1991 Alfa Romeo SZ

Alfa Romeo was acquired by Fiat in 1986 and one of the first models to be introduced after this union was the SZ, meant to revive the company's illustrious sporting past particularly the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Zagato from the late 1950s and early 1960s. Although known as the 'Sprint Zagato' or ES-30 (Experimental Sportscar 3.0 litre) and wore the 'Z' logo, it was not designed by Carrozzeria Zagato. Rather, it was the work of in-house designers, with Robert Opron of the Centro Stile Fiat creating the early sketches while Antonio Castellana fine-tuned its features, details and interior. It was, however, assembled by Centro Stile Zagato at Terrazzano di Rho, Italy near the Alfa Romeo factory in Arese, and unveiled in 1989 at the Geneva Motor Show. Production lasted from 1989 to 1991 with 1,036 examples built, with approximately 100 being exported to Japan.

Many of the mechanical components were sourced from the Alfa Romeo 75 and were powered by a 2,959cc naturally aspirated, SOHC V6 with two valves per cylinder, a Bosch Motronic ML 4.1 fuel injection system, and rated at 207 horsepower at 6,200 RPM and 181 lb-ft of torque at 4,500 RPM. The two-door coupe had a front-engine, rear-wheel drive configuration with a five-speed manual transmission. The wheelbase measured 98.8 inches, its length at 159.8 inches, stood 51.6 inches tall and was 68.1 inches wide. The suspension, modified by Giorgio Pianta, was borrowed from the Alfa 75 group A/IMSA car and incorporated Koni-built hydraulic dampers. The Pirelli P Zero tires measured 205/55 ZR 16 and 225/50 ZR 16 at the rear.

A single Alfa Romeo SZ was finished in a black exterior paint scheme for Andrea Zagato, while the remainder were finished in red with a grey roof and tan leather interior. An Italian company called Carplast and French company Stratime Cappelo Systems created the unique thermoplastic injection moulded composite body panels.

The Alfa Romeo RZ was available in yellow, black and red exterior colors, with yellow and black being the more popular choices. Red and yellow cars had black leather interiors while the black cars had a burgundy interior.

Alfa Romeo intended on building 350 examples of the RZ, but production halted after the Zagato factory entered receivership. 252 examples had been built and an additional 32 cars were completed under the control of the receivers before production finished at 284 units. Three of these final cars received a silver paint scheme with a burgundy interior. The very last example to be built was given a pearlescent white paint scheme.

By Daniel Vaughan | Jul 2022