1951 Pegaso Z-102 Coupe

Named after Pegasus, the mythical winged horse, the Spanish-built sports car emerged at the 1951 Paris Salon powered by a four-cam V8 engine. Manufactured by Empresa Nacional de Autocamiones S.A. (E.N.A.S.A.) they were responsible for building Pegasos from the early to mid-50s and only producing around 100 cars (as few as 83 Z-102 chassis were produced in total).

This example carries factory E.N.A.S.A. Berlinetta coachwork and is the 13th chassis number built. It features the second series of lightweight coachwork and was delivered new with the 2.8-liter engine and four double carburetors, right-hand drive, and a split-screen windshield. In 1953 it became an experimental car to test supercharging, which became a common feature on several Pegasos and notably several racecars. It was not sold into private hands until registered in Madrid in 1955.

This Pegaso is one of eleven examples to wear ENSA Berlinetta coachwork. Empresa Nacional de Autocamiones S.A. (ENASA) was a Spanish state-owned industrial concern founded after World War II, in 1946, using the assets of the Italian Fiat in Spain and Spanish Hispano-Suiza. The primary products produced were buses and heavy trucks, along with the occasional sports car. The styling of the ENASA was more reserved than those of the Sauotchick cars, with chrome and creases accenting body features, four horizontal bars in its grille flanked on either side by large round headlights resting atop slightly smaller lights. Beneath the lights and beneath the grille are mesh openings that help funnel air to the brakes and engine compartment. There is a slightly raked, split windscreen with a pair of windshield wipers, a narrow hood bulge with an air inlet at the front, and door handles that are nearly molded neatly into the bodyside, nearly flush with the rest of the body. A gentle crease begins at the front of the wheel well and continues rearward, nearly reaching the door.

This Pegaso left the factory with the larger 2.8-liter engine and a four-carburetor setup. It remained with the factory for three years after its completion, serving as a Works racer and experimental test bed. It was entered in the 1952 Monaco Grand Prix where driving duties were entrusted to Spanish driver Juan Jover; it failed to qualify.

This was the car that was used when the company experimented with superchargers. In 1953, a supercharger was installed and experiments were performed on feasibility, usability, and durability.

The first private owner of this Pegaso acquired it in 1955 and was registered in Madrid. It was sold to a new caretaker in 1963 who had its exterior painted gold. Keeping it only briefly, the car was sold a year later to an individual from Geneva, Switzerland. By 1979, the car had returned to Madrid where it would remain for several years before it was imported to the United States in the late 1980s when it entered the custodianship of Stephan Block of California.

The car was acquired by noted collector Tom Mitter in 1990 and was treated to a full restoration. It is thought to perhaps be the only surviving car still carrying its original factory E.N.A.S.A. coachbuilder's badge. Many later cars had coachwork by firms such as Touring and Saoutchik.

The car was shown at the 1994 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance where it won First in Class in the Pegaso category. When Mr. Mittler passed away in 2010, the car entered the care of its current caretaker who acquired it from Mittler's estate in 2012. Since then, it has been shown at the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance and the Quail, A Motorsports Gathering in 2012, as well as the Arizona Concours d'Elegance in 2014.