1962 Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ

The Alfa Romeo Sprint Zagato was produced in two series between 1957 and 1962 and was the ultimate sporting development of Alfa Romeo's Giulietta. In motorsports, it often outperformed cars of greater engine capacity, was surprisingly fast and successful, and won a series of impressive races. The lightweight coachwork by Zagato combined with a specially tuned engine helped the Giulietta SV establish an enviable record in production car racing, with notable victories that include the Gran Turismo class win in the 1956 Mille Miglia.

The Alfa Romeo Giulietta
The Giulietta range was introduced in 1954 with the arrival of the Franco Scaglione of Bertone-styled Sprint 2+2 coupé, and the four-door Berlina saloon not appearing until the succeeding season. In mid-1955, the open two-seat Giulietta Spider with bodywork by Pinin Farina became available. In 1957, a more powerful Berlina version, called Giulietta T.I. (Turismo Internazionale), was introduced with minor styling changes to the hood, rear lamps, and dial lights. Additionally, Carrozzeria Colli built ninety-one examples of the Giulietta station wagon.

From 1954 to 1965 a total of 177,690 Giuliettas were made with the majority in Berlina, Sprint coupe, or Spider body styles.

Carrozzeria Zagato

Ugo Zagato began his coachbuilding career in 1919 and established his business - Zagato - in Milan. Focusing on lightweight, rigid, and sophisticated constructional techniques, his talents were soon enlisted by Alfa Romeo to cloth the G1, RL and RM models. The lightweight coachwork applied to the 6C 1500 placed 2nd overall at the 1927 Mille Miglia and won the 1928 edition. The Zagato-bodied cars would earn a slew of victories including at the Mille Miglia, Targa Florio, Le Mans, and Spa Francorchamps - at the 1938 Mille Miglia, one-third of the participants wore Zagato coachwork.

Since its inception, many prominent manufacturers would select Zagato for coachwork including Maserati, Fiat, Lancia, AC, Abarth, Bristol, Fraser Nash, Jaguar, Osca, Porsche, Renault, Aston Martin and Ferrari.

Ugo's first-born son, Elio Zagato, would carry on the family coachbuilding tradition and enjoyed a rather successful racing career including scoring a victory at the 1955 International Granturism Championship at the Avus circuit driving a Fiat 8V GT Zagato.

As the demand for special bodies increased during the 1950s and 1960s, the company transitioned from a handcraft to an industrially-based organization. The company moved to a larger facility in Terrazzano, northwest of Milan and close to Arese where Alfa Romeo would soon build its new plants. The partnership between Alfa Romeo and Zagato flourished with the latter being tasked to build coachwork for the Giulia SZ, the TZ, TZ2, 2600 SZ, the 1750 4R and the Junior Zagato.

The Birth of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ

When Elio Zagato received a wrecked Sprint Veloce in 1956, he breathed new life into the vehicle by clothing it with a lightweight, aerodynamic, and aesthetically pleasing body. Now able to rival cars of far greater displacement, other Sprint Veloce owners soon followed suit. Impressed by the performance and popularity, Alfa Romeo contracted Carrozzeria Zagatoto to create a limited run of factory-sanctioned racing cars.

The Sprint Zagato (SZ)

At the time, Alfa Romeo already had a high-performance version of the Giulietta - the 'Sprint Speciale,' built in collaboration with Bertone. It used the short-wheelbase Giulietta chassis, a high-compression, double twin-choke carbureted 1.3-liter (1,290cc) twin-cam engine, and an aerodynamic two-seater coupe bodywork built from steel.

Like the Bertone-bodied Sprint Special (SS), the Sprint Zagato (SZ) would use the short wheelbase Giulietta chassis (93.7 inches) but its aluminum body was lighter and its design was considerably rounder. Each body took Zagato craftsmen over 300 hours to complete, resulting in an expensive automobile, keeping production to a minimum.

The mechanical components were similar including the high compression engine offering 99 horsepower (100 PS) (in race tune, engine output exceeded 115 hp) at 6,500 RPM, a five-speed manual gearbox, finned aluminum drum brakes, and an independent front suspension with coil-over shock absorbers.

The Sprint Zagato was built in two versions, the Coda Tonda (round tail) and later a Kamm-tail designated Coda Tronca (short tail). The first generation (Coda Tonda) was built from 1960 to 1961 with approximately 180 examples (as few as 169) constructed. The second generation (Coda Tronca) was produced in 1961 and 1962 with approximately 30 examples (as many as 44) built. A few existing Coda Tonda's were later re-bodied with the Coda Tronca design. SZ chassis numbers ran from '001' to '217.'

The Sprint Zagato (SZ) : Second Generation

The second generation of the Sprint Zagato had a cut-off Kamm tail at the rear with a wrap-around rear window. Ercole Spada, a newly employed designer, fashioned the more aerodynamic bodywork, bestowing long tails ending in a Hamm treatment (similar to the Giulia 1600 TZ which immediately followed in production) and lower roofs. They were lighter and slimmer than its predecessor and the mechanical specification was enhanced with the addition of Girling disc brakes at the front (most SZ2s had disc brakes). The steel inner wheels had aluminum outer rings. A higher final drive ratio was sometimes added in order to enhance speeds made capable by the streamlined body shape.

These highly-developed, small-displacement late-production SZ sports cars were created for high-speed circuits like Monza and Le Mans, and were the final evolution of the racing Giulietta and direct predecessor to the Giulia TZ. Tipping the scales at 785kg, the Sprint Zagato had a top speed in excess of 200 km/h, easily making them the fastest of the Giuliettas.

Among the accolades achieved by the SZ was a victory by Michel Nicol in the 1957 Tour de Corse, and a pair of victories in the 1962 and 1963 International Championship for GT Manufacturers.

by Daniel Vaughan | Jan 2023