The myth of Italian coachbuilders: Zagato. Rationality and lightness

Ugo Zagato was an aeroplane designer and builder at the beginning of the last century, and this experience has shaped the entire Zagato history where functionality and lightness have always prevailed. The cars bodied by Zagato over the generations (after Ugo, Elio - a strong driver by the way - and Gianni, to today's Andrea) are a perfect interpretation of Milanese Rationalism. This approach has allowed the Zagato cars to win success in the most diverse types of competition, starting with the Alfa Romeos of the Scuderia Ferrari of the 1930s. Zagato's reputation meant that the Milanese coachbuilder worked for virtually every manufacturer interested in racing. Their presentation document lists cars from no fewer than 42 different manufacturers. A truly unique case.

Today Zagato, after celebrating its centenary in 2019, offers both classic models such as the Porsche Sanction II and Sanction Lost, i.e. cars from the past, now disappeared, but reproduced starting from the original mechanics, and Contemporary models such as the AGTZ built on an Alpine base and unveiled a few weeks ago in Zagato's Milanese headquarters.

Here are 8 models selected for you by Roarington among Zagato's past masterpieces:

1931 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Spider Corto Zagato
The 'short wheelbase' version of the 8C 2300 Spider was developed for road racing. After a disappointing eighth place at the 1931 Mille Miglia it won the Targa Florio of the same year with Tazio Nuvolari. Under the Cavallino Rampante banner it won the Circuito Tre Province in the hands of Enzo Ferrari.

1949 Ferrari 166 Panoramica Zagato MilleMiglia
This was the first Ferrari bodied by Zagato after the collaboration that began with the Scuderia and Alfa Romeo racing cars. It was also the first prancing horse in coupé configuration and was called "Panoramica" because of the large glass surfaces, used for the rear and side windows, which followed the bodywork's course.

1959 Porsche 356B Carrera Zagato
Work to organise and digitise the Zagato archive unearthed in 2015 a complete study for the production of a Coupé version, derived from the Speedster of French racing driver Claude Storez, ordered from Porsche in 1957. Two years later the car was destroyed, but today from a series of original sketches and drawings, thanks to the photometric process, it was possible for Zagato to produce a small series of nine of these beautiful coupés with the consent of Stuttgart.

1960 Aston Martin DB4 GTZ Stradale
Presented at the 1960 London Motor Show, the DB4 GTZ was designed to improve aerodynamics and make the DB4 GT lighter. Nineteen examples were built, followed by six more as part of the Sanction II programme in 1991 and Sanction III in 2000. To mark the centenary, Zagato announced the construction with Aston Martin of 19 examples as part of the Century Collection programme and called Continuation.

1961 Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ Coda Tronca
Elio Zagato, working with the Milan Polytechnic, Alfa Romeo and excellent test drivers such as Conrero and Facetti, began a technical analysis aimed at the evolution of the SZ Coda Tronca. The focus was on the aerodynamic research carried out by Prof. W. Kamm in the 1930s, according to which a very extended shape increased the aerodynamic efficiency and thus the top speed of a car. When Elio Zagato, sitting next to Ercole Spada, tested the new, modified car with a stretched nose and cut-off tail on the motorway between Milan and Bergamo, the result was simply incredible: a 20 km/h increase in top speed. A revolution.

1965 Alfa Romeo TZ2 Prototype
The TZ2 debuted in 1964 at the Turin Motor Show and represented one of the greatest evolutions of the 'truncated tail' concept. Built in just 9 examples, it was the first car fielded by Autodelta as the official Alfa Romeo team, while the fibreglass bodywork was developed by Zagato to improve the penetration coefficient. Successes came in '65 and '66 with a class triumph at Le Mans, followed by class victories at the 12 Hours of Sebring, Targa Florio, 1000 km of Nürburgring, Tour de France and Coupe des Alpes.

2007 Spiker C12 Zagato
Created to celebrate Spyker's entry into Formula 1, the C12 Zagato debuted at the 2007 Geneva Motor Show. The car, born out of the friendship between Andrea Zagato and Victor Muller - CFO of the Dutch manufacturer and Zagato collector - is wearing the gray and orange colors of the F1 team and is made entirely of aluminum with steel trim. The Spyker C12 Zagato, based on the C12 Spider, has many details derived from Formula 1 such as the nose, vents, windows and rain lights. The transparent roof and 'swallow' tail, on the other hand, are typical Zagato styling elements that recall the common aviation origin of the two Brands.

2012 Porsche Carrera GTZ
In 2013, a passionate Swiss Porsche collector and former racing driver, following the classic approach of special bodies set up for racing or Concours d'Elegance in vogue between the 1940s and 1960s, commissioned Atelier Zagato to create a carbon fiber body for his Carrera GT. Since the GTZ was a tribute to the Stuttgart-based company and since its mechanical characteristics were not altered, the design work aimed to improve the effect of aerodynamic flows on the bodywork, reshaping the tail with typical Zagato coupe shape, just like it was done in the 1950s on the successful 356 Carrera-based models.