Panoz Roadster: Life is Too Short to Drive Boring Cars!

The End of T.M.C. Costin – And the Birth of the Panoz Roadster

In the late 1980's theIrish kit car manufacturer, T.M.C. Costin, quietly came to an end—only to spark the birth of a bold new American sports car legend: the Panoz Roadster.

With aerodynamic roots in the genius of Frank Costin, the T.M.C. Costin embodied the philosophy of lightweight engineering and performance handling. But as the company folded in the late 1980s, the story didn’t end—it evolved.

Enter Don Panoz, an ambitious entrepreneur with a vision for a distinctly American roadster. Discover how he acquired the rights and tooling from T.M.C. Costin, and how this marked the beginning of the Panoz brand, blending British engineering with American muscle.

The transition: Sean Thompson, a key engineer from the T.M.C. team, stayed on to help Panoz develop the early chassis and refine the car's dynamics.
His expertise ensured that the DNA of Costin's innovation lived on in the first-generation Panoz Roadster.
See Part 1 of the T.M.C story here:    • Light, Fast and Doomed! - the TMC Cos...  

This is the story of rebirth, reinvention, and the unlikely transatlantic journey from Bedfordshire backroads to American blacktop.


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