chassis. More than 1,000 of the two marques of this model were built. The Jankel Group Panther Westwind went bankrupt in 1979, and it was subsequently sold to South Korean businessman Young Kim. Jankel then turned his focus to the Jankel Group, a coachbuilding company he had founded in 1955 but the firm had been little more than a hobby. For the Jankel Group, Jankel concentrated on building specialist versions of cars for other high-end manufacturers, mostly Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar. From 1983 to 1989, Jankel was the exclusive subcontractor to Rolls-Royce to build more than 100 units of the Silver Spur Limousine. For Range Rover, he built a number of specialist hunting and all-terrain vehicles for Middle Eastern customers. In 1992, he built the Jankel Tempest, a Chevrolet Corvette-based super car, with ultra-luxury interior and 6.7 litre supercharged V8, which produced 535 bhp and was capable of 200 mph, as well as holding the 1992 Guinness Book of Records 0-60 mph acceleration record of 3.89 seconds. Most of Jankel's work from the 1990s to his death in 2005 was dedicated to building police vehicles, high-protection armoured cars and exotic luxury stretch limousines. In 1995, Jankel produced armoured cars for many police services, including the Metropolitan Police. All of Jankel's police vehicles were built on GM and Ford chassis. Jankel bought back the Panther name in 2001 and was working on the design of a new Panther sports car when he died. Jankel was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2001, but remained an active member of the Jankel Group until his death on 25 May 2005. The Jankel Group continues to build made-to-order speciality vehicles. References External links The Jankel Group 1938 births 2005 deaths Deaths from pancreatic cancer British founders of automobile manufacturers British automobile designers Coachbuilders of the United Kingdom People educated at St Paul's School, London