Panhard · 1954–1959

Panhard Dyna Z

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 and entered production the following year. In 1959, it was replaced by the Panhard PL 17.

Text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Predecessor: Panhard Dyna X · Successor: Panhard PL 17

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Background

Panhard was one of the world's oldest auto manufacturers and, since 1945, had become known for producing economical cars. Like Citroën, Panhard positioned itself as a leader in automotive design, and the Dyna Z featured a range of unusual engineering choices. 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 Citroën 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. Other sources emphasize an underlying error with the original costings for the model which had taken no account of the off-cuts from the aluminium coils after the blanks for the body panels had been cut from them. Jean Panhard's explanation to a sympathetic interviewer concludes with the observation that "nobody wanted to buy offcuts except at a ridiculously low price, this difference was our profit margin." In Summer 1954, the cost penalty of persisting with aluminium bodywork had become financially unsustainable and, from September 1955, the Dynas Type "Z1" switched to steel bodywork, even though the door shells, trunk/boot and hood/bonnet were at this stage still made of aluminium. The switch to a sheet-steel body shell, attributed to "various setbacks" ("nombreuses déboires") with the aluminium body of the earlier Type Z1, imposed an instant weight penalty of 123 kg. and had to be 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"

Specifications of 1958 Panhard Dyna Z Tiger

Εnhanced specification/performance version as sold in the US: Price (USD): $2,000 (comparable to a basic United States car, and midway between prices of a Volkswagen Beetle and a Peugeot 403) Engine: 851 cc Flat-twin — 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". Power: 50 hp (37 kW). @ 5500 rpm Last years of Tigres, 24s rated 60 hp (45 kW). Drive: front wheel drive — 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. Transmission: cable operated four-speed manual cast aluminum case transaxle with 2nd and 3rd synchromesh, transfer gears and second, third and fourth of "herringbone" design, column shift. — 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

Sections adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); text is shortened. Read the full article for the complete history and citations.

Specifications

name: Panhard Dyna Z
Manufacturer: Société des Anciens Etablissements Panhard et Levassor
Production: 1954–1959, approx 140,000 produced
Predecessor: Panhard Dyna X
Successor: Panhard PL 17
Class: Mid-size
Body style: 4-door saloon, 2-door cabriolet, 2-door pickup
Layout: Front engine, front-wheel drive
Engine: 851 cc, two-cylinder boxer motor, 42 or 50 hp at 5000 rpm
Transmission: 4-speed manual, Column mounted control
Wheelbase: 2570 mm , 2800 mm (pickup)
Length: 4570 mm , 4270 mm (pickup)
Width: 1668 mm
Height: 1430 mm saloon, 1420 mm cabriolet, 1645 mm fourgon
Kerb weight: 710 kg−850 kg

Specification summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Measured facts from Wikidata (CC0). Check the linked sources for citations.

More photos

Sources

Wikidata — https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1277375CC0 1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-01
Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panhard_Dyna_ZCC BY-SA 4.0 · Text © Wikipedia contributors; revision 1340788528 · retrieved 2026-10-01
Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Panhard_Dyna_Z_851cc_manufactured_1958.JPGCC BY-SA 3.0 · Photo: Charles01 · retrieved 2026-10-01
Car Model Index — https://models.autoculturesociety.com/Compiled record. Sources that do not permit reuse are not copied; this index is credited instead.