Former Alfa Romeo designer Wilfredo Ricart returned to his home town of Barcelona after the 1939 – 45 war and was offered a position as cheif technical manager with the Spanish automotive group ENASA which acquired the assets from the Spanish arm of Hispano-Suiza. ENASA sold trucks and buses under the Pegaso brand from 1946 and in 1951 entered the luxury sports car market.

The Tipo Z-102B was launched in Coupé and Convertible forms. They were powered by double over head cam motors that produced between 175 and 360 hp depending on size and state of tune, twin superchargers were available with the 360 hp variant. Unusually the transaxle had the 5 speed gearbox mounted behind the differential.

In September 1953 Celso Fernández was recorded driving a smaller engined Z-102B with single supercharger at 151 mph over a measured flying kilometer in Belgium to become the worlds fastest production car, a record it held for just over a month until Norman Dewis reclaimed the record for Jaguar in October 1953 with a speed of 172 mph.

The Coupé seen in these photographs by Geoffrey Horton taken at last years Danville Concours d’Elegance is powered by a 250 hp 2.8 litre 171 cui normally aspirated motor and was one of a pair of show cars with aluminium body work by Saoutchick built in 1955.

In all just 86 Z-102B’s were built unprofitably on a cost no object basis until 1958, it is thought just 56 Tipo Z-102B’s still remain.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing his photographs of today’s featured car.

Thanks for joining me on this “Cost No Object” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !