Time for another round of old pictures, This time it's all about Panoz a little automotive development company out of Georgia (complete with winery and everything) that for a while turned out one of the sweetest lil' roadster available called the AIV Roadster, AIV was short for Aluminum Intensive Vehicle. This of course made for a very lite roadster and mated with a powerful Ford SVT developed V8 breathing life into the car created a very fun and very quick and nimble roadster.
I first laid eyes on them back in 2000 or so when I traveled down to Salt Lake City to visit an Internet buddy and take some pictures or Lamborghinis as the person was the head mechanic at the Lamborghini dealership. When I first saw the AIV Roadster I instantly fell in love with the tiny roadster and just had to photograph it as well. I actually spent more time photographing that roadsters than the Lamborghinis that I went down there to look at and photograph originally.
Of course there are only a few pictures of the Panoz AIV Roadster because back then I was using a 35mm film camera and I had just barely started out photographing cars and wanting to do and learn more. It was a great first time experience of course and I went back a second time only it was sold by then and a new Panoz had shown up. Not nearly as awesome as the AIV Roadster the next generation of Panoz came as the Esperante and at that time was only offered as a convertible. It was alright though totally hand built (including plaque with the builder's names on it, so you knew who to scream at when something went wrong) and different for it's time. So I photographed it as well while I was there shooting more Lamborghinis.
After looking at these old pictures of the AIV Roadster I really wish I could find someone with a good example close by so that I could re-shoot one knowing what I know now about photography so that I could show others just how awesome these AIV Roadsters were in their hay day. So without further ado here are my old pictures of the Panoz AIV Roadster and Esperante. Flickr
I first laid eyes on them back in 2000 or so when I traveled down to Salt Lake City to visit an Internet buddy and take some pictures or Lamborghinis as the person was the head mechanic at the Lamborghini dealership. When I first saw the AIV Roadster I instantly fell in love with the tiny roadster and just had to photograph it as well. I actually spent more time photographing that roadsters than the Lamborghinis that I went down there to look at and photograph originally.
Of course there are only a few pictures of the Panoz AIV Roadster because back then I was using a 35mm film camera and I had just barely started out photographing cars and wanting to do and learn more. It was a great first time experience of course and I went back a second time only it was sold by then and a new Panoz had shown up. Not nearly as awesome as the AIV Roadster the next generation of Panoz came as the Esperante and at that time was only offered as a convertible. It was alright though totally hand built (including plaque with the builder's names on it, so you knew who to scream at when something went wrong) and different for it's time. So I photographed it as well while I was there shooting more Lamborghinis.
After looking at these old pictures of the AIV Roadster I really wish I could find someone with a good example close by so that I could re-shoot one knowing what I know now about photography so that I could show others just how awesome these AIV Roadsters were in their hay day. So without further ado here are my old pictures of the Panoz AIV Roadster and Esperante. Flickr
