1960's
The Paykan (pronounced "pay-kun") is a type of automobile produced by the Iranian company Iran Khodro. The car is a ubiquitous sight on the roads of Iran, and was on sale for over 35 years, most of them painted a characteristic off-white colour.
This boxy looking car is based on the 1966 Hillman Hunter, which was originally designed and manufactured by the British Rootes Group. The design was introduced to Iran by Mahmoud Khayami, co-owner of the Iran Khodro company and factory, who accurately predicted that Iran was in need of a simple "no-frills" automobile within the price range of ordinary people. He therefore bought the Hunter design for Iran Khodro.
In 1967, Rootes began exporting Hunters to Iran Khodro in CKD form (Complete, Knocked Down) for assembly from kits. In 1978, Peugeot became heirs to the Rootes empire after it collapsed under the ownership of Chrysler; a year later it ended Hunter production at the Linwood plant in Scotland. The production tooling was exported to Iran, and the car was in full-scale manufacture under Peugeot licence until 2005. Although the car still looked very similar to the 1966 original, there were some changes, notably the substitution of the original 1725cc Rootes engine with a Peugeot 504-derived unit. Although it is the butt of many jokes over its high gasoline (12 miles to the gallon) consumption and outdatedness, the Paykan remained a highly sought after vehicle in Iran, and during its last years the order backlog was nearly two years long.
Production of the venerable Paykan ended in May 2005. It will be replaced by the Renault Logan and Iran's new national car, the Samand.
1990's
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AIV Roadster (1997) |
The Panoz Motor Sports Group is an entity made up of the many motorsports holdings of Don Panoz. Headquartered in Braselton, Georgia, the Panoz Motor Sports Group includes several racing series and race tracks. The group also owns a racing school operating at multiple locations.
One of the main Panoz holdings is the American Le Mans Series. All aspects of the series are run from the Braselton headquarters. Panoz Motor Sports Group holdings also include the Panoz Racing Series, Mosport International Raceway, Road Atlanta, Sebring International Raceway and the Panoz Racing Schools.
The automobile side of the Panoz organization includes Panoz Auto Development, a company started in the late 1980s by Don's son Danny. Panoz Auto Development produces the Panoz AIV Roadster and Panoz Esperante. Both automobiles are hand-crafted on-site at Braselton. Panoz also builds the G-Force chassis used in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series which have distinctive triangular air intake inlets. Panoz and will also produce all chassis for the ChampCar series beginning with the 2007 season.
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