It would be all-too-easy to forget about the Panoz Esperante. But Panoz is still making it, and to remind us of that, the American constructor restored one of its original Esperante GTR-1 homologation specials for display at the Dubai Motor Show.
The GTR-1 was one of the more extreme racing versions of the Esperante in the late 1990s. But in order to get it homologated for competition, the company had to build a handful of road-going models. As with the racer, power for the street-legal version came from a 6.0-liter V8 producing over 600 horsepower and 500 pound-feet of torque that was mated to a six-speed transaxle sourced from ZF.
The manufacturer isn't quite ready to part with this rare example, but it will gladly build a new one from the original designs. It'll cost you $890,000. Too rich for your blood? It'll sell you an Esperante coupe, convertible, or Spyder starting at $179,120, or $204,750 for the Esperante GT.
