Is there no such thing as an officially made region-free Panasonic Q model?

According to this article/review, Panasonic released a slightly upgraded version of the Q featuring 100% compatibility with NTSC region 1-6 DVD and GCN games close to the end of the system's lifespan and that it supposedly cost about $60USD more than a regular Q:
http://www.videogameconsolelibrary.com/pg00-q.htm

However, upon looking into it even further, there appears to be virtually no information on this supposed model 2 unit. By default, the Panasonic Q utilizes the model number SL-GC10, with the "region-free" model in the article being SL-GC10-S. Is this article/review for real? Was there legitimately a region-free model?

 

It's incorrect. The official name of the Panasonic Q is SL-GC-10-S: for some reason and I don' know why, "SL-GC-10" is written on the front of the device, and "SL-GC-10-S" is written on the box of this device.
There have not been several versions of this device, but a single version that is region locked (GameCube JAP games / NTSC Zone 2 DVD). The "region free" devices are models that were modified by Lik-Sang.
It was an import website that offered to buy modified consoles, and for the Panasonic Q, you could choose between a model that reads all DVDs, a model that reads US games in addition to JAP games, or a model that was completely modified with these two options.

The modification to read all the DVD is very heavy (it was necessary to add an extra chip of RAM, capacitors, another small chip, and it was necessary especially the famous DVD Panasonic "region free" for this device). The modification to read the US games is less heavy : this mod requires a programmed 12C508A PIC (the program cannot be found on the Internet...). This PIC must be soldered behind the "Power" button: by pressing the Power button on the console for a few seconds, the GameCube mode will switch to US mode (this is actually the same modification that can be easily made on all GameCube, but the advantage of this modification was not having to make a hole in the shell of the console to put a switch to two positions there, it was an "automatic" switch). For this option, however, it is possible to do this by adding a switch to two positions, but it would be a sacrilege to drill a hole in this console!

The DVD Videos region free mod could be useful at the moment of the release of Panasonic Q. But today, all good DVD and Blu-Ray players can upscale movies, and have a correct output via HDMI. For me, modding a Panasonic Q today to play all DVDs regions (via an S-Video output only or composite !) is completely obsessive, expensive, and not without risks.

 

Oh wow! Thank you for the helpful insight!