Panhard · 1962–1965

Panhard CD

The Panhard CD is a car designed by Charles Deutsch and built by Panhard from 1963 to 1965. The CD was named for Deutsch and is considered a continuation of the line of Panhard-powered vehicles built by Deutsch-Bonnet. The car was the production version of the CD Dyna that raced at Le Mans in June 1962.

Text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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

The CD Dyna

At the end of 1961, the partnership between French engineer and aerodynamicist Charles Deutsch and his longtime collaborator René Bonnet ended. Shortly afterwards, French automaker Panhard approached Deutsch to design a successor to his DB HBR 5 for the 1962 24 Hours of Le Mans. While this would be Deutsch's first solo project, he had already designed cars with Panhard components, and a detailed drawing of a car that anticipated the CD Dyna, and may have been a planned HBR 6, dates from as early as October 19, 1960. Panhard gave approval for work to start on the car at the end of January 1962, and factory manager Etienne de Valance began to build a team of drivers. Five cars were built; one prototype with a body of hand-hammered steel and four more with bodywork in glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) by Chappe et Gessalin. A tubular steel space-frame was considered but the car would instead get a steel backbone chassis. The first car, chassis number 101, was finished in just 70 days. The next four cars were given designations 102 through 105. The car was variously called the CD-Panhard coach, the Panhard et Levassor CD Le Mans and the CD-Panhard Dyna Coupé, but in the results of the 1962 24 Heures du Mans it is listed as the CD Dyna. The design of the body was handled by Deutsch and aerodynamicist Lucien Romani along with his protégé Marcel Hubert. The engines were the air-cooled boxer twins designed by Panhard's Louis Delagarde and tuned by Deutsch and Société Moteur Moderne. Power was boosted by means of enlarged valves, a higher-lift camshaft and two Zenith down-draught carburetors. While the first engine built had also been enlarged to 954 cc the Le Mans cars would all have a smaller 702 cc engine. The car's transaxle was from the Panhard PL 17. Racing the CD Dyna. The c

The production Panhard CD

The Panhard CD inherited its Grand Touring coupé body with distinctive tapering rear and "double-bubble" roof from the CD Dyna. The lightweight body was made of fibreglass, which lent itself to the curvy shape and the economies of a small production run of vehicles. Deutsch and Romani had sculpted a form that was extremely aerodynamic, with a drag coefficient ( C d {\displaystyle \scriptstyle C_{\mathrm {d} }\,} ) of 0.22. The body was mounted on a torsionally-rigid central backbone frame that followed the pattern set by earlier DB designs. The complete chassis weighed 40 kg (88.2 lb). The front bodywork was a single piece that tilted up and back to expose the front chassis and entire drive-train. The CD was sold in two trim levels; GT and Rallye. The GT sold for 15,500 francs, and the Rallye for 16,500 francs. The engine in both was Panhard's 848 cc (51.7 cu in) M5-T "Tigre". The engine in the GT was a standard model fed by a single Zenith type 38 NDIX down-draught carburetor that made 36.5 kW (49 hp). The Rallye model had two carburetors and produced about 44.0 kW (59 hp). The four-speed gearbox was a Panhard component with a direct-drive third gear and overdrive fourth that drove the front wheels. The transmissions in the Rallye versions had a final-drive ratio almost 10% "taller" (numerically lower) than the GT. Top speed for the GT was 165 km/h, and 180 km/h for the Rallye. Suspension was independent at all four corners. The front suspension comprised lower A-arms and an upper transverse leaf spring with lever-arm shock-absorbers. The rear suspension was semi-trailing arms with torsion-bars and lever-arm shock-absorbers. Steering was rack-and-pinion from the PL17. Braking was by System ETA (évécuation thermale accéléré), with a ligh

The Panhard LM64

After going to Le Mans in 1963 with a car powered by a DKW two-stroke three-cylinder engine, Deutsch returned in 1964 with a new ultra-streamlined Panhard-powered car called the LM64. Two cars were built; LM64/1 and LM64/2. These cars retained the central backbone chassis from the production Panhard CD, revised by Jean Claude Haenel. The transverse leaf spring in the front suspension was replaced by coil springs. Once again, Romani took the lead shaping the body. He produced a shape with completely covered headlamps, smooth sides with front and rear wheel spats and a smooth underfloor with a section towards the rear of the car shaped like a diffuser in an early use of "effet de sol" or "ground effect" to produce down-force. A more obvious feature was the two large vertical fins at the rear for stability at high speeds. The result of this work was that the LM64s had a drag coefficient even lower than that of the Panhard CD, with a C d {\displaystyle \scriptstyle C_{\mathrm {d} }\,} of just 0.12. Due to safety concerns, cars with engines smaller than 1 litre were not allowed to run at Le Mans beginning in 1964. To overcome that restriction, the engine in the LM64s received a Sferma supercharger along with other changes that included twin-ignition and dual Zenith carburetors. By applying the 1.4 multiplication factor for engines with forced-induction the effective displacement of the 848 cc Panhard engines rose to 1187 cc making the car eligible for the under 1200 cc class. Power output was up to 58.2 kW (78 hp). The transaxle used was a ZF 5-speed unit. Racing the LM64. One of the LM64s appeared at the Le Mans test. Driver Alain Bertault posted the 33rd fastest time. One car was slated to appear at the 1000 km of Nürburgring but did not

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 CD
Manufacturer: Panhard
Production: 1962–1965
Assembly: France
Designer: Charles Deutsch
Class: Grand Tourer
Body style: 2-door coupé
Layout: Front-engine, front-wheel drive
Engine: 848 cc air-cooled ohv boxer twin
Transmission: 4-speed manual
Wheelbase: 2250 mm
Length: 4060 mm
Width: 1600 mm
Height: 1185 mm
Kerb weight: 580 kg
Predecessor: DB HBR 5, Panhard Dyna Junior
Successor: Panhard 24, Citroën SM
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/Q2049462CC0 1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-01
Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panhard_CDCC BY-SA 4.0 · Text © Wikipedia contributors; revision 1343212456 · retrieved 2026-10-01
Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Panhard_CD_001.jpgPublic domain · Photo: Arnaud 25 · 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.