CREATING a luxury car based on a mass produced model has been tried a number of times but certainly one of the most bizarre was the Panther Rio which looked like a shrunken Rolls-Royce.
It all came about in the mad, fuel-starved 1970s when Bob Jankel of Panther had the great idea of building a luxury car based on the Triumph Dolomite.
And echoing the sentiment of the James Bond song 'nobody did it better' than Panther Westwinds when it came to breathtaking designs based on familiar marques.
But the Rio fell rather more into the sharp intake of breath category.
Fashion designer Jankel had produced expensive and bespoke cars for the customer who wanted something entirely different.
His previous products included the J72 and the FF which were both fast and expensive with Jaguar underpinnings.
So Jankel began working on something that would appeal to the Rolls-Royce owner looking to trade down to something more economical, without resorting to purchasing anything continental.
He decided to base his car on the Dolomite since it had relatively advanced engines and the somewhat upright driving position that such a car would require.
So the Panther Rio was born in 1975. When the wraps were thrown off there was a car with a Rolls-Royce like front end that could not disguise its British Leyland look further back despite a complete re-skin of the bodywork
The original press release said it possessed characteristics combined in no other single car - the very highest level of luxury, appointments and smooth quietness with superb handling, a 115mph maximum speed, 0-60mph acceleration in 8.7 seconds, the opulence of Connolly leather, deep pile carpeting and burr walnut in the finest limousine traditions with the fuel economy and manoeuvrability of a compact family saloon.
It even came in two versions, the base model and the 2-Litre 16-valve version (based on the Dolomite Sprint) called the Rio Especial.
Panther was optimistic about the car and there were talks of a pre-order of 100 cars from luxury car dealers H.R.Owen.
But the 100 car deal never materialised and the Rio sold in small numbers, the total sales being 34 before the car was withdrawn in 1977.
Hardly surprising because it was little more than a restyled Dolomite and the price in 1976 for a Rio Especial was a staggering £9,445. In comparison, a Dolomite Sprint cost £3,283 and the Jaguar XJ 5.3 cost £7,496.
Media road tests discovered that the new, fatter seats restricted already limited interior space and the writing was on the wall.
But it was a genuine 100mph plus luxury compact and has its place in motoring history. We may never see its like again.