Topic: Puzzle #252 - Solved! Owen Sedanca

[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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[SeaLion]

This is the first of two british Owen Sedancas that was built by Panter in 1978 and 1983. Owen Sedanca was first presented in 1973, it was designed by Chris Humberstone and based at the Jaguar XJ Saloon.


One of the first two (destroyed) prototypes.

The Sedanca's all-aluminium bodywork was skillfully hand-beaten by north London coachbuilders Williams & Pritchard, who then applied it to the superstructure of the XJ6 donor car. Inside, the car was plushly reupholstered in very-Seventies brown Dralon. Inevitably, the finished product attracted a hefty price tag of £8,500 – well over twice the price of the car on which it was based, and even eclipsing the likes of the Bristol 411 and Jensen Interceptor by a fair margin. And yet, despite the fact that it was powered by nothing more exciting than the standard 4.2-litre Jaguar engine, HR Owen managed to take 80 firm orders for the car on the strength of the first prototype.

Things looked promising, with HR Owen envisaging around 100 orders per annum, but disaster was just around the corner: in the time that it took to build the first "production" model, the impending oil crisis ensured that one-by-one, each of those 80 orders was cancelled. With no buyers in sight, HR Owen wound up the operation and for reasons which are not entirely clear, the only two examples built were destroyed.

However, the tale took an unexpected turn around four years later, when an Oxfordshire-based Arab placed a firm order for one. This time, HR Owen gave the job to Panther Westwinds, and it seems that the finished article made a good impression, as a further Owen Sedanca was built by Panther in 1983 for the same customer's son. Both these cars are thought to have survived.

[Otto Puzzell]

Quite right. 

[Boybentley]

Nice to see my old car on this forum. The picture was taken at a classic car meeting in Alphen a/d Rijn (NL) a couple of years ago, you can just see me standing at the back of the car.
There were 5 cars built, of which there are still 3 remaining. A white one, a bronze one and this blue one. I sold it in 2009 to Germany.

[woodinsight]

The white and bronze examples of the Owen Sedanca

[Quiller]

The bronze one lives next door to my brother! Still looks the same, even down to the Wolfrace wheels

[Carnut]

The bronze one lives next door to my brother! Still looks the same, even down to the Wolfrace wheels

And a friend of mine in Surrey had one!
I'll have to ask him which one it was.  I didn't know they made 5; I thought it was only 3..