RIP Don Panoz, boutique car builder who brought Le Mans to America

Motoring enthusiasts will know Don Panoz as the founder of small-volume American sports-car manufacturer, Panoz LLC.

The company lived the American Dream of making loud track cars for the road. But Don Panoz, who died yesterday at age 83, actually did a lot more than that. The guy also had a past life in pharmaceuticals, being one of the few early driving forces behind the development of the nicotine patch.

He was also really into golf and wineries, and, if you want an Australian connection, he founded Chateu Elan Resort and Spa in NSW’s Hunter Valley.

Anyway, back to the cars. Don Panoz was a huge LeMans fan and - being determined to bring it to the US - the Panoz company founded Petit Le Mans, essentially a smaller rendition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans localised for America that follows the same rules. The brand has also had its hand in several open-wheel classes.

In terms of road-going vehicles, Panoz is most known for the Avezzano coupe or Esperante convertible, both low-volume 6.2-litre Chevy LS3 V8-based machines producing north of 320kW and constructed mainly of aluminium, steel tubes and carbon fibre in a similar vein to the UK’s TVR.

Either car is only served with a six-speed close-ratio manual, for the true enthusiast.

Of course, both can be made bespoke to each buyer in terms of trim and specification, so if you ever see one on the road it’ll likely differ from the quoted base stats. The Avezzano starts at around the equivalent of AU$224,664, and sorry, it’s LHD only, so it's unlikely you'll ever see one outside of the 'States.

There are even road-going versions of the brand’s ‘90s GTR-1 Le Mans racer, a car that actually had a crack at the 1997-99 24 hours of Le Mans, although reportedly only a few exist, complete with batmobile-esque styling.

Would a low-volume purpose-built track car for the road ever take your fancy, or would you only ever buy from the big players? Tell us what you think in the comments.