Alfa Romeo SZ: monstrously ugly or monstrous good?
Posted on 15-03-2016 at 19:17 by Dizono – 82 Comments”
Time for a bit of history!
In 1989, present the Alfa Romeo and Zagato together with the SZ (Sprint Zagato). It is a imagebuilder for the car manufacturer. Alfa Romeo is struggling at that moment with a very poor image due to the rusty Alfasud’s, though their other models are also what can. The plastic SZ the emphasis should again focus on sportsmanship, helped by a magnificent Busso V6 in the cabin. But the car is really good to be able to understand, it is good to first check the shared history of both companies to plunge.
Alfa Romeo and Zagato
That history goes back to well before the Second world War, but the marriage between Zagato and Alfa Romeo is only really successful if Zagato’s Ercole Spada for Alfa Romeo the Giulia TZ design. By his severed butt, also called “Coda Tronca” – turns out the car much faster than his competitors. Some cars follow, as well as the 2600 SZ and Junior Zagato. The first is a large convertible, more a grand tourer than a sports car. The Junior Zagato is, however, a real sports car, something lighter and sleeker than the Bertone designed Giulia GT/GTV on which it is based.
It is this Junior Zagato that you can see as the spiritual predecessor of the SZ. Both have a strong wedge shape with afhakte ass, a similar profile and are based on the technique of the then ruling sporty medium cars of the brand. At the Junior Zagato’s Giulia, in the case of the SZ the Alfa Romeo 75. Fortunately, Alfa Romeo is not for retro design, but they made one of the most controversially styled production models ever. I think it might be the most beautiful Alfa Romeo ever, but I understand it as him, you ugly find. Love it or hate it looks like no car is as applicable as the SZ.
Project ES-30
The story begins as the middle of years ’80 three parties be asked to submit a design for a new Alfa Romeo Zagato-sports car: Zagato himself, Centro Stile Alfa Romeo, where at that time, among others, Walter de Silva was employed, and the design department of Fiat. Ultimately it is a design of Fiat’s Robert Opron, also responsible for, among other things, the Citroen CX and Renault Fuego – chosen, the contribution of Zagato remains according to tradition is limited to what details to front and back. The project is code-named ES-30 Experimental Sportscar 3.0 litre.
Plastic caps and Koni
That 3.0 litre indicates the Busso V6 from the Alfa Romeo 75 V6 America, the flagship of the range. In the SZ, the block still further tickled, to 210 hp, to be exact. No figures are, where we are now still surprised, though the car in practice, often a couple of horsepower more than specified. Also the rest of the driveline, including manual vijfbak is taken from the road going 75, but for the suspension and damping, one has to look at the Alfa 75 IMSA racer. The hydraulic dampers were manufactured by our own Koni and were by the driver is adjustable. So could the car is 5 inches higher on his legs are set to the low-hanging bumper krasloos over speed bumps to get.
As said before, had Alfa Romeo in those days with a rather bad image, for an important part due to the roestgevoeligheid of its cars. Or the SZ in France and Italy manufactured plastic sheet metal has to rust from going either to save weight, I don’t know. What I do know is that in both cases it turns out not to work. The steel chassis of the SZ through the years, it is very prone to rust found -many SZ already has a complete undergone restoration and is also the car weight of the SZ ten pounds higher than that of the full steel 75 on which it is based: 1260 kgs clean on the hook.
Own racing series and hefty discounts
Despite the higher weight praises the press and the SZ for its handling. In particular, the grip in the turns is high. The 0-100 time in the 6.8 second is certainly for that time just fine, although the top speed 245 miles per hour. This is really a car for twisty asphalt and not for the better Autobahn-drop forged. To illustrate, get the SZ also has its own racing series. Participants will be given of Alfa Romeo up to 25 percent discount on their car, so know Eduard van de Beek of the SZ registry.
In total, Alfa Romeo is slightly more than a thousand copies of the SZ, especially in Europe and, to a lesser extent in Japan with fans. Between 1992 and 1994 builds Alfa Romeo on the basis of the SZ the RZ, a roofless variant. Was the SZ only in red, the RZ could also be found in the yellow and black can be ordered. The plan was to have 350 copies to build, but that turned out to be too high, finally, Alfa Romeo are only 284 copies to sell. Personally miss the RZ the charm of the SZ: that angular red body contrasts with the black, round roof.
Alfa Romeo 164 Protéo
A direct successor to get the SZ never, the 8C Competizione comes closest to yours. Yet, the SZ definitely has had an impact on the next generation of sports cars from Alfa Romeo. Take a look at the 164 Protéo, a Silva-drawn concept car from 1991. Obviously a slightly different interpretation of the SZ, but also a hint to the GTV in 1995 would appear. The windshield of the SZ ends up still on the Lancia Hyena, a sports car on the Delta Integral-base, developed by Zagato in command of the Dutchman, Paul Koot.
Gallery: Alfa Romeo SZ and RZ
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