The Panhard CD is a car designed by Charles Deutsch and built by Panhard from 1963 to 1965. The CD was named for Deutsch and is considered a continuation of the line of Panhard-powered vehicles built by Deutsch-Bonnet. The car was the production version of the CD Dyna that raced at Le Mans in June 1962.
The CD Dyna
At the end of 1961, the partnership between French engineer and aerodynamicist Charles Deutsch and his longtime collaborator René Bonnet ended. Shortly afterwards, French automaker Panhard approached Deutsch to design a successor to his DB HBR 5 for the 1962 24 Hours of Le Mans. While this would be Deutsch's first solo project, he had already designed cars with Panhard components, and a detailed drawing of a car that anticipated the CD Dyna, and may have been a planned HBR 6, dates from as early as October 19, 1960.
Panhard gave approval for work to start on the car at the end of January 1962, and factory manager Etienne de Valance began to build a team of drivers.
Five cars were built; one prototype with a body of hand-hammered steel and four more with bodywork in glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) by Chappe et Gessalin. A tubular steel space-frame was considered but the car would instead get a steel backbone chassis. The first car, chassis number 101, was finished in just 70 days. The next four cars were given designations 102 through 105.
The car was variously called the CD-Panhard coach, the Panhard et Levassor CD Le Mans and the CD-Panhard Dyna Coupé, but in the results of the 1962 24 Heures du Mans it is listed as the CD Dyna.
The design of the body was handled by Deutsch and aerodynamicist Lucien Romani along with his protégé Marcel Hubert.
The engines were the air-cooled boxer twins designed by Panhard's Louis Delagarde and tuned by Deutsch and Société Moteur Moderne. Power was boosted by means of enlarged valves, a higher-lift camshaft and two Zenith down-draught carburetors. While the first engine built had also been enlarged to 954 cc the Le Mans cars would all have a smaller 702 cc engine. The car's transaxle was from the Panhard PL 17.
Racing the CD Dyna
The coupé first appeared at the Le Mans test days in April 1962, where the car was registered in the class for prototypes with engines of up to . Drivers Pierre Lelong and Bernard Boyer posted the 20th and 21st best times of the day.
On 27 May 1962, chassis 101 and 102 were brought to the 1000 km of Nürburgring. Chassis 101 was driven by the team of André Guilhaudin and Bernard Boyer and chassis 102 by Jean-Pierre Hanrioud and Alain Bertaut. The Hanrioud/Bertaut car did not finish due to an accident, but the Guilhaudin/Boyer car finished in 24th place overall.
Four cars were entered for the 24 Heures du Mans of June 23 and 24 1962. Chassis 103 received number 53 and was driven by the team of André Guilhaudin and André Bertaut. Chassis 104 received number 54 and was driven by Pierre Lelong and Jean-Pierre Hanrioud. Chassis 105 received number 55 and was driven by Bernard Boyer and Guy Verrier. A car that is believed to have been chassis 102 received number 70 and was to have been driven by Robert Neyret and Robert Mougin but the car did not arrive.
Number 54 was eliminated in the ninth hour of the race due to an accident in which the car overturned and caught fire. Hanrioud, who was driving at the time, managed to walk away from the crash. Boyer and Verrier in number 55 retired in the fourteenth hour with an overheated engine.
Number 53, driven by Bertaut and Guildaudin, finished 16th overall and won its class and the "Indice de Performance". The car also placed third in the "Indice au rendement énergetique", or consumption index, with an average of with a vehicle weight. Guilhaudin and Bertaut's average speed over the entire race at was , while their fastest lap took 5 minutes 22 seconds with a speed of .
On 16 September, Deutsch brought a CD Dyna with a modified engine and some additional aerodynamic changes to the Hunaudeères straight where the car reached a top speed of .
In 21 October 21 1962, drivers André Guilhaudin and Alain Bertaut finished in 20th position at the 1000 km race of Paris. This was the end of the Dyna Coupés' racing career.