High Bid: $ 38,000

A true Unicorn with the provenance of champions, this Panoz Esperante is a car that has a pedigree that would make a Ferrari envious. Panoz is an American race car manufacturer based in Georgia that specializes in LeMans race cars. In 2001, Panoz started to produce very limited numbers of street legal versions of their Esperante Race cars that were being used at Le Mans. In 2006 an Esperante actually won at LeMans. This example was built in 2005 and is one of 26 total Esperante’s built that year. 17 of the 26 were the GTLM version, and 1 of 4 GTLMs that were convertibles in 2005. A few were selected to be upgraded by JRD Tuning, a custom shop that specializes in custom and rally cars. This is one of them. JRD increased the output of the 4.6 L supercharged Ford Mustang Cobra engine from its standard 420 hp to 535 hp. With a completely carbon fiber body and built to minimize weight, this car will get up and go! All of the cars were signed via metal engraving by the individuals who built the vehicle and all were given female names, typically based on someone dear to one of the builders. This car was named “Annie” and bears that name plaque inside the engine compartment. This car was not sold to an individual as a new car. Instead, it was used as a promotional car for Panoz and shipped to France to be driven as an exhibition vehicle at the 24 hr of LeMans race in 2005. After returning to the states, the car was featured in Road and Track magazine in July of 2005 as it was driven from Texas to Sebring Florida by Peter Egan and John Lamm. It was then shipped to California to be featured as the factory official west coast press vehicle. Patrick Dempsey, aka Dr. McDreamy and the current People Magazine’s sexiest man alive, drove this car up the California coast to try it out as he was interested in purchasing a Panoz, which he did after his time with Annie. After her time as a show car, Annie came back home to the Panoz HQ in Georgia where she was purchased by a native Georgian with 12K miles on her in late 2006. She has been loved and cared for, spending her time between Georgia, North Carolina and Nashville, Tennessee. She has recently gone through a limited restoration to fix the normal effects of time on the road. She comes with a substantial amount of documentation of her first year on the road, service records, and a contact at Panoz who is still very much in business producing both race cars and limited numbers of the street versions. They still have original spare parts for all of the Panoz cars, should that be necessary. Since it is based on a Mustang Cobra, many of the engine components are interchangeable with that of the Mustang, also making upkeep less of a challenge for such a rare car. The consigners of this car have reluctantly decided it is time for Annie to find a new home that will love her and cherish her as much or more than they have. She is guaranteed to turn heads and start conversations anywhere you go!