At this time’s Good Value or No Cube Panoz is a real roadster, providing minimal provision for inclement climate or occupant consolation. Let’s see if this uncommon sunny-day-special’s worth rains on our parade.
Whereas lots of you derided yesterday’s 1976 Cadillac Seville as a “grandpa’s automotive” or insulted it as an “Previous-illac,” its worth on the vendor’s $7,500 asking worth couldn’t be denied. That earned the elder Caddy a stable 68 p.c Good Value win.
If that Seville was too gradual and staid on your tastes, then perhaps at this time’s 1998 Panoz AIV Roadster will show extra your cup of spiked Purple Bull. That is, in spite of everything, some of the minimalist, wild, and, therefore, thrilling sports activities vehicles cash should purchase. We’ll get to how a lot cash that can absorb a minute. First, nevertheless, we have to get an thought of simply what this factor is.
The Panoz household—and that’s pronounced pay-nose—made its fortune in prescribed drugs, however motor racing was a far larger ardour. Led by Dan Panoz and his father, Don, who handed away in 2018, Panoz has constructed quite a few open and closed-wheel racers in addition to a handful of street vehicles.
The AIV Roadster was one of many earliest of these road vehicles and options an extruded aluminum structure into which the drivetrain from a Ford Mustang Cobra has been bolted. Meaning the automotive has the 305-horse DOHC 32-valve 4.6 V8, five-speed handbook gearbox, and unbiased rear suspension of Ford’s late ’90s snake-bit pony.
That is all in a automotive that ideas the scales at simply round 2,500 kilos. That’s made doable by the in depth use of aluminum within the construction, which additionally offers the automotive its AIV moniker, indicating that it’s an Aluminum Intensive Car.
There’s not all that a lot else to the automotive, actually. The cabin is accessed by two small doorways that sit atop raised gunwales and bracket a pair of slender seats and an appreciably broad heart tunnel. Extra Mustang bits might be discovered right here, together with the instrument cluster, which has been shifted to a driver-oriented place within the heart of the sprint. That sits above the usual Ford HVAC controls and a pair of off-the-shelf air vents. There are not any airbags, because the Roadster’s restricted manufacturing numbers allowed Panoz to dodge that requirement, however there are seatbelts. These pull out from the automotive’s heart, buckling on the skin in reverse vogue from the norm. In complete, 176 AIV Roadsters had been bought, making this automotive a considerably uncommon alternative.
In accordance with the advert, it’s in nice form as effectively. That is actually little greater than a toy (though far more helpful than final week’s dragster), and as such, it must be in first rate form to do its responsibility at automotive exhibits and driving occasions. These vehicles did include a crude high and aspect curtain association, though the vendor doesn’t inform us if these are extant on this automotive. It does have the small vent wings on the A-pillars, which assist a superb take care of the wind buffeting within the cabin.
It additionally seems to have first rate tread on its tires, all its correct trim, and no apparent points with the bodywork or inside. The vendor claims the automotive has 41,000 miles on the ticker tape and that it’ll include a clear title. They’re asking $39,500 for the sale, which is about half what this Roadster went for when new.
That’s not likely a helpful comparability, although. Neither is making an attempt to see how this automotive will stack up, price-wise, in opposition to different sports activities vehicles—like Porsche’s 911—because it’s simply too completely different a beast. Meaning we’ve got to take it at face worth, and that additional means all of us have to vote on whether or not or not this Panoz will get a cross at that $39,500 asking.
What do you say? Is {that a} whole lot for a uncommon, rudimentary Roadster with an fascinating historical past? Or is that an excessive amount of for what’s little greater than a really quick toy?
You resolve!
Fb Market out of Oregon Metropolis, Oregon, or go right here if the advert disappears.
H/T to Invoice Lyons for the hookup!
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