Named for the mythical winged horse, the striking Spanish-built Pegaso sports car was produced in the former Hispano-Suiza factory in Barcelona. True to the heritage of its birthplace, it featured an advanced high-performance twin-cam V-8, and was unabashedly intended to challenge Ferrari—and it did. At one time, the Pegaso was actually the world’s fastest production automobile, with a top speed of 150 mph. It was also one of the most expensive and scarce; just 84 were made, many of them outfitted with splendid custom coachwork.

Few were more audacious than those crafted on the Z-102 chassis by the renowned Parisian coachbuilder Saoutchik. The example offered here was one of seven Berlinettas Series II by Saoutchik, each of which differed in fine details but shared dramatic styling, with a low roofline and emphatically curved fenders that formed hooded arches over the round Marchal headlights and opened up around the wheels. Altogether it was a dramatic visual presentation of power and speed.

Chassis number 0102-150 0161 was delivered with right-hand-drive, though the “150” in the number indicates a left-hand-drive model; it was also equipped with the desirable twin-ignition cylinder head. Records in Carlos Mosquera and Enrique Coma-Cros’s standard reference work, Ricart-Pegaso: La Pasión del Automóvil, list the original owner as Domecq de la Riva; it is believed that this was Don Pedro Domecq de la Riva, a prominent Spanish aristocrat and sportsman of the era.

The car was subsequently exported to the United States, then acquired in 1983 by Frans Pelzer, an enthusiast from Maastrict, The Netherlands. In an interview with Pegaso author Mario Laguna, published in La Aventura Pegaso (pp. 50–51), Mr. Pelzer noted that the car had been found in solid original condition, with all of its parts, about 95 percent of which were used in the restoration. The only major component changed was the gearbox, replaced with a correct unit from another Pegaso.

With the work nearly complete, the car was sold to the prominent collector of great coachbuilt sports cars, the late Lorenzo Zambrano, in the summer of 2005, and was completed stateside. Afterwards, it was judged 2nd in Class at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, then brought to Paris for the special Pegaso commemoration at Retromobile in February 2015; according to the current owner, members of the Saoutchik family were present and referred to it as their favorite example. Subsequently it was purchased by another well-known enthusiast, and in their ownership was an Amelia Award-winner in the special Pegaso feature class at the 2016 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance.

In current ownership since 2021, the car remains in well-kept, beautiful condition throughout, with rich, tight, clean leather upholstery, and sparkling paint and chrome, and is altogether ready for further concours appearances. In fact, it again appeared at Pebble Beach most recently in August 2023. It is a magnificent thoroughbred, worthy of its heritage and still reflective of the superb engineering, meticulous craftsmanship, and Saoutchik’s legendary attention to fine detail, all combined in one sensuous curve of metal. For any collection of modern sporting automobiles, it would be a crown jewel.