Daniel E. Panoz
PADC C.E.O.
Daniel E. Panoz is an American from West Virginia.
Daniel E. Panoz, C. E. O. of Panoz Auto Development Company, is responsible for all operations and daily management of the company. Founded by Dan in 1989, Panoz Auto Development Company has become America’s premier small-volume luxury sports car manufacturer, and is the only independently owned and operated manufacturer designing, building and fully certifying cars in the U.S.A.
Dan was born on Valentine’s Day 1962 in West Virginia but grew up in Athlone, Ireland where his family had moved and had established Élan pharmaceuticals. While in Ireland, he purchased a chassis designed by legendary automobile engineer Frank Costin from Thompson Motor Company, a small Irish car builder that was going out of business, with the dream of creating his own car.
After the family returned to the U. S. in 1989 Dan and two of his engineering friends moved the chassis to a converted Department of Transportation salt storage warehouse in Georgia, north of Atlanta. They used it to create the first vehicle to bear the Panoz name: the 1990 Panoz Roadster. In 1995 the Roadster was re-engineered to become the first aluminum intensive vehicle produced in the U. S. A. Under Dan’s guidance, the Esperante was added to the Panoz stable in 2000, and by 2006 three models of the Esperante were available.
Dan and father Donald founded Panoz Motor Sports in 1996 to help develop new technologies and gain exposure for the burgeoning company. With the renowned racing sector and rapidly growing reputation of excellence, Panoz Auto Development Company evolved into a five building, 100,000 square foot facility north of Atlanta. Panoz Motor Sports Group has evolved into the world’s largest producer of carbon composite race cars with facilities just down the road from Panoz Auto Development Company.
Dan Panoz has turned the small family-business into a large, well-respected American sports car manufacturer, achieving the absolute pinnacle of sports car and racing success when a Panoz Esperante won both the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Twelve Hours of Sebring in 2006. Dan can still be found every day at the Panoz Auto Development Company’s facility located near the family’s Chateau Élan Winery and Resort in North Georgia.
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Bassam Abdallah
Muscle car collector
Michael Chetcuti
Principle Quality Metalcraft INC.
Michael is an autodidact from Detroit.
He took up Quality Metalcraft Inc, the car engineering industry his father had founded. Forecasting the market trends, he succeeded in tripling the turnover of the company. He took advantage of an order from Fords GT to become partner with Camilo Pardo. In 2006, Michael launched Streetcar USA. In 2008, with the top designer team Mark Allen and Ralph Gilles, he built the SR 392 Roadster that won a dozen of awards.
This talented car designer and businessman, is also an interior designer, collector of furniture from the ’50, singer in a rock band, gourmet and owner of one of the best selected wine shops in Detroit. He owns for sure, a very nice line of car models, including a street-mod ’66 Lincoln revisited, a vintage 2002 BMW and a GT Ford in Gulf orange and blue.
Shrenik Desai
EQUUS Team
Shrenik is Indian from Mumbai.
Shrenik grew up in Mumbai, he is a car enthusiast whose fascination with muscle cars started when he was a teenager. After graduating with a management degree from the University of San Francisco he worked in the USA for a year and then moved back to Mumbai to manage his own business of manufacturing process plant and equipment for chemicals and pharmaceutical companies. Currently living in Mumbai, Shrenik works for the EQUUS project.
Pascal El-Helou
EQUUS Guest
Pascal was born in Lebanon.
He grew up in Cameroon and obtained a degree in marketing at Notre Dame University (Paris) in 1994. He started his professional career in Cameroon as a manager for a transport company, which enabled him to discover African roads. In 2005, he was back to Lebanon and joined an architect and design office that built a 450 square meter scale model (5000 sq ft) for “The Pearl of Qatar” project.
Kyle Evans
Car Designer & Educator
Kyle was born in North Virginia.
He has always had two passions: car and design which led him to study at College for Creative Studies in Detroit. He graduated in 2002 and was hired as a designer at Ford. In 2003, he decided to go back to College for Creative Studies but as a teacher, then. He has taught there for 5 years. Kyle has become a famous member of the community, he is more particularly juryman for car design contests. Besides, Kyle is also an interior designer for shops and dwelling-places.
Franco Forneris
Prototype Designer
Franco is originally from a small northern village in the Piedmont area of Italy. Franco Fomeris spent his childhood in a farm were he helped his parents.
After obtaining a diploma of master mechanic, at IST Eduardo Agnelli of Torino in 1972, he started to create stylish patterns (Giugiaro, Detomasi, Michelotti, bertone, Lotus) in his uncle’s factory with the approval of Antonio Ursi, his loyal teacher and partner.
In 1977, he created U.C.I.F Modelli snc with Antonio Ursi, Roberto Cozzani and Renato Iraldi. Since that, U.C.F.I has designed major remarkable models for car companies including Fiat, Ferrari, Bertone, Ital design, Pininfarina, Maggiora, Buggatti, Iveco, Chrysler, Mitsubishi with major collaboration of top designers such as Aldo Sessano, Paul Martin, Tom Tjaarda.
Since 2008 U.C.I.F Modelli and Tom Tjaarda have started to collaborate for EQUUS project, with Bassam Abdallah, an entrepreneur passionate for car design.
John A. Leverett
PADC Head of Sales and Marketing
John A. Leverett is English from London, England.
John Anthony Leverett has been involved with automobiles all of his life. After moving to the United States, John joined the United States Air Force, serving for four years in intelligence in the Vietnam War. When he had completed his time in the military, John began a career in sales, in which he excelled. He now holds the position of Director of Sales and Marketing for Panoz Auto Development.
John is a consummate professional. He began his career in sales for a major international corporation and worked his way up the corporate ladder to become sales manager. As a sales executive for 27 years, he directed a team of sales managers and a network of several hundreds of dealers. He was responsible for sales, marketing and advertising functions within this dealer base.
Today, John manages all aspects of sales and promotion for Panoz Auto Development. He oversees the marketing of road cars, such as the Esperante, as well as the GTS race cars and the factory race teams. He is married with three children; one of his sons, John Michael Leverett, is Panoz’s Chief Engineer.
John’s passion for the automobile can be seen in his love of restoring vintage sports cars. Some of his restorations include Morgan’s, Porsches and MG’s. Working with his son, he has also invested countless years in motor sports with various Formula, Showroom Stock and Improved Touring Racecars.
With his deep love of motor sports, high level of achievement in marketing fine automobiles and substantial expertise, John Leverett has the perfect combination of experience and passion to help make the Panoz marque successful.
Murat Okçuoglu
Engineer
Murat is an American originally from Turkey. He lives in Santa Barbara, California.
In the ’80, after graduating as a mechanical engineer from Bogaziçi University in Istanbul (Robert College), he started his career in Turkey as a designer and pilot of rally cars.
He is currently among the best expert in the world regarding transmission systems. He is an inventor, patent holder and he has collaborated with major groups on famous patterns: Jeep Grand Cherokee, Ford Mustang Cobra R, Pontiac Aztek, Buick Rendezvous, Chevrolet Venture, Oldsmobile Silhouette, Pontiac Montana Saturn Vue, Dodge Viper SRT-10, Chevrolet Equinox, Chevrolet Uplander, Buick Terraza, COMBATT Military Truck, Pontiac Torrent, Saturn Relay, Jeep Compass Concept Vehicle, Buick Centieme Concept Vehicle.
Camilo Pardo
Senior Designer Ford Motors
Camilo was born in New York.
He arrived in Michigan when he was 10 years old. At that time, he was already fascinated by sport cars from the ’60 and ’70, modern art and design. In 1985, after graduating from design school College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Camilo was immediately hired by Ford Motor Co.
15 years later, his project for the redesigned classical GT40 Ford became very successful, so that he became design manager for SVT Ford. He embodies the alive icon of design studios.Camilo’s studio has hosted the “Designer’s Night” for 10 years. This worldwide famous event is accredited by the NAIAS.
Multi talented artist, Camilo is also gifted in painting, sculpture and furniture design.
