Oliver Reed's Panther | The Classic Car Channel | Panther Deville | Panther Westwinds Heritage

🎞️ This particular De Ville was first owned by the late Oliver Reed. One of Britain’s foremost post-war movie actors, Reed started his career as an ‘extra’ before graduating to notable roles in a succession of Hammer horror films. His major works include Oliver!, Women in Love, The Devils, The Three Musketeers, Tommy, Castaway, Lion of the Desert and, finally, Gladiator, during the filming of which he died of a heart attack. Reed, who was as well known for his hell-raising lifestyle off screen as he was for his roles on it, ordered the Panther in 1979 and took delivery in 1980. In its 2nd January 1980 edition, the Daily Mirror featured Reed with his De Ville under the headline: ‘Big, extravagant and drinks like a fish (and that’s only the car)’ which presumably explains why he employed a chauffeur. Founded by engineer Bob Jankel in 1971, Panther West Winds Limited rose to public prominence by hand building expensive, high-quality, retro-styled luxury sportscars using modern components. The firm’s first volume-selling car - the Lima - appeared in 1976, but before then the formula combining modern engineering and performance with bygone-era styling had been established by the J72, Panther’s first production model, which owed its inspiration to the SS100 Jaguar. Such was the superb quality of its construction that the J72 won the Silver Medal for coachwork at the 1973 London Motor Show, beating the likes of Rolls-Royce. Running gear was mainly Jaguar, there being a choice of XK six-cylinder or V12 engines, with automatic transmission the norm on later models. In 1974 Panther added the ultra-luxurious Jaguar XJ12-based De Ville to its range, building 46 saloons and 11 convertibles of this huge, Bugatti Royale-inspired model by the time production ceased in 1982. © 2008 The Classic Car Channel - Splash Broadcast Ltd. (Remastered Version) ℹ️ Welcome to the 'Official Heritage Channel' ✅ for Panther Westwinds (commonly known as Panther). ℹ️ Panther Westwinds was a manufacturer of niche sports cars and luxury cars, based in Surrey, United Kingdom. Find Us on: 📷 | https://bit.ly/PantherInstagram 🖥️ | https://bit.ly/PantherFacebook ⌨️ | https://bit.ly/PantherYoutube 🖱️ | https://bit.ly/PantherWikipedia 🔊 | https://bit.ly/PantherWWSpotify 🎦 Panther Westwinds & Walt Disney Studios celebrate their 25th Anniversary this year and to commemorate this, The 4 Panther Deville Versions which feature in the Cruella franchise will also be featured the Disney portion of our channels. Find Us & Disney on: 📷 | www.instagram.com/disneycruella/ 🖥️ | www.youtube.com/c/disneycruella/ ⌨️ | www.disney.co.uk/ 🖱️ | www.facebook.com/Disney 🖱️ | www.twitter.com/Disney 🖱️ | www.disneyplus.com/ ℹ️ Without The Community groups serving as the original social page to help owners through open discussion, project sharing, various specialists, local meetups, Car/Part sales & general community building. This would not be possible. Founded by Nick Frewin, Supported by Ex Panther employees and PCC members with designs by Adam Bainbridge, We are here to keep the spirit of Panther Alive. 📰 Panther Westwinds Heritage is proud to announce a recent Collaboration with Holyrood Palace featuring on various news media & supporting articles. NHS staff were given the fantastic opportunity to see a Premier of Cruella before its initial release on 28th May, 2021. With the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge, Various crew & cast & finally the Star cars in question in attendance. The night was an outstanding success. Read more here: https://bit.ly/CruellaPremierNHS 📰 Panther Cars have recently featured in articles including GQ Magazine, The Washington Post, BBC News Online & Many More! GQ Magazine: https://bit.ly/GQMagazinePanther BBC News: https://bit.ly/BBCPanther 🌹🔑 Please like, subscribe & share with fellow enthusiasts. #PantherCars #PantherWestwinds #PantherWestwindsHeritage