Paul over at TheTruthAboutCars.com claims he’s found the inspiration Porsche’s Design Department used when creating the Porsche Panamera: A Bristol 405. The 405 is the only 4-door in the 400 series line and was built between 1955 and 1958.
You have to admit, the two do look a bit similar, but I can’t imagine the Bristol 405 provided any inspiration for Porsche’s Design Team. Still, kind of fun to check out old cars and see similarities to today’s models. To me the Bristol 405 looks more Jaguar-related than anything. In fact, looking through the used cars on Bristol’s site, most of them look like another car produced at the same time period. Now that’s strange.
[Via TheTruthAboutCars.com]
Maybe some similarities, and I do agree the oldie has some looks of an older Jaguar. The Panemera is pretty sleek looking.
That other car produced at the same time period might be a BMW (since Bristol accessed their designs after WWII) or a Ghia.