The Panoz Esperante Is The Underrated American Sports Car Everyone Forgot Existed
Starting a low-volume sports car company is one of America's favorite automotive pastimes — next to building giant trucks and putting superchargers on everything. Mosler was one such company that made the MT900, an incredibly lightweight super car capable of competing with the best on the track. The founder, Warren Mosler, had his fun making cars and sold the company off.
Panoz is another American sports car maker that hasn't enjoyed a ton of spotlight appearances apart from a few spots on shows like "Jay Leno's Garage," or maybe the odd appearances in a "Forza" game or two. Dan Panoz founded the company in the late 1980s and produced his first car, the Panoz Roadster in 1992 (via Panoz). Several motorsports wins later (including a few at the 24 Hours of LeMans), Panoz built the second iteration of its Esperante sportscar from the early 2000s, the Esperante Spyder GT. Despite boasting impressive specifications, a big V8, and a state-of-the-art aluminum frame, the Panoz has remained relatively obscure to everyone but the most ardent car historians.
A bespoke sportscar
The most recent version of the Esperante first debuted in 2014 at a vintage aircraft show charity event held during Monterey Car Week. It was heralded as the 25th anniversary edition of the Esperante from years past, and Panoz was only going to make 25 total models in its Georgia-based factory. Every Panoz Esperante was hand-built, so each specific car was slightly different from the last. But every Spyder model shared a mostly aluminum chassis, a six-speed manual transmission, and a 6.2-liter aluminum V8. The Esperante Spyder GT's tagline was "Sounds Like Thunder. Goes Like Lightning."
In addition to being hand-built, the cars were essentially custom designs built to the specification of the customer. For example, the customer could opt for a variety of interior creature comforts like a navigation system, a push-button start, or air conditioning. Customers could even spring for a supercharger that bumped the engine's horsepower from 430 to 560 or more, according to Panoz. It does not appear that the Panoz website has been updated since 2017, but pricing for the Spyder GT model started at $169,900 for a base model. Although "base" may not be the right word used to describe a bespoke sports car with a six-figure price tag.
Sounds like thunder, goes like lightning
Given the fact that the car had a several-hundred-horsepower giant V8, an extruded aluminum frame, and weighed around 3,350 pounds, it's a safe bet that the Esperante was fast. Although not blindingly quick compared to supercars, Panoz said the Esperante Spyder would reach 60 mph in a very respectable 3.7 seconds, and would reach a top speed of 172 miles per hour. That's almost quaint in a world of supercars that inch closer and closer to a 300-mph top speed.
With only 25 models ever being produced, it's unlikely that you'll see an Esperante driving around anytime soon. Despite the short production life, Panoz still provides parts and services to any of the lucky few who bought a car. Although temporarily closed at the time of writing due to COVID, Panoz has a museum in Hoschton, Georgia where a collection of Panoz cars is displayed. A majority of the museum's proceeds are donated to local charities (via Panoz).