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Here's a pic of a Panther Daytona at daytona beach. This is comes from an original 1954 factory 2 page flyer.
I understand that the original concept name was Gray Wolf II in honor of Packard's infamous 1903 Grey Wolf race car and the first vehicle originaly had the grey wolf inscription on the quarter panels, the name was changed to Panther Daytona, and that five vehicles as shown were built for the show circuit in 1954. One vehicle was supposedly destroyed in an accident. Of the remaining four cars, two were updated for 1955 with changes to the quarter panels to accept 1955 cathedral tail lights, revised hood with hood scoop, added air vents under the hood line, rebadged as Panther, not Panther Daytona, repainted in two tone variations with minor trim changes.
I understand all four vehicles still exist and are owned by private collectors.

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Panther Daytona pic from second page.
B.K. did you get the e-mail re: Cars & Parts that I sent last week?

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Damien -

I believe your understanding of the Panthers is correct.

I often hear talk of "the four Panthers", but you jogged my recollection that five were built - though I didn't recall what happened to the fifth one.

I'd seen both of the Panthers that had been refitted with the '55 taillights - long before the Centennial meet, where all four surviving examples were on display.

Damien,

I got the files, but have not had a chance to look through them. Work has been a bear.

Brian: I remember reading an interview with Dick Teague, in which it was stated that 5 Packard Panthers were built.


John F. Shireman

The two Panthers that were refitted with '55 tailights were repainted in a two-tone. When I'd seen one, at Fall Hershey (25+ years ago), it was painted white over black, but peeling. When I'd seen the other, at the Stude museum (15+ years ago), it was painted a yellow/gold two-tone. Based on what I'd read at the coachbuilt.com site, that latter may not have been the last "original" colors.

Of the two original Panthers, I belive one was silver and the other a red-orange.

Now that others also recall a fifth Panther, I'm curious as to what that one looked like, compared to the others - colors, modifications, etc.

Back for a moment to the Balboas, I found one original color photo and some B&W photos of the car under construction and thought you might find them interesting. These are from The Packard Cormorant magazine back in the 1970s.

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I think it's the Balboa that was in the resto shop here in Dayton a year or two ago. Marano took it to a different shop in the east before work progressed too far.

Perhaps you're right, last time I saw a Balboa it was in Rich Fass's shop (Stone Barn) just outside Hackettstown, NJ perhaps 2 years ago.

Looking at these pix of the Balboa, it is clear that this was going to be a non-removable roof.

However, it looks like the opening for the backlight is a channel rather than a flange. From the shot looking in through the interior, the angle of the channel relative to the wheelhouse, suggests that that they might very well have been able to make the glass go down (rather than be fixed). The only remaining question would be one of structural integrity with such a feature - might have resulted in a lot of shaking over rough roads.