Cupula

Nathan Glon

September 9, 2022

When you think of the prettiest cars ever made, you think of English brands like Rolls Royce, Jaguar, Aston Martin and Italian brands like Ferrari, Maserati, and Alfa Romeo. Spain on the other hand never really crosses your mind, for anything car related and that's for good reason, they don't even make cars.

In 1952 however, a small automaker called Pegaso decided to test his luck in the booming car industry. He wanted a car that would stay imprinted into the minds of anyone who saw it, giving future inspiration to the Kardashians. Pegaso had students design the basis of the silhouette it would be built on. He asked them to envision what cars would look like in the future.

After many designs and many revisions, they went with the gorgeous design you see above. The distinctive rear window was in the shape of a dome, and in Spanish it translates to cupula, hence the name. That piece of glass was really difficult to make at the time because of its complexity which only adds to the intrigue of this car. The side exhausts were also a unique touch that resembled the exhausts of the infamous AC Cobra. Since the Pegaso Cupula was made in the 50’s it’s not unlikely that Shelby got the inspiration for his exhaust from this car.

The Cupula boasted a dual overhead cam 90-degree V8 that pumped out a staggering 165 horsepower and 134lb-ft of torque. Back then numbers like that weren’t too common, and Dominican President Raphael Trujillo liked it so much that he bought one. When the Dominican Republic started to decline and seeing as the authoritarian was considered responsible, the Rebels assassinated him and left his car in the hands of the armed forces where it wasn’t found for decades. The Louwman Museum then bought the car anddecided to restore it for years, before being entered at the 2015 Amelia Island Concours D’Elegance which it won.

This piece of automotive history is truly a gem that not many people know about, Pegaso went on to design a few more sports cars until the Iveco acquisition, which effectively destroyed his brand and took it off the shelves forever. Needless to say, Pegaso is and will be remembered for this very special automobile he crafted. Sometimes a car manufacturer needs just one pure vision to be remembered forever.