Introduction and First Steps.



This Panther outfit was first offered for sale on the Panther Facebook Site in 2014 by the owner John Kirby. It had belonged to his late father, Eric Kirby. Eric wasn't very active within the Panther Owners Club but was part of it and associated with it from time to time. He spoke highly of the POC for the help and advice they gave him. The photo was taken shortly before he passed away. 

Eric Kirby

         The Panther is a 600cc model in black\silver with a  non-transferable registration number. On the Facebook page John went on to say, “it was taken off the road, still running but needing an exhaust.  I'm unsure why he started to strip the engine. The brakes are starting to lock on although I can push/move it on my own. The spare wheel is still in useable condition including a never-used tyre that still holds air. The spokes on the wheels on the bike look 'dodgy' at best, the side car has a  stereo and an old-school heating system (from the exhaust). I would just like her to go to a loving home preferably to part of the POC (it was his pride and joy in the 1990's as it's the same type of bike he got married on. The last few times I’ve come to mothers I kept looking at the bike and at the moment she's breaking my heart - hence I would rather let her go before it's too late. The restoration is easy enough, it's the engine that scares me to start it. I would love to see her back on road (as would mother) but due to the engine being in bits it’s  not going to happen anytime soon hence my posting. If I can't do it then someone who can might as well make use instead of her rotting away.”

          

The outfit in 2014

           There were no takers and the outfit was slowly buried under a pile of old car and bike parts. In early 2019 John offered it again on Facebook. This time he was keen to clear the yard of his mother’s property and made the comment that if no-one wanted it he would scrap it. It was clearly too good to scrap so I made contact. We came to a deal and I promised to rebuild it and return it to the road so I made arrangements to collect it from Blackpool on 8th March 2019. 

Sidecar just visible

           This Panther M100 left the P& M factory in Cleckheaton, Yorkshire, on January 19th 1960. It was in use until the road tax ran out at the end of February 1994. The then owner, Eric Kirby, had used it for some years fitted with a single seat sidecar on a Panther chassis and leading link forks. When Eric sadly passed away, presumably around 1994, the outfit stood outside his home in Blackpool slowly disappearing in an accumulating pile of car parts, old motorcycles and general junk. At the time of his death Eric had been working on the bike; the engine was partially dismantled with the rocker cover off, and the clutch, Magdyno and exhausts had all been removed. There the machine stood until offered by Eric’s son John.

        I made my way to Sherb’s place in Lostock and we took his car and trailer over to Blackpool where John had excavated the outfit from the pile. It was in poor condition having stood outside for about twenty-five years. The front wheel had collapsed with rust but we were prepared having taken a wheel with us. The bike would still not roll as the rear chain was rusted solid; the angle grinder attended to that. Eventually we got it on the trailer and took it back to Lostock.

 

On the trailer with replacement wheel.

          Back at Sherb's and in the rain we took it off the trailer and started to separate the sidecar from the bike. Most of the fittings unscrewed, bolts that were immovable surrendered to the angle grinder. Using ramps and brute force we got the sidecar on its chassis into the van. Fitting in the bike was more difficult but using a couple of trolley jacks and grinding off obstructions we eventually closed the van doors before settling down for a well earned beer. Thanks to Sherb and Barbara for labour and B&B. The return to Southampton was simple by comparison.

Squeezed into the van.