nearly a year, working in a hidden workshop with a small team. Nobody knew what was coming. When it was finally finished, the Panther 6 shocked everyone with its futuristic design and incredible features. The engine was absolutely massive. Jankel took the biggest Cadillac V8 available, an 8.2-liter powerplant from the Eldorado, and bolted two turbochargers onto it. This created an unbelievable 600 horsepower and 600 pound-feet of torque. For comparison, some Formula 1 cars at that time weren't even producing that much power. The mid-engine layout meant Jankel had to completely redesign the Cadillac transmission to handle all that power. But what made the Panther 6 truly special wasn't just the engine. The inside was like nothing else in the 1970s. There was a built-in telephone in the driver's door panel. A television screen sat in the middle of the dashboard. The speedometer and gauges were all digital when most cars still had needle gauges. The seats and windows were electric, the air conditioning was powerful enough for desert heat, and there was even a fire extinguisher built in. It felt like driving a spaceship from Star Wars. The price reflected all this luxury and power: £39,950, which was more expensive than most Ferraris at the time. When Panther revealed the first car at the London Motorfair in October 1977, crowds went crazy. Reporters called it revolutionary and the car of the future. However, nobody actually ordered one. The high price and unusual six-wheel design meant only two were ever made. Both cars still exist today. One went to a Saudi Arabian royal family member and traveled the Middle East. The other had an even crazier journey, spending 15 years sitting in a Greek port before finally being restored. These two Panther 6s remain some of the rarest and most unique cars in the entire world, and they're still remembered as legends of 1970s automotive history. ____ We do not own the footages/images compiled in this video. It belongs to individual creators or organizations that deserve respect. By creatively transforming the footages from other videos, this work qualifies as fair use and complies with U.S. copyright law without causing any harm to the original work's market value. COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER: Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. _____