Unlikely offering

A‘sports Panther’ sounds slightly incongruous doesn’t it? A bit like one of those pairs of words such as ‘fun run’ or ‘military intelligence’ that don’t necessarily go together. And just as only a dedicated fitness fanatic would always regard running as fun, it would take a devoted Panther fan to claim the Model 45 was a genuine sportster. How could it be when it is propelled by a proprietary two-stroke engine? Villiers motors have many virtues, but they don’t include spectacular power and nobody – least of all Panther – seriously tried to tune them for greater performance in road bikes.

But Panther was far from alone in making a few cosmetic changes to a commuter and calling it a sports bike, and at least they didn’t try to deceive potential buyers with acres of frivolous chrome plating.