Model year of my Panasonic MC-6500?

[Arran]

OK brains trust, here’s a noodle scratcher…

I’ve picked up a beautiful, hardly-used Panasonic Mountain Cat 6500 with a full Deore II groupset, Araya RM20 rims etc. (note; the saddle & tyres are not original, they’re from my parts bin!).

My initial assumption was that it’d be an ‘89 model but it looks more ‘modern’ than the 6500 in all the catalogs I could find online. That basically eliminates it being older than ‘89! Deore changed over to DX in ‘90 so unless Panasonic spec’ed an obsolete groupset it’s not from that year, nor does it match any of the catalogs from ‘90 onward that I’ve found.

I haven’t been able to find anything online matching this combination of colour, graphics & components. Anyone able to solve the mystery for me???

 

[Arran]

No-one's able to provide any insight?

 

[mk one]

'89 -

 

[Arran]

Thanks @mk one, bloody legend! Where did you find that scan? I couldn't find it anywhere!

 

[JCS]

I find these Japanese brands very interesting- Panasonic, Bridgestone, etc. I don’t remember ever seeing them in MBUK or for sale in the UK. Were they US market only?
Some of them are very nice - this one in particular.

 

[mk one]

Thanks @mk one, bloody legend! Where did you find that scan? I couldn't find it anywhere!

I think it was a US version from memory.

 

[Elev12k]

I find these Japanese brands very interesting- Panasonic, Bridgestone, etc. I don’t remember ever seeing them in MBUK or for sale in the UK. Were they US market only?
Some of them are very nice - this one in particular.

Panasonic was available in Europe too. In the Archive you will find catalogs in German and Dutch. Panasonic left the US market around 1990 and the European market around 1995. They are still available in Japan. There is an interesting website that covers in particular US line ups >> https://www.panasonicbikemuseum.info

There exists a book on Japanese (road) bikes that I can really recommend >> https://amzn.eu/d/9qxkc32