The Panther De Ville is a neo-classic

luxury vehicle A luxury car is a car that provides increased levels of comfort, equipment, amenities, quality, performance, and associated status compared to moderately priced cars. The term is subjective and reflects both the qualities of the car and t ...

which was produced by

Panther Westwinds Panther Westwinds (commonly known as Panther) was a manufacturer of niche sports cars and luxury cars, based in Surrey, United Kingdom. History Founded in 1972 by Robert Jankel, the Panther company initially manufactured retro-styled cars based ...

, a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

speciality car maker, from 1974 to 1985. The De Ville was conceived by

Robert Jankel Robert Jankel (1 January 1938 – 25 May 2005) was a British designer of limousines, armoured cars, and other speciality vehicles. He also founded the automotive company Panther Westwinds. Early life Born in London in 1938, Jankel was educat ...

to appeal to the

taste The gustatory system or sense of taste is the sensory system that is partially responsible for the perception of taste (flavor). Taste is the perception produced or stimulated when a substance in the mouth reacts chemically with taste receptor ...

nouveau riche ''Nouveau riche'' (; ) is a term used, usually in a derogatory way, to describe those whose wealth has been acquired within their own generation, rather than by familial inheritance. The equivalent English term is the "new rich" or "new money" ( ...

customers, including singer Elton John and

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

Oliver Reed Robert Oliver Reed (13 February 1938 – 2 May 1999) was an English actor known for his well-to-do, macho image and "hellraiser" lifestyle. After making his first significant screen appearances in Hammer Horror films in the early 1960s, his ...

. About 60 De Villes were hand-built, including eleven two-door

convertible A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving expe ...

s (for many years Britain's most expensive listed production car), and one pink and gold six-door

limousine A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment. A very long wheelbase luxury sedan (with more than four doors) driven by a pr ...

. With a

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...

of , the tubular-framed De Ville used a straight-six engine or a

V12 engine A V12 engine is a twelve-cylinder piston engine where two banks of six cylinders are arranged in a V configuration around a common crankshaft. V12 engines are more common than V10 engines. However, they are less common than V8 engines. The f ...

from Jaguar Cars. The flowing wing lines and big headlights of the De Ville were styled to imitate the Bugatti Royale. The cockpit of the De Ville was modern, without the exterior's pretense of pre-war styling. The Panther De Ville was equipped with Jaguar suspension, power steering and

automatic transmission An automatic transmission (sometimes abbreviated to auto or AT) is a multi-speed transmission used in internal combustion engine-based motor vehicles that does not require any input from the driver to change forward gears under normal driving ...

, so it was an easy car to drive and quite quick, although poor

aerodynamics Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dy ...

tended to keep the top

speed In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (ma ...

low. Interiors were lavish and often featured TV sets and drinks bars. The doors of the De Ville were from the

BMC 1800 BMC ADO17 is the model code used by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) for a range of large family cars manufactured from September 1964 to 1975. The car was initially sold under the Austin marque as the Austin 1800, then by Morris as the Mor ...

family car. A Panther De Ville was used in

Disney's The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

live-action movies '' 101 Dalmatians'' (1996), '' 102 Dalmatians'' (2000) and two De Ville's for the film '' Cruella'' (2021) as

Cruella de Vil Cruella de Vil is a fictional character in British author Dodie Smith's 1956 novel '' The Hundred and One Dalmatians''. A pampered and glamorous London heiress and fashion designer, she appears in Walt Disney Productions' 17th animated feature ...

's car. The Jaguar engine in the car was replaced with a small-block Chevrolet V8 to better withstand the rigours of stunt driving. The Panther de Ville was hand painted by Alexander Mitchell. Cruella de Vil Panther

Sources and further reading

{{Panther Westwinds De Ville Retro-style automobiles Luxury vehicles 1980s cars Cars introduced in 1974