As we all know, the French more or less stopped making interesting cars a couple of decades ago, with just a few exceptions such as the Renault Avantime and Vel Satis, the Peugeot 406 Coupé and…well, that’s about it. Yet through most of the 20th Century, some of the most original, most interesting and at times eccentric cars made anywhere came out of France, and here at ViaRETRO we’re big fans of many of them.
One of those names that conjures up all the French automotive cliches of quirky, eccentric, different and unconventional is Panhard. A while back we featured a Panhard 24CT as our Prime Find, and we took a brief look at the history of the company in that piece – you can read it here. This week, we have one of that model’s predecessors, the Dyna Z, as our featured car.
Panhard had already moved towards making small, lightweight cars after the Second World War, with the Dyna X – using surplus aluminium to reduce the car’s weight. It’s somewhat unorthodox styling however meant it suffered in sales compared to the Renault 4CV and later, the Citroën 2CV, themselves hardly conventionally styled.
The company also needed to generate more profit, so for the Dyna X’s successor, it was decided to move a notch upmarket to take on the likes of the Peugeot 403 and Simca Aronde in a market sector with higher profit margins and bigger sales volumes.
The power unit was to remain the all-alloy flat-twin engine of the Dyna X, albeit enlarged to 851cc and with power output increased to 42bhp, so the need for weight-saving by using aluminium was combined with aerodynamic styling at a time when these were not major issues. Indeed, the Dyna Z had a claimed drag co-efficient of 0.28, although this was to be taken with a large pinch of salt.
Panhard also had to build its cars in an awkward factory environment in Quai d’Ivry, Paris, with manufacturing taking place over three floors and with a variety of space constraints. However, some clever design and engineering solutions made it work, and the first Dyna Z’s emerged in 1954, having originally been announced the previous summer. It created quite a stir, not least among Panhard’s rivals – this was a family saloon that could seat five or even six, hit 80mph/130kmh and yet return 40mpg.
Three body styles were available – a four-door saloon, two-door cabriolet and a pick-up. Despite being expensive to produce – thanks in large part to a combination of it’s aluminium body, the amount of aluminium waste created by the manufacturing process, and the lower price the company received for that waste – a miscalculation by the company’s number-crunchers. This made the Dyna more expensive than immediate competitors, and although it sold reasonably well, it wasn’t well enough to generate the profits Panhard and its minority shareholder Citroën required.
As a result, the all-aluminium body was gradually phased out with steel – initially leaving just the door shells, boot and bonnet in aluminium, and by 1958 moving to an all-steel body. This resulted in a substantial weight increase, from 711kg to 850kg, negatively affecting performance and of course fuel consumption, though these were still competitive – helped by later cars having a torquier engine – and the car could now be sold at a lower price that was actually more profitable. Approximately 140,000 were produced before being replaced by the PL 17 in 1959.
Besides it’s streamlined Jetsons styling and quirky fish-like facial features, the Dyna Z had a number of other unusual aspects. All four doors hinged on the central or B pillar – a very unconventional set up – and the entire front end of the car lifts up, allowing for unencumbered access to the engine.
Inside the car, there was more oddball detailing. Instrumentation was very basic, with a speedo binnacle and warning gauges and lights visible through the steering wheel, and an otherwise plain fascia. All indicator and lighting functions as well as the horn were controlled via a single steering column-mounted stalk, with switches for wipers and parking lights – remember those? – on top of the steering column itself.
At the same time, the interior was very roomy – it really could take between 5 and 6 adults, thanks to the low flat floor and front wheel drive, and practical, with map pockets on all four doors and a fold-down rear seat to increase luggage capacity.
In a June 1959 road test, The Motor magazine was impressed by the car’s combination of performance and economy – first 3 gears were the “direct” gears, fourth effectively an overdrive – its silence on the road, and its spaciousness. The magazine was less impressed by its build quality, with fit and finish deemed unsatisfactory. The testers managed to achieve a maximum speed of just under 80mph, while returning an average fuel consumption of 46.5mpg, exceptionally frugal for the time, although this would vary considerably depending on factors such as the number of passengers.
Our Panhard Dyna Z is a 1957 example – so the same age as me, and from the first year of the all-steel shell. Unfortunately, while there are plenty of photographs of the car on the dealer’s website, there is next to no information about it. Nevertheless, while this isn’t a concours car, it certainly looks, based on those photographs, to be in fine condition.
Finished in grey with a black roof, the paint looks to have a good, even lustre, with no obvious signs of rust showing through anywhere, and as far as I can tell, the chrome isn’t pitted.
The roomy interior – in two-tone red and white – looks excellent, not showing any visible tears or holes. The simple dash also looks good and the original radio is in place. The odometer reading is 86,565km, with no mention of whether this is warranted or not, so I would assume it more likely to be on its second go round ie 186,565km, still only 115,575 miles, not excessive for a 63-year old car, and if it is without the 1 at the front, exceptionally low.
So on the face of it, this looks like a ready-to-use classic Panhard that should need very little doing to it to keep it up to scratch. It carries an asking price of €13,950 (£12,470 as things stand as I write today – September 29th – although who knows what that might be in a few days). There is another for sale, also in Belgium, described as “a real patina queen”, code for “needs work”, for €9,900, and having looked at it, I have to say it would take a lot more than €4,000 to get it to the condition of this one.
These are very rare in the UK, doubtless less so in France, but over 60 years on, I doubt there are that many even there. It would be helpful to have more information about the car on the website – you can see the advert here – but a phone call to the dealer will no doubt elicit whatever information any potential buyer might need. In any case, as usual, should this piece of Gallic eccentricity appeal to your adventurous side, we recommend you arrange a prior inspection.
With our Saturday instalment of Prime Find of the Week, we’re offering our services to the classic car community, by passing on our favourite classic car for sale from the week that passed. This top-tip might help a first-time-buyer to own his first classic, or it could even be the perfect motivation for a multiple-classic-car-owner to expand his garage with something different. We’ll let us be inspired by anything from a cheap project to a stunning concours exotic, and hope that you will do the same.
Just remember – Any Classic is Better than No Classic! We obviously invite our readers to help prospective buyers with your views and maybe even experiences of any given model we feature. Further to that, if you stumble across a classic which you feel we ought to feature as Prime Find of the Week, then please send us a link to primefindoftheweek@viaretro.co.uk