I am trying to locate information about the original steering mechanism for Bob Reisner's Pink Panther show car. It did not have a steering wheel! I found one reference that called it "trigger steering" but that is it. If anyone knows of an original article or photos of the car, please let me know. Attached is a close up shot of the interior. If you look closely, near the front on the left side is something that resembles a handle or some type of bracket. Thanks in advance.
I'll bet it was a set up like a green machine. It was pretty dodgy in the video. EDIT: Not implying it was ACTUAL rods connected to the axle like the G.M., but suggesting that it might have been levers on either side of the driver. Like an old bulldozer or something.
The closing credits clearly show no wheel... Also, the gauge layout/dashboard is different between the "Original" and the show car... Interesting.
Guessing something like Starbirds Preditca, center steering lever, forward/right - back/left. (might be the other way around)
If you watch the Opening clip, at around 18sec in, you can the drivers hands 'twitch' the steering levers. Interesting.
saw an appearance of the car on TV decades ago and they showed the steering as 2 controls that looked like the plunger style speed controls from a slot car set with one for each turning direction and it sounded like the actual mechanism was an electric motor that drove the steering.
It does look a bit sketchy control-wise in the highway shots in the video - the two-stick control makes sense based on that...also looks like the "restoration" isn't too accurate in the ****pit...
I imagine it had a steer by wire system in it when first built. At some point it was converted to a more standard type of steering. Probably because it didn't work right. With the steering by wire on late model cars it might be a way to take it back as it was originally built.
The Jalopy Journal
