The Other Big Cat

From extravagant replicas and six-wheeled fantasies to the Kallista and a restyled Dolomite, we chart the ups and downs of Panther.

- Iain Wakefield

To most petrol heads, there’s a world of difference between designing the latest high street fashions and running a company producing a range of retrostyled sports cars, but this unusual move didn’t seem to faze Robert Jankel when he left the family fashion business in 1972 to found Panther Westwinds in a factory overlooking the famous Brooklands motor racing circuit. Born in London in 1938, Robert Jankel studied engineering at Chelsea College and went on to build his first car, a customised Austin Seven special, in 1954 before reluctantly joining the family fashion business following an unsuccessful stint as a car salesman.

Even while working as a fashion designer, Jankel was still involved with cars and completely rebuilt a vintage 1930 Rolls-Royce, which he promptly sold in 1970 while on a trip to Spain to a bullfighter for £10,000. With the blessing of his wife Jennifer, the daughter of the famous bandleader Joe Loss, Jankel invested the cash he’d received from the sale of the restored Rolls-Royce and founded Panther Westwinds to build a range of specialised sports cars. The name Panther was chosen for the new concern as Jankel hoped it would lead to his cars conjuring up a similar image to those produced by Jaguar, while the Westwinds part was taken from the name of his family home.