Automobile of the Week: The 1954 Pegaso Z-102 was a Ferrari killer, and this one is up for public sale
As soon as upon a time, there was a Spanish automaker that got down to change the world of sports activities vehicles. It is questionable whether or not many readers have ever heard the identify, or whether or not a reader beneath 90 could be sufficiently old to drive a brand new automobile. However in its time, the Pegaso, with its refined engineering, exaggerated GT fashion and exclusivity, coupled with its eye-watering worth, set a benchmark that rivaled Italy’s most interesting automotive tasks.
Hispano-Suiza was based in 1904 and established itself as a Spanish luxurious model that was on no account inferior to Rolls-Royce, Bugatti and Mercedes. Pegaso got here lengthy later, based in 1946 by Ricardo Ricart, a fiercely aggressive engineer who designed the Ricart-Pérez and Ricart-España vehicles within the Nineteen Twenties. Ricart moved to Alfa Romeo in 1936, designed the Tipo 512 Grand Prix automobile and labored there with Enzo Ferrari.
THEODORE PIEPER, COURTESY OF BROAD ARROW AUCTIONS
Ricart’s resolution to construct a sports activities automobile that might compete with these from Italy would quickly bear fruit. Pegaso’s mother or father firm was ENASA (Empresa Nacional de Autocamiones, SA), a producer of vans, buses, tractors and armored automobiles that operated from the previous Hispano-Suiza manufacturing unit in Barcelona. After the struggle, Ricart was appointed managing director and head of the corporate’s technical tasks and was pushed by a real ardour to construct a automobile that surpassed Ferrari’s proud horses. For this goal, Ricart selected Pegasus, the winged horse from Greek mythology, as his emblem.
Growth of two Z-102 prototypes, a coupe and a drophead, started in 1951, and when manufacturing led to 1958 solely 84 complete had been constructed. Ricart’s mannequin was complicated and heavy (though it had an aluminum physique on a metal chassis), which hampered any actual aggressive success. However the Z-102 was nonetheless a superb creation. At its coronary heart is an aluminum V8 with 4 cams and 4 valves per cylinder, a sophisticated design for the time. The engine’s authentic displacement was 2.5 liters, however was elevated to 2.8 liters throughout manufacturing.
With a rear-mounted (transaxle) five-speed gearbox, the automobile produces round 130 kilowatts, and with an optionally available compressor even as much as 268 kilowatts. In September 1953, a supercharged Z-102 grew to become, no less than briefly, the quickest manufacturing automobile on the planet when Celso Fernández broke 4 official RACB (Royal Car Membership de Belgique) world data with a mean velocity of greater than 150 mph (243 km/h) from Jaguar’s XK120.
Whereas a lot of the Z-102s had been bodied by the Milan-based Carrozzeria Touring, 18 had been bodied by the French coachbuilder Saoutchik, three of which had been convertibles and one a prototype. Considered one of solely 5 surviving left-hand drive examples of the Pegaso Z-102 Saoutchik Berlinetta Collection II can be supplied at Broad Arrow’s Amelia Public sale on the Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island on March 1 and a pair of. Considered one of two Z- The instance quantity 102 with chassis quantity 0148 proven on the Paris Motor Present in 1954 primarily retains its authentic, matching-numbers 2.8-liter engine, which, along with two Weber four-cylinder carburettors, produces an output of 145 kW.
THEODORE PIEPER, COURTESY OF BROAD ARROW AUCTIONS
The flamboyant Saoutchik design was a stylistic masterpiece and represented a marked distinction to the Touring’s extra conservative bodywork. Initially registered in February 1956 to a purchaser in Madrid, this Z-102 had two further Spanish homeowners earlier than being bought by a Madrid-based pilot was bought by the US Air Power. It was acquired by American collector Arthur L. Foley III in 1989 and extensively restored by Phil Reilly & Firm. The automobile’s subsequent caretaker, famous collector Jim Patterson, commissioned RM Auto Restoration to undertake a meticulous, concours-level restoration. The automobile was then proven on the 2013 Pebble Seashore Concours d’Magnificence.
THEODORE PIEPER, COURTESY OF BROAD ARROW AUCTIONS
On the 2016 Amelia Island Concours, this automobile gained the Amelia Award within the Pegaso Function Class and was most not too long ago offered within the Pegaso Class on the 2023 Pebble Seashore Concours d’Magnificence, the place it was named Most Elegant Highway Automobile. The Pegaso Z-102 stays some of the fascinating footnotes in automotive historical past, and there’s no doubt that Ricart’s creation ranks among the many best European GT vehicles of the Nineteen Fifties. This specific instance is very valued at $1.37 million.
Click on Right here Extra pictures of this Pegaso Z-102 Saoutchik Berlinetta Collection II from 1954 could be discovered right here.
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