Panhard Dyna Z

Panhard Dyna Z

Panhard Dyna Z 4-door saloon
Overview
Manufacturer Société des Anciens Etablissements Panhard et Levassor[1]
Production 1954–1959
approx 140,000 produced
Body and chassis
Class Mid-size
Body style 4-door saloon
2-door cabriolet
2-door pickup [2]
Layout Front engine
front-wheel drive
Powertrain
Engine 851 cc
two-cylinder boxer motor
42 or 50 hp at 5000 rpm
Transmission 4-speed manual
Column mounted control
Dimensions
Wheelbase 2,570 mm (101 in)
Length 4,570 mm (180 in)
Width 1,668 mm (65.7 in)
Height 1,430 mm (56 in) saloon
1,420 mm (56 in) cabriolet
1,645 mm (64.8 in) fourgon
Curb weight 710 kg (1,570 lb)−850 kg (1,870 lb)
Chronology
Predecessor Panhard Dyna X
Successor Panhard PL 17

The Panhard Dyna Z is a lightweight motor car produced by Panhard of France from 1954 to 1959. It was first presented to the press at a Paris restaurant named "Les Ambassadeurs" on 17 June 1953[3] and went into production the following year. In 1959 it was replaced by the Panhard PL 17.

Background

Panhard was one of the world's oldest auto manufacturers and since 1945 had become known for producing economical cars. Panhard, like Citroën, considered itself a leader, not a follower of automotive trends, and the Dyna Z featured an impressive array of unusual engineering choices.[4]

In 1955 Citroën had taken a 25% holding in Panhard's automobile business and during the next two years the national dealership networks of the two businesses were integrated. This gave Citroen and Panhard dealers an expanded market coverage, incorporating now a small car, a medium-sized saloon and a large car range. It gave the Panhard Dyna Z, during its final years in production, a level of market access that its predecessor had never enjoyed. Sales benefited.

Model development

The Dyna X was replaced by the more streamlined Dyna Z in 1954. This was later developed into the similar PL 17, launched in 1959, in an attempt to conform to the styles of the time.

Like its predecessor the Dyna X and the Panhard Dynavia concept that influenced its design, the Dyna Z's body was originally aluminium with steel tube subframes front and rear joined by steel plate reinforcements in the sills. The decision to use aluminium sheeting for car bodies had been taken at a time when a sudden drop off in demand for fighter planes had left the producers with a glut of the metal, but in subsequent years the relative cost advantage of sheet steel had increased steadily. In Summer 1954 the cost penalty of persisting with aluminium bodywork had become financially insupportable, and in fall 1955 the latest Dynas Type "Z1" had a steel bodywork (the doors, trunk and hood were still in aluminium though).[5] The switch to sheet-steel body panels, attributed to "various setbacks" ("nombreuses déboires") with the aluminium body of the early Type Z1, imposed an instant weight penalty and was accompanied by a substantial redesign of the front suspension and a change to the shock absorbers, though cost savings were too late to avoid the need for Panhard to sign their ultimately suicidal refinancing "agreement" with Citroën in April 1955.[6]

By 1958, only the bumpers, the fuel tank, the engine cooling shroud and most of the engine and transaxle cases were aluminium, but the weight was still quite low for a relatively comfortable six-seater saloon, when compared with narrower competitor models from Peugeot and Simca. Its unusual and very modern design gave it a unique combination of space, ride comfort, performance and fuel economy at a very competitive price. But reliability suffered and fuel prices were not high enough, even in France, for people to put energy efficiency first. The car also suffered from some engine and wind noise. The Tiger version had a racing inspired engine and a full cooling shroud.

Panhard Dyna Z 4-door saloon
Panhard Dyna Z 2-door cabriolet
Panhard Dyna Z 2-door pickup
Kalpala brothers and their 1954 1000 Lakes Rally-winning Panhard Dyna Z

Specifications of 1958 Panhard Dyna Z Tiger

bicolor Dyna Z

Εnhanced specification/performance version as sold in the USA:

— Four-stroke, air-cooled, concentric torsion bar valve springs on roller bearings, hollow aluminum push rods with hardened steel tips, roller main bearings and big end rod bearings of "Panhard Patent" design with an additional set of smaller rollers carrying the roller cage (separator); non-removable cylinder heads, removable steel cylinder liners. The cylinder "jugs" pulled off the crankcase and pistons like those of the VW air-cooled engines. Soft engine mounts to smooth the roughness of the two-cylinder four-stroke engine, radial flow fan bolted to crank shaft, full cooling shroud, aluminum structure and cooling fins. Herringbone timing gears, steel pinion and a "Celcon" phenolic gear running with slight interference fit, permissible due to the flexibility of the "Celcon".
— Drive shafts concentric tubes with rubber in the space between the inner and outer tubes. Cardan ("universal") joint at the inner end next to the transaxle, double cardan constant velocity joint at the outer end at the wheel.
— Unlike most front wheel drive inline engine transaxles, the gearbox is between the engine and the final drive. Engine-clutch-gearbox-final drive, direct drive through gearbox in third gear, fourth "overdrive." Final drive spiral bevel gear on primary shaft, step-down to differential gear through helical (not herringbone) pinion and gear.
— When a coil fixed to the casing was energized, the "filings" stiffened between the rotating casing on the crankshaft and the driving disc fixed to the gearbox input shaft. The electricity supplied by a special double generator, one set of windings supplying the battery and the rest of the electrical system, the other set of windings powering the magnetic clutch. As the engine accelerated above idle speed, the generator (not an "alternator" type) began energizing the magnetic clutch, gradually connecting the crankshaft with the primary shaft of the gearbox.

Notes

  1. ↑ Georgano, G.N. (1968). The Complete Encyclopaedia of Motorcars 1885 - 1968. London: Ebury Press.
  2. ↑ Panhard 1959, www.classiccarcatalogue.com Retrieved on 11 November 2012
  3. ↑ "Automobilia". Toutes les voitures françaises 1953 (salon Paris oct 1952). Paris: Histoire & collections. Nr. 14: Page 49. 2000.
  4. ↑ Gloor, Roger. Alle Autos der 50er Jahre 1945 - 1960 (1. Auflage (first edition) 2007 ed.). Stuttgart: Motorbuch Verlag. ISBN 978-3-613-02808-1.
  5. ↑ Bellu, René (1999). "Toutes les voitures françaises 1955 (salon Paris, Oct 1954)". Automobilia. Paris: Histoire & collections. 10: 46,47,51.
  6. ↑ Bellu, René (1997). "Toutes les voitures françaises 1956 (salon Paris, Oct 1955)". Automobilia. Paris: Histoire & collections. 2: 46-49.

References

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