2006 Pagani

Zonda F

A pearl-white Zonda F parked on a quiet Carmel side street, shingled cottages and white picket fences on one side, a navy-and-blue Zonda idling behind it on the other. Horacio Pagani's 7.3-litre AMG V12 sits under the glass hatch with its polished intake runners crossed like a coat of arms, and every panel around it is exposed carbon left visible on purpose. I worked the whole car: the quad-nostril headlights sunk into the clamshell, the carbon mirror stalk, the silver multi-spoke wheels, the four-pipe titanium exhaust ringed in chrome, and the wing standing over that famous round tail cluster with XOA-37 hanging below it. Overcast coastal light — flat, soft, no hotspots — which is exactly what a pearl body needs to show its shape instead of its shine.