Panhard Album

In 1887 Panhard & Levassor began making Daimler engines under licence, and in 1891 they conceived the automobile layout which would become standard worldwide. A vertical engine was located at the front of a four-wheel chassis with sprung suspension, driving the rear wheels through a friction clutch and a series of gears. It may seem to be an obvious layout today, but up to that time there was no consensus of opinion about the 'right' way to design cars. Panhard was also the first car to have a windscreen. They were the leading car manufacturers in the world in the early years of the motor car, but after the death of co-founder Emile Levassor in 1897 the firm began to struggle. The early image of the company as a race-winning dynamic force at the forefront of technical innovation was replaced by that of a maker of expensive luxury cars. By the 1930s the large art deco sleeve-valve Panhards were expensive and dated, bringing Panhard to the verge of collapse. This book tells the story of Panhard.