Panhard Dyna X

Panhard Dyna X Panhard Dyna 110 / 120 / 130
Overview
Manufacturer	Société des Anciens Etablissements Panhard et Levassor
Production	1948 - 1954 47,049 built
Designer	Jean Albert Grégoire
Body and chassis
Class	Subcompact car
Body style	4-door saloon 3-door estate 2-door cabriolet Light Van
Layout	Front engine, front-wheel drive
Powertrain
Engine	610 cc - 851 cc two cylinder boxer motor
Transmission	4-speed manual Column mounted control
Dimensions
Wheelbase	2,130 mm (84 in)
Length	3,820 mm (150 in)
Width	1,440 mm (57 in)
Height	1,530 mm (60 in)
Curb weight	550 kg (1,210 lb)−615 kg (1,356 lb)
Chronology
Successor	Panhard Dyna Z

The Panhard Dyna X was a lightweight compact saloon car designed by the visionary engineer Jean Albert Grégoire and first exhibited as the AFG (Aluminium Français Grégoire) Dyna at the Paris Motor Show in 1946.

Mindful of the precarious economic situation in France in the aftermath of war, and aware of government enthusiasm for expanding the strategically important aluminium industry, the Panhard company, which had been known in the 1930s as a manufacturer of expensive six- and eight-cylinder sedans, purchased the rights to build the little car. The dramatic change of direction was not well received by everyone at Panhard, but it did usher in a period during which Panhard was one of the most loyal followers of the Pons Plan. In view of the fates of France's luxury auto-makers in the next ten years, and the huge development potential that Panhard extracted from the Dyna X, this adherence to the Pons Plan was probably good for Panhard, at least until the early 1960s. The Dyna was made production ready and was emerging in commercial quantities from Panhard's Ivry plant by 1948: it set the pattern for Panhard passenger cars until the firm abandoned automobile production in 1967.

The car was also known as the Dyna 110, the Dyna 120 and the Dyna 130. The numbers in these names represented the progressively increasing maximum speeds (in kilometers per hour), as engine power and size increased during the production run.

The Dyna X saloon was replaced by the larger Panhard Dyna Z in 1954, although some of the sporting derivatives continued in production for a few more years.

Grégoire had during the 1920s and 1930s become known for his expertise in two particular areas of automobile construction, these being lightweight bodies and front wheel drive. The AFG Dyna, planned under difficult circumstances in occupied France, had an all-steel tubular frame chassis, to which was attached a lightweight aluminium four-door superstructure. The style of the saloon was modern and aerodynamic. Contemporary press photographs showing the car with three elegant young women seated in the front and three more in the back were presumably designed to emphasize the car's interior space, and the Dyna X certainly was usefully wider than the Renault 4CV. Nevertheless, the photographs almost certainly employed exceptionally thin young ladies and/or a certain degree of image manipulation, and it would have made more sense, even in that age of austerity, to view the Dyna X as a four seater for most purposes. At the back the usefully commodious luggage compartment was unencumbered by any spare wheel, since that was mounted on the rear panel outside the car. There was no exterior access to the luggage, which will have saved weight and expense, but from the passenger cabin it was possible to access the rear luggage compartment by tipping forward the rear seat cushion.

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Wikipedia