Ever Seen One Before? This Is The Unusual American-Made Panoz Esperante RS

The Panoz Esperante was a rare success story for the small-scale sports car manufacturer Panoz – it received rave reviews in-period, it won its class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2006, and it’s remembered as one of the best handling American sports cars of its time.

The car you see in this article is the Panoz Esperante RS, it started out as a standard Esperante before being modified by JRD Tuning of Hoschton, Georgia to their RS specification. The car is capable of 470 bhp thanks to a range of engine modifications including the fitment of both a supercharger and intercooler.

Fast Facts – The Panoz Esperante RS

The Panoz Esperante, introduced in 2000, is a lightweight aluminum-bodied sports car featuring independent suspension and a Ford Modular 4.6 liter V8 engine. Praised for its handling, it competed with the Corvette and became a successful low-volume American sports car that helped further establish the reputation of Panoz.
The Esperante’s advanced aluminum chassis provided excellent rigidity and the hand-assembled aluminum alloy body helped keep weight down. It utilized many Ford-sourced components, including the drivetrain of the Ford SVT Mustang Cobra, and it was fitted with power-assisted ventilated disc brakes, alloy wheels, power steering, and a well-appointed cabin with a folding soft top.
This Panoz Esperante RS was upgraded by JRD Tuning, it features a supercharged V8 producing 470 bhp. Upgrades include that aforementioned supercharger, as well as an intercooler, stainless-steel exhaust, a recalibrated ECU, and high-flow catalytic converters, offering significant performance improvements over the original model’s 305 bhp.
This 2002 Panoz Esperante RS, finished in black with a tan interior, includes luxury features like carbon fiber trim, air conditioning, electric windows, bucket seats, and a Pioneer stereo. It’s offered for sale in Marietta, Georgia, with service records, manufacturer’s literature, and a clean Florida title.

A History Speedrun: Panoz

Panoz was founded by Dan Panoz in 1989 with the very specific goal of designing and building world-class sports cars in the United States. The Panoz family first arrived in the United States in the early 20th century when champion Italian boxer Eugene Panunzio moved over and changed his surname from Panunzio to Panoz.

This Italian heritage, plus a lifelong love of racing and sports cars, had inspired Dan Panoz to start his own eponymous automotive marque and much to the surprise of some, he enjoyed significant success and the company remains in business building cars through to the current day.

The first production car from the company would be the Panoz Roadster, imagine a cross between a Shelby Cobra and a Caterham 7 and you’re most of the way there. The car was very lightweight and powered by an American V8, giving it an enviable power-to-weight ratio.

The Panoz AIV Roadster would be the next model release, and it would be an indication of things to come from the company. “AIV” stands for “Aluminum Intensive Vehicle, ” it was built around an advanced extruded aluminum spaceframe chassis with a central backbone that offered excellent rigidity, a low weight, and high levels of corrosion resistance.

The Panoz Esperante would be the next car offered by the company, now with more traditional roadster styling and V8 performance on par with the Corvette of the period.

This model would be followed by the Panoz Abruzzi and the Panoz Avezzano, and it’s possible to order yourself a new Avezzano today with pricing starting around $159,900 USD.

Panoz has also developed a number of race cars, including the G-Force GF09, Panoz DP01, Panoz Esperante GTR-1, Panoz LMP07, and the Panoz Avezzano GT4 – though this is far from an exhaustive list.

Don Panoz founded the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) in 1999 with the goal of bringing European-style endurance racing to the United States. ALMS would be acquired by NASCAR in 2012 and then merged with the Rolex Sports Car Series to form the IMSA SportsCar Championship.

The Panoz Esperante

The Panoz Esperante was unveiled at the New York Motor Show in the year 2000, it was an all-new design but it used many of the same technologies that the company had developed for the earlier Panoz AIV Roadster.

The Esperante had a largely aluminum chassis consisting of five modules, all bonded and bolted together – there were no welds involved in its construction. The resulting frame was lightweight, strong, stiff, and almost impervious to corrosion.

This chassis was fitted with independent double wishbone suspension front and back on coil over shock absorbers, and the car was fitted with front and rear anti-roll bars. Stopping was achieved with four-wheel power-assisted ventilated disc brakes with electronic three-channel ABS, and it was fitted with rack-and-pinion power steering.

The body was made from hand-assembled lightweight SPF aluminum alloy and the car had a folding soft top, seating for two, and a decent amount of trunk space for a sports convertible.

The first version of the Panoz Esperante was powered by the Ford Modular V8 from the Ford SVT Mustang Cobra. This engine has a displacement of 4.6 liters with an aluminum block and heads, double overhead cams per bank, four valves per cylinder, and a 90º V-angle.

In stock form it was good for 305 bhp at 5,800 rpm and 320 lb ft of torque at 4,200 rpm. This power was sent back through a Tremec T45 5-speed manual transmission (or an optional 4-speed automatic) to a limited-slip rear end.

The curb weight of the Esperante was 3,384 lbs (1,535 kgs). This compared favorably with its key competition, the C5 Corvette which tipped the scales at 3,247 lbs (1,473 kgs) – a little lighter due to its fiberglass body.

There were a number of special versions of the Esperante made, including the GTLM, the GTS, the Brabham, and both the JRD and the RS – the last two were upgraded by aftermarket company JRD Tuning of Hoschton, Georgia.

The first-generation of the Panoz Esperante was sold from 2000 until 2007, it would later be succeeded by the second-generation Esperante from 2014. Approximately 234 examples of the first-gen model were built and today they’re much sought after by enthusiasts.

The Panoz Esperante RS Shown Here

The vehicle you see here is a Panoz Esperante RS, it’s one of the few that were upgraded to this specification after it was built.

The RS-specification build includes the fitment of a supercharger, an intercooler, replacement fuel pumps, an aluminum flywheel, a recalibrated ECU, a stainless-steel exhaust system, high-flow catalytic converters, and a pair of MagnaFlow mufflers.

The car is now capable of 470 bhp, far more than the 305 bhp it was making in stock trim. It’s finished in Black paint over a Tan interior and it has a Black convertible soft top. It also has carbon fiber trim, air conditioning, and a Pioneer CD stereo.

The car is now being sold out of Marietta, Georgia on Bring a Trailer with manufacturer’s literature, service records, and a clean Florida title. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can visit the listing here.

Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer

Ben Branch

Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.

Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.