PMS ("Paul Ménissier Spéciale") / Panhard- Alfa Romeo, built on a Panhard Dyna-X modified chassis
This very original racing barchetta is a survivor of the fifties/sixities, a very active and creative period for motor racing. The manufacturer is Paul Ménissier, a mechanic based in Drôme (South of France).
Paul Ménissier, was a Citroën agent and a pilot in the South of France. Ménissier is the man who designed and built this PMS-Panhard, with an audacious concept : the mid-engine front wheel drive, combining ideal weight balance with front-wheel directional power. Different engines have been used to power the prototype : an air-cooled engine first (Panhard or VW), then a twin-cam Alfa Romeo. Now, the car is fitted with a Ford 4-in line.
Powered by a twin-cam Alfa-Romeo engine it was built on a modified Panhard coupé chassis, and raced by Paul Ménissier himself, among other events, at the famous Course de Côte du Pin (picture).
The most original feature of the car is its mid-engine / front -wheel drive structure, probably unique in History. The chassis is a modified Panhard Dyna X, fitted with a more advanced rear suspension including spring coils. The front wheel train receives power from a transmission shaft running through the cockpit.
Ménissier probably wished to put more the weight at the rear for a better balance, whilst retaining the front-wheel drive road-holding qualities of the Dyna-X. The mid-engine technology was really new at that time (Ferrari only moved from front-engine to rear-engine sports cars in 1963...). Matched with the front-wheel drive, the PMS is really revolutionary. In addition, the bodywork was designed following advanced aerodynamics conceptions, closely derived from racing Porsche spiders. The bodywork was eventually further refined with a longer front part (probably designed to generate more downward force), as well as rear "fins" not far from the contemporary state-of-the art cars.
The Ménissier has been raced two times at the hillclimb "Course de Côte du Pin", first in 1960 or 61, then in 1962 - see picture here below - with a bodywork that was still experimental...replaced with the one that we knwo today, probably in search of aerodynamic downforce on the front
