Classic cars with history: Pegaso

In our Classic cars with history section, today we will not talk about one specific model in the history of the automobile in Spain and the world, but about a brand: none other than Pegaso, a legendary name in the truck and industrial vehicle industry. Pegaso also stood out for building several sports car models that achieved worldwide fame, in a Spain that still suffered the consequences of the civil war and isolation.

The idea of Pegaso building passenger cars was born in 1945. It seemed crazy at the time, but passenger cars would bring more prestige and publicity to the newly founded ENASA (Empresa Nacional de Autocamiones), whose managing director was the engineer Wilfredo Ricart, a native of Barcelona who worked on the design and manufacture of its legendary Pegaso sports cars from 1951 to 1957, and who had worked at Alfa Romeo, where he reached the position of Head of Special Products.

The use of the winged horse as the brand’s symbol was Ricart’s own idea. Although it had no wings (a “different Pegaso” logo had been registered at the time by Mobil Oil), Pegaso sports cars were meant to be a symbol of Spain’s industrial reconstruction, cars far superior to anything produced by an ordinary mass-production factory. The problem was that few could afford to spend the 15,000 dollars that a Pegaso came to cost.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s go to 1951, when the Z-102, the first Pegaso sports car, was finally presented at the Paris Motor Show. It basically featured a brutal 2.5-litre V8 engine with four overhead camshafts (two per bank), and was an instant success, comparable to the classic cars of Bugatti or Ferrari.

The Pegaso was a dream for anyone who could buy one, as the list of options was endless, inversely proportional to the size of the buyer’s wallet or the cheque he was willing to hand over. It could optionally be fitted with 1, 2 or 4 Weber carburettors, several optional compression ratios and, most striking of all, four different coachbuilders who were directly or indirectly involved in its manufacture over its commercial life, and a multitude of special versions, including spyders, touring and berlinetta bodies, such as the Pegaso Cúpula, one of the most sought-after and valuable.

As if that were not enough, the Z-102’s chassis was completed by independent suspension, a 5-speed non-synchromesh ZF gearbox (operated the opposite way to today’s, with the higher gears on the left), a limited-slip differential and power outputs ranging from 160 to 200 horsepower, with a top speed of around 240 km/h. The transmission was a real luxury for the period: with a single-plate conventional clutch, the gears were always engaged, a setup that allowed the gear lever to move from one gear to the next as quickly as possible without using the clutch.

In 1955 Pegaso updated its sports cars and presented the Z-103. The Pegaso now came with larger engines, from 4 to 4.5 litres, and also experimental disc brakes, since one of the weak points of the previous model was its weak drum brakes.

Pegaso also took the next step, onto the racetrack. In 1952 it made its debut at the Monaco Grand Prix, in 1953 at Le Mans (although the team withdrew after an accident in practice), and in 1954 at the Carrera Panamericana in Mexico. While Pegaso competed and won prizes, awards and mentions, several speed records were also broken on the fast Belgian motorway at Jabbeke: standing-start kilometre, standing-start mile, flying kilometre and flying mile… In the flying kilometre, 243 km/h was achieved, beating the Jaguar XK20 which held the previous record.

But not everything was rosy for Pegaso. The cars were too expensive (around 600,000 pesetas, eight times what a 600 cost), despite being ahead of their time; there were many technical problems with no easy solution, and the Pegaso car division was beginning to suffer financial difficulties. In 1957 production ceased, with only 86 cars and 125 bodies having been built. Those remaining in the factory at the time of closure were sold as scrap or auctioned without engines to the highest bidder, and were later fitted with other engines by their new owners.

Source | Wikipedia, Piel de toro, Fine sport cars, Classics