Carpe Diem – The Classic Car Trust

Photo credit: Pagani Automobili

It took an Argentinian of Italian extraction, driven by the force of the Zonda (the powerful wind that blows through the Andes), to combine, in a motor car, two quintessentially Italian traditions: art and technology. As a youngster growing up in Argentina, in the town of Casilda near San Fe, Horacio Pagani dreamed of Italian cars. Fangio was his idol.

Winter 1999, Horacio Pagani achieves his dream of creating an extreme GT road car that bears his name. It is the Zonda C12 S, unveiled in Geneva

At the age of 24, he built his own Formula 2 single-seater to use in Argentine races. Fangio, then 68 and still on great terms with Mercedes, with which he had won two world titles, willingly accepted Pagani’s request to help him find a way of moving to Italy, specifically to Modena (where else?), in order to realize his passion. Pagani was ready to do any job at all, providing it was in the world of magnificent red sports cars. It was Lamborghini, at the time a growing company, that opened its door to him, and he tiptoed in. The year was 1982.

Horacio, when still in his early twenties, built this F2 single-seater in Argentina. It was this car that convinced Juan Manuel Fangio to help him get a foothold in the Italian sports car world

Today, 38 years later, on entering the atelier he built and inaugurated in 2017 in San Cesario sul Panaro, it is easy to understand just what it meant to him to be able to combine Italian technology with Italian art. Similarly, the workshop where Pagani Zondas are built brings together skilled carbon fiber processing and masterful use of traditional Italian materials, such as Carrara marble and antique bricks in typical Modenese style. In other words, it speaks of Renaissance art and the brilliance of Leonardo da Vinci, but also of the stubborn determination to excel that typifies Modenese sports car manufacturers.

The small team that built the remarkable Lamborghini Countach Evoluzione, largely in composite materials. The year is 1987. With this car, Horacio Pagani (first on the right in the photo) set Lamborghini on its way to achieving the position of leadership in the use of carbon fiber that it still enjoys today

Pagani’s vision soon became apparent at Lamborghini, where he gradually developed the composites department. His work led to the construction of the Countach Evoluzione prototype, largely in composite materials, which reduced the weight of the vehicle by as much as 35% compared with the production Countach. It was magnificent, but it was still too soon to turn it into a production model.

Visitors to the new Pagani plant in San Cesario sul Panaro, where every employee is a protagonist, are greeted by distinctive antique bricks in typical Modenese style, a symbol of Italian tradition, combined with ultra-modern design features

But Pagani actually had another objective in mind: to become a manufacturer himself. He left Lamborghini and, in 1992, founded Modena Design. At this point, Fangio’s links with Mercedes proved valuable: Dieter Zetsche, head of development as well as member of the Board of Directors, agreed to supply Pagani with the engine for the GT, perfect in every last detail, that he was building.

In March 1999, the Pagani Zonda was unveiled at the Geneva Motor show. It was the first step in a dream that was becoming reality.