Panther Rio... Educate me!

[grifterkid]

Hello there folks...

I have been fascinated by the Panther Rio ever since I saw one in a copy of Classic & Sports Car about 20 years ago. They looked to be a true shrunken limo' & they certainly weren't lacking in equipment nor luxury (but then they weren't cheap either!)...

Now I really don't know very much about them other than they were based on the Dolomite Sprint (and 1850...?!) and they were about as expensive as an XJ12 Jag' when new...!!! Can you wonderfully knowledgeable people let me know all you know please...?!

Ta very much in advance.

[JPB]

Mmm, nice narrowboat, but WTF is that thing that looks like a shrunken Paykan doing parked so close by it?

Here, see how I mean, Rio:

and a Paykan:


Yet their plush leather and even more slabs of firewood do afford the aluminium-panelled specialist product a real air of luxury, just like the toilets in Harrods compared to the Dolomite's more Fenwicks-like decor.

As much as an XJ12 you say. Hmm, I'd take an XJ6 and spend the change on a perfectly good enough Dolomite to ride about in.

[rio]

this is my rio not every one likes it but i do sometimes

[JPB]

So are the inner panels original steel and the flaps and skins aluminium? Nightmare as any owner of an older Discovery would likely tell you.
Or is that not why the body man was afraid of it?

[Toledo Man]

The Rio was reskinned in aluminium. The Rio was an 1850 with the Especial based on the Sprint. It was a bit overpriced with the Especial costing more than the Jaguar XJ 5.3! There were only 38 Rios sold. I wonder how many have survived.

[xvivalve]

...and it was actually originally intended to be the Panther R 10!

[blue dolly se]

Hi there this is not Bill Its his partner Margaret, in answer to all the negative comments about this car i would say don't knock until you have driven one, which i might say i am at the moment doing so and yes these cars have problems with the body panels but i would say it drives, to me, like a little treasure. And the front seats are more comfortable than all of your sprints put together. There is more leg room in the front, slightly less in the back but i don't sit in the back only George our teddy has that pleasure, and as for the comment about the foreign car lookalike my advice to you is "you should have gone to spec savers!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

[rio]

when you sit in your car on a hot day just think of the rio with the air con going and the comfortable leather seats The car is based on the dolly but so r other cars so do they all get a hard time ??? or should the rio and the others be taken for what they r cars in there own right if the rio is so bad why do you let it into your club

[rio]

when you sit in your car on a hot day just think of the rio with the air con going and the comfortable leather seats The car is based on the dolly but so r other cars so do they all get a hard time ??? or should the rio and the others be taken for what they r cars in there own right if the rio is so bad why do you let it into your club

[JPB]

Ooh-er. That "foreign" car is essentially a good old Hillman Hunter but sent to Turkey and Iran in CKD form for local assembly, I'd better apologise on the Rootes Arrow-series forum for comparing it to the Panther I suppose.
Take a look at the Panther website to understand the real point of that comparison, it was intended that way.

I don't see anyone claiming that the car wasn't comfortable, it ought to have been but rear legroom wasn't exactly a Dolomite's forté before it was modified with bigger seats so that isn't really relevant either.
And electrolytic corrosion is unavoidable where two dissimilar metals meet so short of using a sacrificial anode of some sort (a nice block of zinc stashed somewhere and replaced every few years ought to do) there's no amount of work that would avoid the corrosion in a car that was used regularly, you must be very careful to avoid getting your car wet so well done for that and for daring to be different.
As for aircon, what makes the system in the Panther better than that fitted as an option to Tropical-spec Dollies? They also came with seats that would stick to bare flesh on hot days, just like leather.