My 1974 Alfa 1600 Junior Zagato

Barely 1400 of these cars were made and Geoff McGee's rare 1974 example is one of a few in the world that have been converted to right-hand drive.

Zagato is a Turin car body-building company that has created their own interpretations of a range of mainly Italian cars over the years. The Zagato look is striking, it lengthens and bulks up the donor car - in this case the classic 105 series Alfa Romeo. Aluminium body work is a company trait though McGee says his car has been limited to an aluminium bonnet.

McGee says he was originally taken by the look of the unusual Z-car.

"The style of them struck me. I started searching for them for two years."

In those days before the web that meant scouring car magazines and hunting down contacts. McGee says he eventually tracked down the right car in Oregon in the US. It had been imported from Italy in 1985 but by 1994 the owner was looking to sell.

"I think because of the smog laws he didn't drive it much." In fact he had done only about 9000km in its nine years stateside.

After getting a friend to check it McGee took the plunge and the car arrived in Australia in 1996.

"It was in much the same condition as it is now," he says. "It is a very original car except for the carpet. It is not a Zagato carpet, it is an Alfa Romeo carpet."

McGee, a fitter-machinist, then undertook the left to right hand drive conversion himself. He found that Alfa had created pre-cut notch marks in the firewall to assist a conversion.

The car's unusual features include a perspex shield across the front of the grille to help protect it from stones etc. It is a distinct sporty two-seater coupe with a tiny luggage space and unique electric-controlled hatch opening system. He says it's a tight fit, a car made for the driver to wear rather than just sit in.

The 1.6-litre 4-cylinder twin overhead cam engine still beats strong and is coupled to a very smooth five-speed manual gearbox. Aided by some good Alfa brakes the car is competent in modern traffic although being on club plates McGee says it doesn't get out very often.

McGee has a number of classic cars but has an as-yet unobtained beauty to buy. He says his dream Alfa is a 1953 Superleggera 1900SS. "It's a beautiful car, an absolutely drop dead gorgeous car."

1974 Alfa Romeo 1600 Junior Zagato

Years built: 1972-1975
Number made: 1402
Price when new: about $10,000
Value now: up to $50,000