Pimp my Panhard - I'm Not making this up!

[Junkman]

Well, actually I do, but let's pretend I don't.

Case in point is Solido's 1/18 scale Panhard PL 17.






Two cylinders for OMGPOWAH unleashage:



Which will remain untouched. Yep. Sorry to disappoint you, but there will be no modification to the powertrain.

What I couldn't live with, is the interior:



It's basically all there, but the black plastic grimness just doesn't cut it with a loony like me.
It is also IMO out of touch with the era the model represents. Furthermore, the plastic material chosen
was apparently carefully selected for looking as cheap as possible.
I imagine a Solido Board Room meeting like this:

Ooh, oui, Jaques, le plastique for le interior still looks trop expensive.
OK, OK, Jean-Pierre, je will come up avec something qui looks comme rubbish...

Then there is my pet hate of headlight lenses attached with a central stalk:

Edited February 14, 2015 by Junkman

[Junkman]

Hence:

I carefully brush painted the interior parts semi gloss:

And used some gloss paint on the instrument panel:

So that it looks like the plastic used in the real car.

The historically savvy among you will now point out to me, that this model depicts a late production PL17,

and that they had switched to dark grey materials for the instrument panel, and my answer is, that whoever

wants to paint something dark grey, should take up military modelling.

My Pan-Pan has the early style instrument panel, because I want it to.

Et voila:

Edited February 14, 2015 by Junkman

[Foxer]

Looks really good! I'll bet even all the savvy car nuts don't know what a Panhard is .. I'll admit defeat in this one and I like most European cars over American iron. I think your mostly safe on anyone calling you out on the model, but I know someone here is up to it..

[Junkman]

Hey, thanks a zee!

Well, I think a lot of people in Europe have all but forgotten about Panhards, too, despite it was the third biggest French car maker in its heyday.

They ceased car production in 1967, and very few people know, that despite this, the company is still alive and well - building military vehicles.

[AzTom]

Very nice!

[peekay]

Great! The work on the interior really makes the model come alive.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Nice upgrade work on a neat little car. I recall seeing these in Europe, but never ever have I seen one in the States.

Most of the other, more familiar (to US car guys) interesting small cars we got from Europe (Fiats, Alfas, Opels, Hillmans, Lancias, Renaults, Peugeots, etc.) have, sadly, been recycled into Hondas or Toyotas by now.

Seeing your pretty little Panhard really makes me wish I'd kept my Renault Dauphine Gordini (bought for $15, with a burned valve).

[kruleworld]

deleted your pictures already?

[Draggon]

deleted your pictures already?

Yea, I was looking forward to that

[AzTom]

They should move photos that are being posted on sites like this to a separate folder for that site. Just saying!

[Junkman]

You are correct. Sorry for that.

I'm now working on getting the pics back.

[ChrisBcritter]

Speaking of Panhards: These two cars showed up at the L.A. County Administrator estate auction about ten years ago...

(sorry - poorly lit warehouse) A fiberglass-bodied Panhard Dyna-based sports car and the Panhard-powered Deutsch-et-Bonnet that won its class at LeMans in the late '50s. I have a lot more photos if you'd like to see them; if so should I put them here or under the 1/1 section?

[Junkman]

I don't mind you posting them in here.

On a different note, I recently got another one, a Norev 24 CT:

[ChrisBcritter]

Here you go. First the D-B:

I recall despite it being a small local auction, it sold to some big-time sports car builder for $95K plus tax and fees.

Now the Panhard Dyna-based fiberglass job:

Strange thing was, despite its having been licensed and (I guess) street-driven, it looked like it had never had headlights. Sold for $18K.

[Junkman]

The second car is a DB Panhard HBR5, chassis number 956, rebuilt for racing with a Hollywood Plastics body.

This car initially was one of 20 with the racing DB engine. The original engine was sold to Vince Di Pierro for his DB,

and he won at Le Mans with it. The car now has a hopped up 1962 PL17 M5 engine.

What you see is the racing nose. There was also a street/night racing nose which contained the headlights.

[Notoriousek]

Oops I read the title as panhead lol no Harley's in here. Cool read regardless as I have never heard of a panhard before

[Ace-Garageguy]

French cars are really different from just about anything else on the planet.

[Eric Macleod]

This is so cool! I love it.

[Junkman]

If you are referring to my Panhard PL17 model, then thank you so much!

[jbwelda]

that's a great model Christian! back in the early 70s I had a neighbor (Hippy Tom) who had a brush-painted two tone forest green and crème sedan thing that looked like a turtle. now mind you I was a big fan of Citroen DS cars and even AMI6, so body design is not usually an issue, but I thought Toms Panhard was about the ugliest car I had ever seen. and he was forever out there working on the engine. but when it ran it was quite a sight to see driving down the streets. I did gain an appreciation for it over the couple years we knew each other.

jb

[Junkman]

They certainly are eccentric even over here. To keep one running in the US of A I don't even want to imagine.

Your ex-neighbour certainly qualifies for the terminal nutter award. I wish I could have downed a few at the local with him.

[kruleworld]

Oops I read the title as panhead lol no Harley's in here. Cool read regardless as I have never heard of a panhard before

i was expecting a pimped out french car, so neither of us got what we expected. at least it's a darn good improvement.

[Yoda]

That looks awesome! Black interiors where not prototypically correct are a pet peeve of mine, and I even tend to avoid them wherever the subject had any alternative whatsoever.

The yellow paint on the headlight "bulb" is a nice touch.