Pegaso, the forgotten brand, is the title of an exhibition worth seeing, which can be seen at Autoworld Brussels until December 9, 2018. Well, the Spanish sports car manufacturer has not actually been completely forgotten, as both the Techno Classica (2012) and the Rétromobile Paris (2015) and most recently the Luxembourg Autojumble (2017) dedicated a special show to it.
And it is also sometimes to be found at automobile beauty contests. However, compared to Italian sports car manufacturers, the brand is much less in the focus of fans of rolling cultural assets. This is where the instructive exhibition by Pegaso expert Mario Laguna and Brussels-based Autoworld comes in.
13 sports cars and a truck
On display are 13 sports cars and a truck from the Pegaso brand. Their history is closely linked to the name of technical director Wilfredo Pelayo Ricart Medina (1897 to 1974), who worked as a project manager at Alfa Romeo until 1945, where a certain Enzo Ferrari was also employed at the time...
After the end of the war, Ricart became director of the state-owned commercial vehicle company ENASA and - in the tradition of Hispano-Suiza - began building prestigious super sports cars in 1951.
He was assisted by numerous engineers, such as Aldo and Ettore Pagani. In the period that followed, however, only 84 sports cars were built (other sources estimate 125 examples), all of which were equipped with a V8 engine. These initially had a displacement of 2.8 liters, which was then increased to 3.2 liters and in the final expansion stage to 4.7 liters.
Bodies from famous companies
The engines produced up to 310 hp, with superchargers also being used. The bodies of the vehicles came from ENASA itself, but also from Saoutchik (F), Touring (I) and Serra (E). The financially unsuccessful sports car production of the brand with the winged steed ended in 1958; ENASA then concentrated on the production of commercial vehicles again.
The exhibits in Brussels clearly demonstrate the diversity of the Pegaso brand: there are coupés and convertibles with both left-hand and right-hand drive. A racing car and the touring design icon "Thrill" - class winner at Pebble Beach 1994 - are also on display.
If there is such a thing as a pegaso-specific design feature, it is probably a double right-angled corner, which is often found on the hood. And some radiator grilles feature a large cross. However, neither of these features can be found on every vehicle. The cars are too individually manufactured or retrofitted for this. There are said to be only 60 Pegaso sports cars left in the world today - around a quarter of which await visitors in Brussels.
Still open until December
The exhibition, Jubelpark 11, 1000 Brussels, will be open until December 9, 2019. The opening hours and admission prices can be found on the website .
