Pagani brings wrecked Zonda back from the dead

Pagani has released pictures of what's thought to be the car-maker's first ever full-factory rebuild and upgrade of a crashed Zonda.

Originally leaving the factory back in 2005 as a right-hand drive Zonda F, the metallic orange supercar was reportedly involved in a high-speed accident back in 2012 that saw the Italian supercar collide with a tree and a lamp post.

With the owner unharmed, the wrecked Zonda then sat still for several years while, presumably, a costly insurance claim was disputed and settled, before the supercar was shipped to Pagani's factory in Atelier, Italy.

Once there, the owner decided that instead of just repairing their Pagani, the Zonda F would be recommissioned and upgraded to the car-maker's latest Zonda 760-spec.

That meant that not only did engineers strip and repair the damaged chassis, the Zonda F's 443kW/760Nm Mercedes-AMG-sourced 7.3-litre V12 was removed, rebuilt and uprated to produce the Zonda 760's 559kW/780Nm outputs.

Interestingly, instead of carrying over the old car's six-speed sequential transmission, the repaired car was converted to the same six-speed manual 'box that F1 driver, Lewis Hamilton, specified for his one-off Zonda 760LH.

Featuring all-new exposed carbon-fibre panels and aero from later cars, the only parts carried over from the original Zonda F are believed to be its interior.

Once repaired, the Zonda mongrel was originally supposed to be renamed the 'Zonda 760 SH' -- after the owner's initials – but after the factory's suggestion the 'Zonda Fantasma Evo' (fantasma is Italian for 'ghost') name stuck.

It's not been disclosed how many millions it cost for the Zonda to be nursed back to health, but it's thought the series of factory upgrades could entice other owners to update their cars.

Originally launched back in 1999, the Zonda has already proved itself to be near-immortal in supercar world as the 18-year-old supercar has been repeatedly resurrected by the car-maker since production officially ended back in 2013.