Packard Panther

The Packard Panther was a show car, built in 1954 to showcase some of the more radical ideas Packard was considering for its production models in the mid- and late-1950s.

The Panther was a two-place "personal luxury" convertible, which had Packard styling cues from the production models, but was much lower in stance. A total of four Panthers were built, of which only two exist today. Originally, the cars had 1955 Clipper taillights, but these were subsequently removed and replaced with the Senior Series' "Cathedral" style units. The design for the Panther's one-piece fiberglass body is credited to Dick Teague, later of AMC fame, who worked at Mitchell-Bentley Corporation at the time. Of the four Panthers built, one was owned by Mitchell-Bentley exec William Mitchell Sr, who sold it in 1988 to the Bortz Collection. The Mitchell car is the only Panther which had a removeable hardtop (which resembled the that of the 1955 Thunderbird). The car was sold in 2006 to an unknown buyer for an excess of $360,000. Although it was shown in late 1954 and 1955(When Packard was already advertising its new, modern overhead-valve V8 engine), the Panther featured the company's outdated L-head straight-eight engine, displacing 327 cubic inches, along with Ultramatic automatic transmission. It is believed by many that Packard did not want to hurt sales of left-over 1954 L-head models, and by installing the new V8 in the Panther, potential buyers would ignore those cars for the all-new 1955s.

Currently still in existence, the Panther was also named "Daytona", and has been repainted in several different color schemes over the years. Today it remains in excellent condition and is privately owned.