The Tyre That Killed a Six-Wheeled Supercar

In 1977, a British car company built a supercar with six wheels, a 600bhp twin-turbo Cadillac V8, and a television in the dashboard. It cost 40% more than a Lamborghini Countach. Only two were ever built — and the reason traces back to a tyre nobody could make. The Panther Six was Robert Jankel's answer to the Tyrrell P34, the six-wheeled Formula 1 car that had just won a Grand Prix. Jankel wanted the same small front wheels for full authenticity. The problem: nobody could supply the low-profile front tyres in the volume Panther needed for series production. That single supply failure is the reason "production by early next year" never happened. In this video, we cover: How Robert Jankel went from London's fashion trade to Britain's most eccentric car builder Why the Tyrrell P34 that inspired the whole idea was already a discontinued Formula 1 failure Building the impossible: a reversed Cadillac Eldorado drivetrain, twin turbos, and a body styled by two Vauxhall designers The 1977 Motorfair unveiling that stopped Earls Court cold What actually killed the Panther Six — and why it wasn't the engineering Where both surviving cars are today If you enjoyed this, check out our videos on the Rover P6 ("Britain Built The Most Advanced Car In 1963") and the Land Rover Defender ("The Farm Truck Worth More Than a Ferrari") for more stories of British engineering ambition that didn't go to plan. Subscribe for more deep dives into the strangest, most overlooked chapters of British motoring history — new videos every week. #PantherSix #BritishCars #ClassicCars #CarHistory #TyrrellP34

Added 24 Aug 2026