Antonio Silva
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[your_quote]As a result of the artisanal construction of the body, I will tell you an anecdote: This is not symmetrical ...[/ su_quote]
The chrome of the car is the original and also they are of outstanding quality, made in the old fashion by coppering the surface until it is smooth, polishing and chrome-plating. During the last maintenance work carried out I have had the opportunity to see them in detail and they are an unequivocal sign of the quality that was wanted to give this car.
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Thirty years of work and some unsolved mysteries
I will focus on this period because, as I have said before, it is here that my relationship with "Pegasin" begins. I am sure that I will leave some important things in the pipeline, some due to ignorance and others on purpose that are part of the love story that my family maintains with this unit.
The paint on the Z-103 has, as they say now, a "nice patina"; so much so that many times I have heard the comment of "Normal, it was made in 1955." Well, the car was possibly repainted in the eighties, according to the information collected by Pegaso herself.
The truth is that the paint has obvious signs of the passage of time, curiously not due to lack of brightness - the car shines, it seems to have its own light. Look if not the photos, it is not Photoshop, it is actually like that. However, the delicacy of its aluminum front and rear hoods, as well as the typical torsions of this material, have caused minor cracks to appear in some areas. Of course, I love it like that, as it is.
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A nice body from Serra but ...
The body, as you know, is signed by Serra. For me it is the most beautiful of those manufactured, balanced no matter where you look; completely handcrafted, it is sculpted on the chassis of the Z-103. It also presents several peculiarities typical of an official commission for exhibition and the construction system of the great Pedro Serra.
On the one hand, the total prevalence of aesthetics and luxury over comfort is surprising: The car lacks a trunk and roof -it is a spider or roadster for show and does not require the latter- and instead of the former, as in For the Z-102, there is only room for the two zinc-plated tanks and the spare wheel. Originally there was a small gap in front of the wheel only suitable for a small soft bag; this gap today is occupied by a BENDIX brake booster system that was mounted in the eighties and which we will talk about later.
In addition to the above, and as a result of that artisanal construction of the body, I will tell you an anecdote: This is not symmetrical, something imperceptible since it is impossible to see both sides at the same time ... but the truth is that the driver's door is 10 mm. longer than that of the passenger. Do not believe that a server is "Sherlock Holmes", the information was provided to me by Manuel Lage and I have only made the pertinent measurements to verify it.
[your_quote]I cannot explain why Ricart did not mount a disc braking system on the Z-103, because he did think about it and even develop prototype discs with three calipers![/ su_quote]
It seems that on one occasion Pedro Serra told Lage himself that it was to give more space to the driver's entrance, given the tightness of the operation with a prominent steering wheel in between. Some time later, Serra changed his version in an interview with a media outlet and said that in reality the bodywork was built by two operators simultaneously, one per side ... and the asymmetry was simply the result of a measurement error.
The actual condition of the body and underbody is acceptable, no worrisome oxides, which shows that the car has always been kept in a dry place. Riding in an elevator you can see the passage of time in the form of dust and fluff. It is beautiful to see the very high degree of originality of everything and the high quality of the perforated chassis.
Underneath, the exhaust does not cease to amaze us, totally rigid, welded and bolted to the body itself with a single section of silencer. This produces a terrible roar, beautiful when the mechanics are heated, intimidating when cold. The fact that it lacks elastic joints amplifies the vibrations inside, being closer to a racing car than a street one.
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Around with some very rare brakes
Brakes: Without a doubt it is the chapter that has given the most headaches in the period in question. All the collected reports spoke of a sports car that simply did not brake. In theory, the braking surface is greater than in the Z-102, with two huge ventilated front drums made of "Siluminio Gamma", a very difficult material to find in Spain in the 50s, and equipped with two Lockheed French bowlers, one per shoe. .
Regarding the rear axle, which presents a “transaxle” architecture identical to that of its 102 siblings, it mounts “on board” drums at the gearbox outlet and the same type of cylinder heads.
In reality, the front drums look identical to the Z-102s. Maybe they are a bit wider ... I know both and just having one next to the other could I check my assumption. Therefore, I do not know if the increase in braking surface is real or something that was intended to be done in the future.
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The truth is that I do not understand why Ricart did not mount a disc braking system on the Z-103, because he did come to think about it and even develop prototypes of discs with three calipers! It may have to do with the fact that after ENASA he went to work as director of Lockheed in France… it is possible. The fact is that the braking system neither on paper nor on the road is at the height of a car with more than 300 HP and a maximum speed of more than 200 km / h. But the problems referred to by all those who had touched him in the last 30 years had nothing to do with the high level of benefits; is that it simply did not stop anything. That's why Bendix was commissioned to mount an electric assistance system in the rear pocket for the travel bag. This did not modify, thank God, the originality of the drums; in fact, they didn't even touch them, which is why they didn't stop.
This past year, within the framework of the maintenance plan that IVECO carries out on the Z-103, it was agreed to tackle the problem once and for all. It was extremely serious as the front bowlers are fully “nailed”. Once the hoses, drums, shoes, etc., had been removed from both wheels, it was seen that they had previously tried to repair by limiting themselves to greasing the elements without undertaking the disassembly and repair of the cylinders, which was the root problem. So we tried to find new bowlers of the same reference, something that was impossible ...
So we finally opted to repair the originals. It was a goldsmith work that is no longer done and that was only possible thanks to the professionalism and high mechanical knowledge of the master in charge of the operation. The premise was at all times to save the original elements, replacing only those that were irreparable, as was the case with mostly rubber gaskets, with others made to measure.
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Ordago mismatches
With the brakes finally repaired, all that remained was to adjust them in circulation, and for this it was necessary to resurrect a mechanic that had been idle for between 5 and 10 years. Previous attempts had been limited to starting it, keeping it running, and little else.
The first thing we did was check the spark plugs and points, verifying that the points were totally out of adjustment With an opening greater than 2 mm! You could see that the "Pegasin" had not been professionally tuned for a long time. Likewise, and taking advantage of the fact that we had the spark plugs out, a jet of oil was poured into each cylinder in order to move the elements with the utmost care.
In this way the engine was turned several times. Regarding the gasoline that the car had, imagine what state it was in ... so it was replaced and the pipes that carried it to the two huge Weber quadruple carburettors were cleaned. The whole process took several days and was done with the utmost calm, until we decided to give the starter motor. And it is that the rush is not good for these things.
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If we go in search of vintage photos we will see in "the Bible" of Mosquera and Coma-Cros the Z-104 engine cloistered in a car with two delcos, that is, with double ignition.
Today is one of the unsolved mysteries of our guest: How and when this system was eliminated and if it really contributed something or its presumably difficult adjustment gave more problems than benefits. There are even doubts as to whether it was this car that assembled it or whether it was perhaps just a publicity photo for the gallery; it may therefore never work, as happened with other "promises" of the Z-103.
The truth, and this is my appreciation, is that in the cylinder heads of the engine that drives our Spider Serra it is literally impossible to install a double ignition. Each has 5 holes drilled and tapped, not 8 as it should - obviously the excess hole is plugged.
In laps with the previous topic, I had to examine the Z-104 engine exhibited next to the car in the IVECO museum. As you can see in the photos, these cylinder heads do have 8 threaded holes, although these and the engine are empty inside. Thus we are left with reasonable doubts about the effective number of Z-104 engines manufactured.
To date, only one disassembled green color is known -which was first in the Salamanca museum and now theoretically the Fundación Jove has it-, the blue one exhibited in the Paris salon of 1955 and which is the one next to our protagonist in the museum and, finally, the one who has assembled the Spider Serra 1 that we bring to these pages today.
