Pagani launches ‘Rinascimento’ restoration program
The Pagani Zonda is still one of the prettiest cars on the road, but it’s starting to get a bit long in the tooth. Believe it or not, the first Zonda C12 rolled out of the factory in 1999, and some owners have covered upwards of 100,000km in their bespoke supercars.
Rather than forcing owners to schlep to their nearest Ultra Tune for a comprehensive refresh, Pagani has announced an official Rinascimento – or ‘renaissance’ – program.
Owners are able to ship their cars to the factory (or atelier, to use Pagani parlance) and have them restored to near-new condition, for a properly factory-fresh feeling.
Don’t expect the restoration to be a quick process. Every part of the car, right down to the base nuts and bolts, will be inspected and brought up to scratch if required. Pagani hasn’t provided a timeframe on the process – which will likely vary from car-to-car – but the fastidious nature of each of its designs would suggest the wait time will be recorded in months and years, not days and weeks.
Every step of the process is thoroughly documented, allowing owners to certify the process from start-to-finish, and making it easier to prove the fact the car is a genuine restoration when it comes time to sell.
Because of its size, Pagani will only be able to restore one car at a time. There’s no word on how many of the company’s 137 delivered cars have been signed up to the program as yet, nor how much it will cost.
“To bring back the light and the original splendour of these masterpieces, is a pleasure as well as a great responsibility,” Company founder, Horacio Pagani, said of the program. “Our customers rely on us because we are the only ones in the world capable of rebuilding and restoring Paganis as they came out of our Atelier. We want to give our customers the emotion to be thrilled as the first time.”
Pagani isn’t the only manufacturer to offer a post-sales restoration process, although it’s one of the smallest to do so. McLaren Special Operations (MSO) Heritage takes discontinued models (think SLR McLaren or F1) and deals with servicing, upgrades, spec changes or complete overhauls, making sure all work meets the exacting standards to which both cars were built.
P1 owners can bring their cars in for new paint jobs – roof scoops are also a popular addition, apparently.