Sure today the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport may be the fastest prouction car in the world with 1200 HP, but long before the Veyron was ever conceived Bob Potter of Marco Island, Florida built the Panther.
Back in 1985 it would have been impossible to buy a new car with over 1000 horse power so Potter decided to build his own supercar. He called it the Panther because he was inspired by an old Pink Panther movie that featured a car that sort of looked like a baby version of his Panther.
All it took was five years of work, and of course three GM 350 engines putting out 370 HP each for a combined Veyron topping 1110 HP.
OK, so maybe the new Veyron Super Sport has 90 more horsepower, but still the Panther makes the big numbers the old school way with brute force that combines 26 pistons and a boatload of carburetors.
Potter says the Panther cost him about $200K to build back in 1985. Everything on the car is built from scratch…especially the body and chassis.
Potter adds he doesn’t drive it much because the car has so much power that it will light up the back wheels at the blip of the throttle. Keep in mind that the Panther doesn’t have all of today’s modern technology like traction control.
However it does have rear air suspension to keep the very long wheelbase from getting high centered on big speed bumps, and of course a ferocious roar that would scare away any real panther.
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