Zagato calls an end to TZ3 program

The first fruit of the Alfa Zagato TZ3 project appeared at the Villa D'Este Concours d'Elegance just over a year ago, winning the prestigious Design Concept Award there.

Commissioned originally as a unique, track-ready car by Alfa Zagato collector, Martin Kapp, the TZ3 Corsa was based on the Alfa 8C Competizione and powered by a 4.2-litre V8 driving through a six-speed sequential-shift transmission.

Kapp had approached Zagato about building the car to mark both the centenary of Alfa Romeo and the car manufacturer's 90-year long collaboration with the styling studio. It inspired the styling firm to build a very limited-volume production run of cars encapsulating the same themes, but focused more on design than motorsport competition.

So while the TZ3 Corsa remains a unique car in the hands of Kapp, nine units of the TZ3 Stradale that followed are in existence. Both designs feature carbonfibre body panels, but the single TZ3 Corsa is reinforced with a tubular space frame, while the TZ3 Stradale is based on the Dodge Viper ACR platform and features that vehicle's V10 powertrain.

The first TZ3 Stradale has been sold to Eric King, another Alfa/Zagato collector, like Kapp, and a board member of the Saratoga Automobile Museum. Collectors in Japan and Europe have snapped up build numbers two and three.

Both the TZ3 designs capitalise on thinking originally proposed by German aerodynamicist Wunibald Kamm and made popular in the 1960s on American pony and muscle cars. In Italy, Zagato's application of the theory in the early 1960s led to the development of 'Coda Tronca' ('short tail') designs that peaked with the Alfa Romeo TZ and TZ2 models.

Neither Zagato nor the new owners have revealed what it set them back to acquire their respective TZ3 models, but it's unlikely they're cheap.

Pictures, in sequence: TZ3 Stradale (left) and TZ3 Corsa (right), TZ3 Corsa at Villa D'Este Concours, TZ3 Stradale (with rear to camera) and side profile of TZ3 Corsa in background.

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