The Panoz Roadster is a sports car launched in 1992 by the American manufacturer Panoz Auto Development Company of Georgia. The Roadster was succeeded by the AIV Roadster in 1997. They were built using aluminum, similar to that of the Plymouth Prowler first sold several years later in 1997. The Panoz Roadster was the first American built aluminum intensive vehicle.
The Roadster had no top or tonneau cover, and no provision or intention of having either. No automatic transmission was offered, only the manual 5-speed. A small heater core delivered warmth to the windshield for defrosting, since the US DOT requirements mandated it. There was no radio, no heater, no air conditioner, and further more no place to install any of those.
Some Roadsters were fitted with a custom engraved plate atop the intake manifold with the owner’s name and the Panoz logo. A few cars were built to a factory specification, but most were custom ordered by the individual buyers.
There were a number of changes that took place over the course of production, but in general the cars were quite similar. Roadster production continued to 1995. Two prototypes were built, and a further 44 cars were manufactured and sold to the public.
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