Dan Trent: Is the Pagani Zonda S an endangered species?

With every year that went by the Zonda gained more power, more aero, more stripes and - crucially - more and more money, to the point where Pagani realised it could sell them for seven-figure sums and they'd still have a queue round the block. Even launching a turbocharged, active-aero successor with more power and more tech hasn't taken the lustre off the Zonda. The Huayra is a hell of a car. But if you've got the money (set aside a couple of million) they are out there. Finding a Zonda? Seemingly not so straightforward. 

Which is a shame because it's a hell of a car. And a remarkably simple concept. Proper monster engine. Kerbweight not much more than a Lotus Elise. And artistry that elevates everything from switchgear to suspension arms to items of engineering jewellery. And to think they were selling these things for the price of a Ferrari or Lamborghini at the start! 

I was lucky enough to drive a C12 S, the (eventually) 550bhp, 7.3-litre evolution of the original C12 and the point where the Zonda started its journey into something rather more serious. But before it started getting all fussy and bedecked in aero, scoops, snorkels, stripes and all the rest. In that respect, it rather mirrors the evolution of the Lamborghini Countach from its clean, minimalist LP400 starting point to the somewhat over-wrought 25th Anniversary climax. And who takes the design credit (or blame, depending on your outlook) for the latter? Oh, some bloke called Horacio Pagani! Seems he can't help himself.

Because, like the Countach, the true drama of the Zonda doesn't need any embellishment. Not that the owners seem to agree. Because try as I might (and I've been spending some weeks looking) nobody seems to be offering a 'basic' C12 or C12 S like the one I drove. This one still on Bonhams' books is a typical example - it started life as an S, was crashed and then sent back to the factory to be converted into an F lookalike. By the standards of the Cinque, Tricolore and 760s and Revolucions that followed it's still a fairly clean looking car. There's an S listed on a site called Hypercars.ch and it's a set of colour-coded wheels away from being the spec I'd lust after. But I'm not convinced it's actually still available. 

My best hope of an actual car for sale would appear to be this 7.3 S 'Edition Nero', which is still in the traditional manual gearbox configuration but gets the F-style periscope intakes, a full-width rear wing and a weird shark-fin on the rear deck. Beggars can't be choosers though and it's the nearest to a 'basic' C12 or C12 S I can find. If Pagani is willing to update original cars to look like the newer ones perhaps I can kickstart a 911-style trend for backdating to standard spec. Or I guess I could live with it for a bit and try selling it a few months down the line with an additional digit added to the front of the price. Stranger has happened in the Zonda's world!