If you didn't know already, Pagani, is an automobili maker from Italy. Shown above is the Zonda Cinque Roadster, just to show you sort of the end product, as it were. What makes them so great is that they are not just another one of those ridiculous car manufacturers - Lancia, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Bertone - that seem like they've been around since the formation of the earth. Pagani's founder, Horatio Pagani, was in fact not even around at the time of the World War.
Born in Argentina in 1955, Mr. Pagani was just a guy that loved cars.
These were some of his first creations, from 1967. I guess, if you count these, you can say that Pagani has been independently making cars about as long as Lamborghini. If you don't count these, then you can say that Pagani Automobili started making cars officially in 1992, after its foundation, and the start of the Zonda project.
Between these models and '92 though, Horatio was rather busy.
- 1971-1972: Built a small motorcycle and a buggy (based on a Renault design)
- 1972: Received a technical degree.
- 1972-1974: Degree in Design at a La Plata University in Argentina
- 1975: Studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Rosario in Argentina
All this seems very uninteresting, but its going somewhere I promise. I'll summarize some of the bits in between.
Pagani did some designing things; bar furniture, orthopedic chairs, and beds. If you look at the beauty of the interior in Pagani's current cars, you see that Pagani knows design. Around '79, he also built a complete, functional F2 car seen to the right.
In '83 he moved to Italy. After seeing some of his prior work and experience, Jeep hired him to work on the Jeep LMA, and a short time later, Lamborghini recruited him to work on the Countach Evoluzione, seen below.
This was the first car ever to have a carbon fiber frame. Any die hard gear-head or petrol-head out there understands how monumental this achievement was for the advancement of cars in to the modern age. Pagani also oversaw design of the Lamborghini Countach Anniversary.
After doing some more design for the Lambo guys on the L30 and the Diablo, and then some interior design for various models of Lamborghini, Pagani started the full Zonda project in 1993. After years of studying, forming, sculpting, modeling, designing, brewing, et cetera, Pagani released the Zonda C12, in all of its glory, at the 1999 Geneva motor show. The Zonda F, and Zonda R would be released in '05 and '08 respectively.
The Pagani Huayra, is the newest model to Pagani, released 2011. Above is the Huayra Carbon. The Huayra- pronounced hoo-why-rah - was the performance car of the year 2012 (CAR), and holds the record time at the BBC Top Gear Test track, 1:13.8.
Jeremy Clarkson's review of the Zonda R, from early 2011, if you just want to see and hear some of what Pagani is on about. http://youtu.be/jL2B_wN4XW0
The reason Pagani is so interesting and relevant to me is not just because they make really cool, super fast, high priced, hypercars, that are undoubtedly covering nearly every ten year old boy's wall all over the world. Pagani is the story of a dream coming to fruition. Because Horatio was so driven, we get Pagani.
There is no denying the fact that Pagani makes great cars.
It really is too bad that, for most of the world, their cars will remain simply a dream because of the very luxurious price tag.
If you are a fan of Pagani, or you just like the observations made above in my James May-esque rant, comment below.
It really is too bad that, for most of the world, their cars will remain simply a dream because of the very luxurious price tag.
If you are a fan of Pagani, or you just like the observations made above in my James May-esque rant, comment below.
