You Never Heard Of The  

This is a car company that you’ve likely never heard of, but at one point in time they produced one of the most beautiful and fastest sports cars of its day. Today we discuss Pegaso.
Founded in 1946 in Spain, just after WWII, which there were limited supplies and resources but still a demand for transportation.
Pegaso did not have sports cars on the mind, they were manufacturing sturdy trucks, tractors, buses, and armored vehicles.
For instance, the Pegaso Diesel Z-202 nicknamed Mofletes “chubby cheeks” for it’s rotund front end. It was the end of WWII so the Spanish truck market was weak but Pegaso was quickly become a leader of the industry.
Pegaso was a subsidiary of Enasa, that was built from the remaining bits of Hispano-Suiza.
It wouldn’t be till the 1950s that Pegaso would venture into the sports car market with the introduction of the Z-102.
With a powerful all-aluminum DOHC engines and five-speed rear-mounted transaxle the sports cars were considered pretty advanced for the time.
The Pegaso Z-102 was released in 1951.. This was the high time of the sports cars, the late 40s and 1950s were a flood of European sportscars.
Many European governments, still recovering from WWII were telling their manufacturers “export or die”.. And the US was happy to gobble them up. An huge percentage went right across the seas straight to us.
The early/mid 1950s brought us the AC Ace, Austin Healey 100, Corvette, Sunbeam Alpine, Mercedes-Benz 300sl, Xk140, BMW 507…
The Z102 was the fastest production car sold in 1953 with claimed capability of reaching 155mph.
The sports car entered production with a 2.5 liter engine but would later use a 2.8 L and 3.2 L DOHC desmodromic 32-valve V8 360 hp (268 kW) engines with multiple carburetors or an optional supercharger.
Power ranged from 175 hp to 360 hp and was sent to the rear wheels through a five-speed gearbox with gear-driven camshafts.
The base model Z-102 had a top speed of 120 mph, In supercharged trim the Z-102 could reach a top speed of 155 mph, thus like already stated making it the fastest production car of it’s time.
The Z-102 was manufactured with a pressed steel chassis coupled with an alloy body.
Most everything was produced in-house at the Pegaso factory in Barcelona.
The original design of the Z-102 was penned by Wifredo Ricart, Pegaso chief technical manager who also was formerly chief engineer for Alfa Romeo.
Interesting thing about Ricart was that he was briefly hired by Studebarker just after WWII BUT before heading off to the states he was enticed by the proposal to lead the creation of the new Spanish automotive manufacturer.
It is hard to not think about what he could of done at Studebaker… He is widely recognized as one of the highly skilled automotive engineers of his day.
Though the sports car was also offered in a choice of luxury bodies, parent company Enasa’s own bodies, Carrozeria Touring, Serra, or Saoutchik.
Its looks were a clear competition to the other high-end sports cars of the day, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Mercedes-Benz.
It is believed that only 84 Z-102s were created with 28 cabriolets and the rest fixed roof coupes.
Possibly one of the most famous of the few built was designed by the in house coach builder Enasa, the parent company of Pegaso, called the Cupola.
Named Cupola for it’s striking dome or cupola shaped rear window.
The design is eye catching but also lures you inwith it’s bright color scheme interior. Vibrant yellow on the exterior with red walled tires, and a lime green leather interior.
Only two Cupolas were created and one of them purchased by Dominican dictator, Rafael Trujillo.
Not just eye catching, the Z-102s also as said before were the fastest production car of it’s time and was entered into the prestigious 24hrs of Le Mans, achieving respectable results.
In 1955 Pegaso released the Z-103, the successor to the Z-102 and the last sports car made by Pegaso before they centered their focus back on commercial vehicles.
Powered by a V8 with an optional supercharger and claimed to reach a top speed of 170mph. The car did not reach success and was quickly pulled having only three believed to be built.
BUT now get this story of the Z-103 doesn’t quite end there.. in 1988 a continuation model of the Z-103 was created to promote Pegaso trucks. Safer and powered by a 3.9liter Rover V8 paired with an Alfa 75 transaxle. Bodies were designed off the Z-103 Spider by Serra. Plans were to built 60 of these continuation models but sadly only 11 were created in total.
Despite their engineering prowess and racing achievements, Pegaso faced financial difficulties, which eventually led to the discontinuation of sports car production. The company continued to focus on commercial vehicles, like their big trucks, vans and so on until its eventual decline and then merge with Iveco in 1994.
You Never Heard Of The #Pegaso Z-102? | The Bad Blonde #Automotive #history
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