Our second entry in this so-called French Coupé Week is not, according to its maker, a coupé as such. The “B” in Panhard 24 BT stands for berline (saloon/sedan). So I’m kind of stretching definitions a bit here. The same way Panhard stretched the 24 CT to turn it into a two-door saloon, I guess.
I’ve written pretty extensively about the Panhard in general and the 24 in particular, so I’ll keep the historical info real short here. Panhard, a true pioneer of the automobile, first their first petrol-powered car in 1890, using a Daimler-licensed engine. The marque soon became very well established, evolving towards luxury cars in the inter-war period.
After 1945, they completely changed tack and started producing pretty advanced small FWD designs, powered by a sophisticated and sporty air-cooled flat-twin. Though very successful on the track and pretty decent in terms of sales, the little Panhards could not make up for the firm’s awkward positioning. It was too large to be a specialty carmaker, yet too small to survive on its own. From 1955, there was a rapprochement with Citroën.
By the early ‘60s, the bigger carmaker was almost completely in control of its junior partner. In a last roll of the dice, Panhard went for a coupé and called it the 24 CT, launching it in the spring of 1963. There was unanimous praise for the car’s looks, devised entirely in-house by Louis Bionnier, Panhard’s designer since the ‘20s.
But under this fancy new dress, the 24 was not much different from its predecessors. In terms of dynamics, that was fine – the suspension (leaf sprung at front, torsion bars in the rear) was still competitive and disc brakes became part of the package for MY 1965. But the 850cc twin, though still impressive for its size with 60hp (gross), was getting on a bit.
In an attempt to help people forget the car’s aging underpinnings, Panhard chucked style and neat comfort-oriented trinkets throughout the cabin. From the HVAC system to the seat adjustments, from safety lights on the doors to an outside temperature thermometer, the higher-trimmed 24s were pretty swanky for their size. Alas, build quality was very hit-and-miss…
The stretched berline variant was added to the range for MY 1965 as the four-door 17s were pensioned off. A true saloon was vetoed by Citroën, so this would have to do. It didn’t – Panhard’s main market was domestic, and the French don’t really like two-doors when they can get four. Sales steadily fell through 1966 and Citroën pulled the plug in the summer of 1967.
I have a pretty vivid memory of discovering the 24 in a classic car magazine (remember those?) when I was about 12. It was a blue BT like this one, in fact. I was immediately hooked by everything — the stunningly modern looks, the high-performance (but tiny) twin, the clever and stylish interior, the whole tragic swan-song feel of the narrative…
I imagine there must be one or two in Japan, but I’m not holding my breath. They built about 28,500 of these, pretty much evenly split between short and long wheelbase models, but very few ventured outside Western Europe. Luckily, this one was present at the event I attended in France last summer, so we can properly pay our respects to the last Panhard once again. Why are the pretty ones always so deadly?
Related posts:
Car Show Classic(s): 1966 Panhard 24 B (and CT) – Be Still, My Beating Twin, by T87
Automotive History: Panhard – Back To The Future, by PN
Cohort Pic(k) of the Day: 1964 Panhard 24CT – Stunning, by PN
Wonderful! One of my “bucket list” cars to own, or at least drive. So advanced – one wonders how a larger engined version could have succeeded. Citroen did indeed build a prototype with a DS powertrain, but it was not thought worthy of production. The design of these is unique (although with obvious Corvair influence in the beltline) and reputedly had a Cc of 0.25, maximizing performance of its tiny motor. Even the motors are fascinating, using roller bearing crank and rods, hemi-head design and torsion bar valve springs.
I used to prefer the CT, but the BT has maybe even nicer proportions and the color on this one is perfect.
Thank you Mr. Tatra!
Lovely car.
Although the Corvair influence is of course obvious, the rear end looks to be more directly inspired by the 1961 Plymouth, which itself was undoubtedly inspired by the Corvair.
Those Plymouths! The more I see them the more I like them. The Panhard looks like it has a lot of DS influence in the front end. I like the greenhouse. The first photo shows the exhaust pipe exiting at a very unattractive angle. I suppose that might be an aftermarket exhaust. One of my favorite gripes is when people add aftermarket turn down tips to their cars exhaust, and they stick too far down.
I’m with you on exhaust placement, Jose. A quick Google search shows the pipe, while visible, should be parallel with the lower body, not hanging down like this. I’d have taken it back to the exhaust fitter and told them to do it right.
Some people add exhaust pipe extensions or change the angle to prevent gases from ruining paint or rusting chrome.
That front-end DS influence went more the other way around; the Panhard 24s had these tapering wrapover fenders with set-back and glassed-in headlights first in ’64, then three years later the DS got a facelift for series 3 where Robert Opron applied a similar frontal theme, perhaps intending for a family resemblance, or just appreciating the modern sleekness of the Panhard design.
The Uruguayan importer of Panhard tried hard to build these out of fiberglass. PL in France told him he couldn’t in no uncertain terms. He decided he’d try anyway. To that extent, he made his chief mechanic purposefully break a CV of what probably was the only CT24 in the country, owned by a French professor in a French school (no spared being available at the time), to have time to build the molds.
This highly unethical behavior is told in this article. I don’t have the time now to translate it, but those of you who can read Spanish may find it amusing.
https://www.retrovisiones.com/2012/07/el-panhard-ct24-uruguayo/
I’m not typically a fan of 60’s-70’s French styling. I acknowledge the DS’s innovation but I’m not a fan of its looks, and I much prefer the Subaru SVX to the Citroen SM. The less said about the PL17 the better. But the PL24 – I love it! Thanks for sharing a non-Tokyo find.
Perhaps if it had a more modern/powerful engine and better quality control, it`s coup de grace probably would not have come so soon. Stylewise, t could have lased from the mid to late 70s before it started to look dated.
There was supposed to be some technical advantage to the torsion bar valve springs, but I forget what it was. I’ve heard that the oiling system wasn’t the greatest, and the engine needed frequent overhauls.
There was an Automobile Quarterly article, “Panhard: Limelight to Twilight.” It said in so many words that production of the 24 was slated to end in the near future, so it would have come out in 1966 or early 1967.
Lovely ! Wonder whether anyone has reengineered one with a modern engine ?
Like a Subaru flat four? Intriguing, but weighty.
I reckon a Citroen GS engine, being an air cooled boxer four, would be interesting, though not much more powerful than the Panhard’s twin, so it mightn’t offset the extra weight. But since Citroen also tried a rotary in the GS, how about we drop a modern Mazda rotary into our hypothetical Panhard? That should be a real flier!
How about a BMW boxer twin? The latest generation makes 136hp from 1254cc. Should be more than enough. And there’s an air/oil cooled Big Boxer with 1802cc that makes 91hp and gobs of torque.
Even one of the old classic airhead 1200cc boxers would do quite nicely.
Just found comment in Tatra’s earlier post of this car that a PL17 was for sale in Germany in 2018 fitted with an Alfa Sud engine. More powerful than a Citroen GS, but also heavier. Like your idea of a modern Mazda rotary.
I’m convinced Toyota rolled away the rock of the sepulchre in the ’80’s, for in 1986, they revealed the miracle of the very pretty Celica 4th gen. I have never found proof of this (call it a leap of faith) but there’s a lot suggestion they’d had a good look at the sculpted Panhards: the door and rear guard profiles, the c-pillarless suggestion, the rear glass curving in, the rear spoiler jutting out over a forward-leaning rear panel and even perhaps the overall shape of the nose, made less radical for the mass market.
It certainly CAN be said both that it looked nothing like previous models, and that nothing else ever copied that Celica glasshouse and side shaping thereafter.
I thought that too, at the time.
Japan often does interesting, but not always fully original styling.
Never noticed that, but you have a point! Like Jose, I’m also finding these Chryslers mighty attractive – their interiors are some of the most “jet age” ever….
I got hung up on the picture of the dash. What’s that lever coming out of the right side, a turn signal lever? Looks like it has single turn signal indicator on dash, like VW used to do up till 1999 or so. Steering wheel kind of reminds me of early 60’s Chrysler, where there’s no space for a shift lever (not likely to be there on a Panhard, but where do you attach the registration on the steering column the way they did in the US way back when. Wonder what that gauge is in the middle of the dash?
I also thought these would be pricier, my Dad bought a new ’68 Renault R10 3 years later and paid about the same…but this appears to be more of a mid end (opposed to low end) like a Saab or Volvo. The controls on the R10 were a bit odd also but not as many…strip speedometer, no tach nor temp gauge, just fuel gauge. The R10 had the European lighting on the side of the car, but had the US sealed beams, probably the same tail lights as in Europe. To me the back looks a lot like a 60’s BMW but more rounded than square, of course it copied the Corvair (as did the R10). The R10 was watercooled instead of aircooled unlike the Panhard though.
The front looks almost grillless, but the headlights don’t do it any favor. What’s with the mounting of the wipers…the shafts are close to center and wiper stretches to opposite ends of windshield…not sure I’ve seen that done but might be due to shape of windshield?
That is the indicator stalk, correct. You also use it to flash your lights. There is a similar stalk on the left of the steering wheel for high/low beam and the horn. The gauge in the middle of the dash is the HVAC gizmo (attached pic), i.e. a dial with the car seen from above with areas highlighted in red for where you want hot air to be.
The wipers have to be seen in opration to be believed. Go on YT and type “Panhard wipers” — mersmerizing. The very same system, which featrured on Panhards since the early ’50s, was also used by Alpine on the A310 and GTA, right till the ’90s.