Topic: Puzzle #260 - Solved! Dyna 'Sculpture'

[Otto Puzzell]

Know what it is?

Please, respond below and let us know the make and model designation of the car posted here.

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[Motorace]

Looking at the small slice of nose that is visible, this has got to be from some Comic-book character who has to have a cool car for a TV series - possibly Hawkman from The Brave And The Bold?

Actually, the 5-bolt wheel rims look like something off a Renault 4CV (further reinforced by the guy in the French-looking beanie) while the scalloped fenders seem like a rip-off of Franco Scaglione's groundbreaking 1952 Fiat Abarth 1500 Biposto Coupe. 

So is it Renault 4CV based?

If so, is it an Alpine of some kind?

[Otto Puzzell]

None of the above.

[MG]

The photo appears to have been taken on the 14th of March, 1957 in the Troisieme Arrondisement of Paris right across the street from the patisserie where they make the yummy cake type bread that Marie Antoinette was always so fond of.   

Ummmmm, all this speculating has made me hungry. Think I will step out for a petit cafe y croissant avec chocolat and watch the boats on the Seine.   

This car HAS to be French. No one else would tolerate such an ugly vehicle, unless it was followed by a mob of villagers straight from the set of Frankenstein.

But I digress......

[grobmotorix]

The wheels are those of a Panhard Dyna and as they had a special brake-wheel construction I´m quite sure that the overall chassis is Panhard, too. But the bodywork is a one-off, I think.
Manufacturers like Sirio, Callista, Pichon-Parat, Drews, Wendler, Arista, Nardi etc. made bodies on the Dyna chassis, so it will not be too easy to find this particular one without any hint...

[Otto Puzzell]

You are correct about the Dyna connection.

[grobmotorix]

so where´s the hint ?

[Otto Puzzell]

Not much to tell without giving it away.

I believe it is a one-off.

[Otto Puzzell]

At long last, a fresh pic, and a clue:



Here you go. The shiny bits on the front of this vehicle are crafted from a trademarked lightweight aluminum alloy. Also, the chap exiting the car is well-know in the visual arts field, I've read.

[grobmotorix]

I didn´find it, yet.

Is it the mystherious Aluminium Francaise Gregoire (AF-G)?

[Otto Puzzell]

No.

[grobmotorix]

Serge Mouille built this one-off for Duralinox for Pierre Pothier and JP Darnat in 1953. Basis was a panhard dyna.

[Otto Puzzell]

Oui!

[Wendax]

I don't know why Google couldn't find "Pothier". So instead of my repost I add some pictures.

[Otto Puzzell]

Wow - that rear view is wild. Looks like a cleaned up Buick Centurion show car

[el_monty]

I've read this car referred to as Panhard 'Le Zebre' (1953) in several sites, but I haven't seen it called Dyna 'Sculpture' anywhere else. I was about to post it as a puzzle but it seemed very strange to me that it had not been here before so it occurred to me to search for the surname Darnat, and voilá...

[Wendax]

An amateur picture:

[Paul Jaray]

A look inside: