In 1979 I was in my eighth year at BMW Concessionaires GB, still revelling in driving the Bavarian cars, especially the 2002 Tii and 3.0CSLs. When I had started at the UK national base on the Chiswick High Road, not that many people, especially outside London, even knew what B M W stood for, let alone had driven one. On my first visit to the Munich factory, a senior executive, talking about the marque’s future, said that there was an aspiration to design and build cars with the character and performance of those built in Arese; (Mercedes were dismissed as being ‘old men’s’ cars). By ‘79, most people were well aware of BMW, and many longed to own one, so successful had the marketing been throughout the decade. And with sales ever-growing, by 1979 the UK operation was to be reconfigured as a factory-subsidiary company with a brand new, purpose-built headquarters in Bracknell. How fortunate for me – I happened to live just a few miles away and had been getting increasingly fed-up with the daily commute from there into West London. But when I was a boy, one of my most favourite possessions was my copy of The Dumpy Pocket Book of Cars and Commercial Vehicles. The most thumbed pages of that little volume were the two showing and describing the products of Alfa Romeo. I was especially intrigued by the Giulietta variants, though how I pronounced that model name in my head was far from what an Italian would be expecting. That Sprint Speciale model! It made a huge impression on me, the trigger for a lifelong devotion to the Milanese make. So, when I received an invitation to join Alfa’s UK operation, I didn’t hesitate. Industry friends and acquaintances, especially the several whose ambition was to work for BMW, thought I was completely barmy. After the first week of my new commute – now into Edgware Road and through even more congested roads – I began to wonder if they were right.
But, in fact, my sanity was well protected – right from Day-1 I found myself elated by the cars to which I now had access, not least my personal allocated Alfasud 1.5Ti. With the windows down, and revving up to the red-line, the rasping note of that car’s exhaust was nothing less than life-affirming. And for the next 13 years I saw and drove a great many Alfas, in England and in Italy. Nothing unexpected if I say that the Sprint Veloce, Alfetta GTV6, Alfa 75 3.0 and SZ were particularly intoxicating, both to drive and ogle. Though already rare by the time of my joining, I also adored the Junior Z, Giulia GTV and Montreal. In an all-time Alfa beauty parade you would have to add to these the Alfa 33 Stradale, TZ1 and Sprint Speciale. But, for me, the most perfect of them all is the Giulietta Sprint Zagato.
The Giulietta model had debuted in ’54 in Sprint form. Styled at Bertone by Scaglione, the Alfa Sprint Veloce was both good-looking and also competitive on the race track. In ’56 a driver badly damaged his racing Sprint Veloce and decided to ask Zagato to restore it as a ‘one-off’ rather than just rebuild it. The result was a car looking quite similar to the SV, but with body panels in aluminium.
1958 Giulietta SVZ –
Courtesy of Sotheby’s
Both
the owner and Zagato liked the result, the Carrozzeria enough to decide to use
it as the basis for a new model, the SVZ.
Between ’56 and ’59, Zagato built (as conversions of Sprint Veloces) 16,
(some say 18), SVZs. The good reception
of the model spurred Alfa Romeo to the decision to commission Zagato to
series-produce the SZ. Envisioning a
good level of demand and more substantial sales, it was agreed that instead of
having to dismantle a Sprint Veloce as the basis for each car, the factory
would supply just the basic chassis platform to Zagato.
This
post is primarily intended as an introduction to the Giulietta SZ for those not
already familiar with it. It is not an
exhaustive history or explanation of the model.
For that purpose there is nothing better than Marcello Minerbi’s superb
book, Alfa Romeo-Zagato SZ TZ, (1985 La Mille Miglia Editrice). Some of the information and images reproduced
here stem from that source, (marked MM).
The
SZ was first shown to the public at the Geneva Motor Show in March ‘60. It would continue in production until
’63. 204 examples were built, of which
30, at the end of the run, featured a revised body shape with a ‘chopped’ tail
– these are referred to as the ‘Coda Tronca’ version and to my eye this design
is less harmonious. The initial version
has a rounded rear section, ‘Coda Tonda,’ and it is this that I say is the
most beautiful Alfa of them all!
In May 2019 Sotheby’s sold
a set of original Zagato blueprints which included this of the SZ Coda Tonda:
These
photographsMM show an SZ under construction in the Zagato works on Via
Giorgini, just a little further North West from Milan than Alfa Romeo’s factory
at Portello:
This
is an Alfa Romeo Press Photograph of the SZ on launch:
The
Giulietta SZ proved to be a very successful car on the track. Marcello Minerbi lists 55 outright/class wins
in significant race events, ’60-’63.
Included were 3 class wins in the Targa Florio and 2 overall victories
in the Coupe des Alpes. It was also the winning car in the Italian 1300 GT
Championship in ’60, ’62 and ’63.
Recently
offered/sold SZs include these gems:
Finally,
this collage shows that the Giulietta SZ Coda Tonda is one of those (rare) cars
that looks absolutely perfect from every angle:
Comments
Post a Comment