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Zagato; "the unmasked Zorro of Italy"
THE hottest coupe to cut its Z across the sports car market has shot out of Milan.
Celebrating the centenary of Alfa Romeo, the Zagato-penned TZ3 Stradale is the unmasked Zorro of Italy - except that, to be honest, it's not a pure-bred Italian.
Alfa's birthday cake tastes a bit stale after news that the TZ3 is based on a Dodge Viper - now part of the family thanks to the takeover by Fiat (owner of Alfa) of Dodge's parent Chrysler.
It's dubbed "the first American Alfa Romeo". Which is probably akin to the first Irish pizza.
The TZ3's chassis and drivetrain is borrowed from the Viper over which Zagato has draped a carbon-fibre body that has hints - particularly the abrupt Kamm tail - of previous designs such as the TZ, TZ2 and the track-only, one-off TZ3 Corsa.
Alfa will build nine TZ3 Stradale - which means it's street legal - units but expect a high price and suitability only for left-hand drive markets.
Apparently the first one has already gone to American collector Eric King and the second and third have been spoken for by customers in Japan and Europe. That makes six for you and your mates.
For the money - and we don't know what that is, but can guess - you get the 8.4-litre V10 engine with 400kW and 760Nm and a hot body with two seats.
Alfa Romeo says the Stradale differs from the single TZ3 Corsa, which has a Maserati 4.2-litre V8 and six-speed sequential gearbox. The Corsa was commissioned by Alfa Romeo Zagato collector Martin Knapp.
The TZ3 Corsa and Stradale have a Kamm tail which claims high aerodynamic efficiency with minimal drag. It has previously been used with Zagato's "Coda Tronca" bodies in testing in the 1960s and realised later with the TZ and TZ2. TZ stands for the initials of tubolare (for the tubular frame) and Zagato.
The TZ3 Corsa won the Villa D'Este Design Concept Award in 2010.
