The ultimate Zonda?
Although Pagani officially stopped building the Zonda back in 2013, new iterations of the car keep popping up periodically to remind us where the company began and what a bang it made when it arrived. And while this is a ‘new’ car in the sense that it’s just rolled out of the factory, it isn’t the first time it’s exited Pagani’s doors.
The Fantasma Evo might not only be gorgeous to behold, but it’s also got an interesting story behind it. It started out life as a Zonda F and rolled off the production line in 2005 as chassis #53, and was the very first right-hand drive iteration. It was delivered to a customer in Hong Kong, where it terrorised the streets until it was destroyed in 2012 in a high-speed accident. The chassis returned to Pagani, rebuilt, and rechristened the Zonda Fantasma. The engine was upgraded to the very latest Mercedes-AMG 7.3-litre V12 from contemporary Zonda 760 cars, and was fitted with new exposed-weave carbon-fibre body panels, carbon-fibre aero kit, and a massive rear wing.
The transformation wasn’t entirely complete though, as a second trip back to Pagani saw the fitment of more carbon-fibre panels to reduce weight, and the transmission was swapped out with a six-speed manual in its place, at which point it was finally dubbed the Fantasma Evo. Frankly, we salute the owner for fitting a six-speed manual, and we are at awe with what Pagani has done with a car that would have typically been written off some seven years ago. If only all cars could be given a new lease of life in this fashion.
Check out the drool-inducing gallery below. We warn you, time will be wasted.
