Anyone else into Panoz?? I always thought they were such a neat little company. Ugly ass little fast sports cars, and thats it. How quaint, and straight outta' Georgia! I read somewhere that they are hard as hell to drive, but are really rewarding because they are so bizarre dynamically. Anyone else know anything about these guys?
http://www.uncrate.com/men/images/esperante-gtlm.jpg

holy crap, with a name like "Panoz" I thought they were always some obscure European company, like Prodrive or Proton, lol. So they are based in Georgia? Damn, I've got no clue so I will be interested in learning as well. Good thread vtec.

holy crap, with a name like "Panoz" I thought they were always some obscure European company, like Prodrive or Proton, lol. So they are based in Georgia? Damn, I've got no clue so I will be interested in learning as well. Good thread vtec.

Proton are Malaysian not European.

From that picture I wouldnt say the car is ugly.

http://www.damox.com/cars/thumbs/Panoz/Panoz_Esperante.jpg
http://www.jamb.ca/gallery/albums/Newcars/panoz.jpg
http://www.rfmsports.com/IMSA/ALMS/News/348_4856b%20Panoz.jpg
http://www.damox.com/cars/thumbs/Panoz/1999_Panoz_AIV_Roadster.jpg
http://www.968.net/racing/images/20021012_plm_51_panoz_01.jpg

Well, I think they are a little silly looking. They are cool, though. Panoz has competed in the ALMS every year since they were concieved. They always break half way through, but they are persistent little buggers, and they keep trying. I think they use Ford engines, but I might be wrong. See what you fellas can dig up.

*EDIT*
I just found out through good ole Wikipedia that Don Panoz owns American Le Mans Series. He also owns a whole crap load of tracks including all the tracks in GA and a few others around the US. The car company Panoz is actually owned by his son Danny and has 2 road going models, the Esperante (the car) and the AIV Roadster. They are also producing all the chassis' for the '07 Champ Car series. Wowsers. They do use Ford motors.

...I think I figured out who my favorite American car company is....

I know this is a double post but I don't care. Just dug up some new stuff...

How's an aluminum chassis AND aluminum body panels sound? How about a hand assembled 4.6 litre DOHC engine? Yeah, that's what I thought. Wow. Also, how about under 100 grand?

The Panoz website has a really righteous build your own thing. It's neat-o.

http://www.panozauto.com/BuildStep1.aspx

Yeah...Panoz is one of those companies that are sort of like Shelby used to be SORT OF. Put powerful engines in a light and strong body.


Panoz also won the 2006 24 Hours of LeMans race in the GT2 category, beating out a strong field of Porsches and a couple of Ferraris.

I am pretty sure it uses the same engine as the SVT cobra's did.

Proton are Malaysian not European.

From that picture I wouldnt say the car is ugly.

....doh! I feel stupid.

So Panoz is basically a very successful racing team that also made a few road legal cars on the side?

i didnt like this manuf much...coz there cars don't look so good.but my fav of them is this..the esperante gtr.love the tail lights.

http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/1997/Nurburgring-1997-06-29-005.jpg

The Panoz roadster was pretty damn good. It matched the R8 in ALMS back in the times. Today it's been screwed over by the ACO.
The Esparante GT-LM won Le Mans this year.

Their road cars are cool as well. Especailly the Roadster. That's one cool little car!

oh yea, that little roadster, loved it, sounded great, handled great, looks great, and i fell in love with it since i played that car in Midtown Madness :D

oh yea, that little roadster, loved it, sounded great, handled great, looks great, and i fell in love with it since i played that car in Midtown Madness :DLol, me too - I just didn't have the balls to admit it. You rock. I don't think it has much on the on Plymouth Prowler though, unless it's cheaper.

Damn, it's from 1992. It looks like it was made in th early 2000's! Holy cow. It just jumped 400 degrees on my coolness scale.

the prowler sucks in pics....but when u see it in person..u'll knoe how wrong u were.i have never seen a panoz in person.that little roadster looks like a fish.

hmm, id better look forward on seeing that in real life..:D

the prowler sucks in pics....but when u see it in person..u'll knoe how wrong u were.i have never seen a panoz in person.that little roadster looks like a fish.Fish are sexy. It's pretty good looking for being made in 1992.... At least it's nicer than that new Esperante.

....doh! I feel stupid.


Easy mistake, They are thought to be European because they own Lotus.

....doh! I feel stupid.

So Panoz is basically a very successful racing team that also made a few road legal cars on the side?

To my understanding Don Panoz is the name of the guy who actually owns the American Le Mans Series, and also Road Atlanta, and a bunch of racing sharings, the rights to the Champ Car chassis' and a few other famous race tracks here in the U.S. His son Danny owns the car company Panoz who makes the sports car and convertible Esperante and all the Panoz racing cars who have competed in the ALMS and other series'. Unfortunately, they don't usually do too incredibly well in racing because they are up against monster companies like Audi and Cadillac who have limitless resources, where as Panoz is like 10 guys with a hand built made-from-scratch car. They usually end up having reliability issues (like every racing team does) and just can't fix them in time due to being such a tiny team. Still, they do pretty well overall for thier size, and they are quite persistent and still enter tons of races regardless of chances of victory.

Danny Panoz is his son, he owns and runs the company, he's also the main man behind the road cars. He's had a 60's Mustang for decades, and crashed it, three times, totalling it twice.

He's rebuilt it each time.

That's the type of car enthusiast you want building your car. They've got a deal with Ford in which they get the SVT Cobra s/c'ed V8's, and tune 'em a tad.

A darn good recipe imo.

i didnt like this manuf much...coz there cars don't look so good.but my fav of them is this..the esperante gtr.love the tail lights.

http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/1997/Nurburgring-1997-06-29-005.jpg
I like how this car looks.. and it is the best model from Panoz I think .
I've made a comparo about this.. try to view my comparison threads . The title is "American vs Italian" if I'm not mistaken . Quite a lot of posts in and those are good posts .

Seriously, I don't know about American cars that much but I would say Panos is just a small company that generates fast little freaks . I would say a 5 second sub 0-60mph sportscar is fast .

i really really like that car . the Panoz is a really SEXY car . IMO it is an Exotic car , it has aggressive looks, sexy lines . It has thrilling performance , and definetly a scary exhaust music , what's not to like in it ? !!

Holy mother of Jesus Christ. Panoz made a road car of the GTR-1. I thought it was a P1 car.
http://pageperso.aol.fr/dsspawn/images/panoz%20esperante%20gt1.jpg

Easy mistake, They are thought to be European because they own Lotus.

lol no they dont own Lotus, Proton owns Lotus... :|

damn that's ugly...

Has anyone got any stats cause i played a game and there cars did not seem very fast....

this may be a good site...

www.panoz.com

or maybe try google..

We can be thankful that these guys started the American Le Mans series.

You know, I don't think I have ever seen a road test on these cars, and at all honesty, when I look at a roadcar it doesn't catch my attention that much. Although, the race car versions are quite interesting.

I'm in love with that road car. Le Mans road cars are Gods gift to the automotive world. It looks extremely cool, and the chassis's basic design lived on through the next revolution, the batmoblie which were actually on the pace of the R8.