Panhard

Panhard Dyna Junior

The Panhard Dyna Junior is a small sports car built by Panhard from 1952 until 1956. The car was initially offered as a roadster and later as a cabriolet. Slightly over 4,700 were built.

Text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

All Panhard Dyna Junior data: UK builds, safety, recalls, model years →

Development

In early 1951, Joseph Bell (JB) Ferguson approached Panhard with a proposal to build a small sports car for the American market. Ferguson, the brother of Harry Ferguson, had emigrated to the US and in 1951 was running New York based Fergus Motors importing and reselling of a variety of European cars including Panhards. Panhard undertook the project with Ferguson's financial support. To reduce design costs and speed development the Dyna Junior was built with the chassis and front-wheel drive power-train from the Dyna X. Panhard hired the carrosserie Di Rosa and their chief designer Albert Lemaitre to design the body and build a prototype. Di Rosa, known primarily for their work on trucks and buses, was able to complete the first aluminum-bodied prototype in just a few months. The car had a single door on the driver's side and a fold-down windshield. Jean Panhard reviewed the car and requested extensive changes. Ferguson, who had received pictures of the prototype, withdrew from the project. In a very short time a second prototype was ready that was approved by Panhard, and ten pre-production examples were ordered. Panhard originally planned to build just 500 Dyna Juniors but decided to increase production in response to demand. To adapt the car to larger production volumes and reduce costs Panhard decided that the production Junior would get a steel body instead of one of aluminum. This change increased the weight of the car by more than 100 kg (220.5 lb). The car debuted at the Paris Motor Show in October 1951 and sales officially started at the beginning of the following year. Production of the car was initially done at Di Rosa's factory, but they were unable to meet demand and Panhard moved the Junior's assembly line to their factory in Orléans. Di Rosa would close sh

Specifications and running changes

The Dyna Junior would use two versions of the Dyna X chassis over the course of its production history. Early Juniors used the X86 chassis from the Dyna X 120 while later models used the X87 chassis from the Dyna X 130. This platform gave the Junior a wheelbase of 2,127 mm (83.7 in) and front and rear tracks of 1,220 mm (48.0 in). The front suspension was independent with upper and lower transverse leaf springs, while the rear was a rigid trailing axle with a central pivot and torsion bars. Shock-absorbers were hydraulic Houdaille units and the brakes were nine-inch drums on all four wheels. Tires front and rear were 145 × 400. The transaxle was the four-speed manual gearbox from the Dyna X. The Dyna Junior was powered by the air-cooled two-cylinder OHV boxer engine designed by Louis Delagarde. The earliest cars used the 745 cc (45.5 cu in) GM750 SS3 engine that produced 24.3 kW (32.6 hp) at 5,000 rpm giving a maximum speed of 120 km/h (74.6 mph). The GM750 Sprint engine that produced 26.5 kW (35.5 hp) at 5000 rpm from the same displacement was an option. In April 1952 the larger 851 cc (51.9 cu in) GM850 38 CV engine making 27.9 kW (37.4 hp) became available, raising top speed to 125 km/h (77.7 mph). The GM 850 S 40 CV Sprint version of this engine making 30.9 kW (41.4 hp) at 5000 rpm could also be ordered. In February 1953, the roadster was joined in Panhard's lineup by a cabriolet version that came with exterior door handles and wind-up glass side windows in place of the plastic sliders on the roadster. In March the Junior began to use the X87 chassis, and a three-seat bench seat was fitted. In 1954, the grille from the Dyna X was replaced by a simpler oval opening with an aluminum crosspiece similar to that on the Dyna Z and the instrument panel was upgraded to two

Model comparison

== Specials == Both the Panhard Dyna X and Dyna Junior were used as the basis for other limited-production vehicles. Specials that were based on the Junior include the following cars. Coach-builder Pichon-Parat built about thirty copies of a fixed-head coupé version of the Dyna Junior that followed the original's appearance very closely. The same company also designed a more streamlined body that could use the chassis of either a Dyna X or Junior, depending on the customer's wishes. About 60 of these cars, called Dolomites, were built with production continuing until 1956. The Panhard Rafale designed by Carmétall and distributed by Dijon Tourisme was a small coupé built on a Dyna Junior chassis with a lightweight alloy body. Designer Howard "Dutch" Darrin was commissioned by US Panhard importer Robert Perreau to build a one-off custom bodied Dyna Junior. This car was exhibited at the Los Angeles Motor Show in October 1953 on the Panhard stand, and then shipped to France to be reviewed by Panhard. The project did not go into production. Don Racine built and raced the "Aardvark" cycle-fendered Junior-based special in a variety of SCCA events beginning in the mid-1950s. After falling into obscurity the car was located and restored. While most of the Devin Panhards were built on a custom chassis some used part of the Panhard Dyna Junior subframe along with the engine and transaxle. Coach-builder Ghia-Aigle of Lugano Switzerland built a single alloy-bodied coupé based on a Dyna Junior chassis that was shown at the 1954 Geneva Auto Show. Belgian coach-builder Albert D'Ieteren presented a Dyna Junior with custom coupé bodywork at the Brussels Auto Salon in 1954. Only one was built. The Nichols Panhard specials were a series of cars built in Southern California by Murray Nicho

Motorsports

A Dyna Junior took part in the 1953 Tour de France Auto, where it placed 14th. A Dyna Junior driven by Georges Trouis and Jacques Blanchet competed in the 1953 1000 km of Nürburgring, where they placed 22nd. A variety of Dyna Juniors and Junior-based specials appeared at races in Europe and America throughout the late 1950s. The Fairchild special won the California Sports Car Club's H-Modified Class in the Pacific Cost Championship in both 1958 and 1959 and placed second in SCCA H-Modified in 1958.

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 Junior
Manufacturer: Panhard
aka: Panhard Junior
Production: 4707
Model years: 1952–1956
Assembly: France
Class: Sports car
Body style: Two-door roadster or cabriolet
Designer: Albert Lemaitre
Layout: Front-engine, front-wheel drive
Platform: Panhard Dyna X
Engine: Air-cooled 2-cylinder boxer, 745 cc (4 CV and 4 CV Sprint), 851 cc (5 CV and 5 CV Sprint)
Transmission: 4-speed manual
Kerb weight: 630 kg
Wheelbase: 2127 mm
Length: 3630 mm
Width: 1470 mm
Height: 1280 mm
Predecessor: none
Successor: none
sp: uk

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/Q1620997CC0 1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-01
Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panhard_Dyna_JuniorCC BY-SA 4.0 · Text © Wikipedia contributors; revision 1358900972 · retrieved 2026-10-01
Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1954PanhardDynaJunior.jpgCC BY 2.0 · Photo: dave_7 · 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.