javier romagosa
Last Saturday, March 9, the Auction of Amelia Island, organized by RM Auctions, and in it a curious copy of Pegasus Z-102 that was never sold due to the high expectations of its owner: 1,4 million dollars. The highest bid was $ 700.000, an amount that many would have considered sufficient.
The truth is that these spanish flying horses they have good press abroad. There are those who even consider them capable of risking the times with a Ferrari, while, on the contrary, there are also those who believe that, although the model was state-of-the-art technology, it was not capable of contending with the great aces of the competition of its time. Be that as it may, even though he did, the Pegaso it was not designed for running.
Fast cars from the early 50s, the Z-102 they wore a bodywork welded to the chassis, so this was neither an old-fashioned frame nor a monocoque. They mounted a powerful V8 engine, De Dion bridge to the rear and gearbox transaxle, in addition to many other details that placed them at the technical forefront of sports cars. And they came from a country where everything was to be done, so perhaps they were a hopeful symbol for its population.
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Special mention deserves its engine, designed, like the rest of the car, for Wilfredo Ricart and your team. After a life dedicated to motorsports, this engineer designed a 8-liter 90-degree V2.5 incorporating hemispherical combustion chambers and inclined valves actuated by double overhead camshafts. Performance could and could be increased by using one or two compressors.
Over time the displacement increased to 2.800 and 3.200 cc, allowing the stickers, with up to 360 hp, ply the asphalt at a maximum speed of between 200 and 243 km / h.
The model was dressed by four specialists: ENASA (Empresa Nacional de Autocamiones, SA, a subsidiary of Franco's INI) and Serra, at the national level; and Touring and the French Saoutchik in the international. Precisely this last body, which you can admire in the images, was the most elegant (and also the most extravagant).
Specifically, this Pegaso 102 from 1954 has suffered a lot. It is the only cabriolet from the second Saoutchik series, which was sold in the middle of the decade and, in '58, was brutally transformed into a berlineta. It would have to wait almost forty years to be converted into a convertible, although, as our colleague Mario Laguna points out, it could never recover neither its rear part nor its original windshield.
Still, you are probably still looking for a buyer: Does any sailor dare?
Read more about Pegaso Z-102 / Read more about Pegaso Z-102 →
FULL SIZE IMAGES (1.280 PX.)
Photographs by Pawel Litwinski / Provided free of charge by RM Auctions
