Alfa Romeo and Lancia Zagatos

Morrison sent this photo he took of the TZ as seen at the 1965 London Motor show. He was immediately smitten with the car and knew he’d own one someday, somehow.

Atlanta-based Morrison picked up this Alfa TZ1 in 1970. It was in remarkably good condition and after a new battery, Morrison hopped in and co-drove it back to Georgia. The chassis number is 750038.

The engine is a single plug Conrero head.

Street-ready interior belies the noise levels of the TZ. Interior and engine indicated a very different animal from the SZ Coda Tronca Morrison would purchase shortly afterward. The TZ was a tubular framed race car while the SZ was based on the standard Alfa chassis.

Morrison’s SZ was raced at Sebring, Daytona and Bridgehampton in 1962 and is chassis number 00200. It finished 3rd in class at Daytona driven by Paul Richards, and was driven at Sebring by Charlie Kolb and Paul Richards. There it suffered some engine damage but still finished the race along with all three other factory cars.

This is a 1600 105 street Veloce unit in place of the much less common 1300cc Veloce engine as prepared by Facetti.

Barley visible is the very crude window winding mechanism that the Zagato employees cobbled together on all early Zagatos. They were scraps of steel and aluminum held to the door frame by sheet metal screws. But that was part of the charm. In the photograph, the passenger’s interior door panel had been removed for refurbishment.

comparative photos of the TZ1 and Coda Tronca from the 1970s. The TZ was developed directly from Zagato’s experience with the SZ. But underneath, all they shared was the running gear.

Ah, youth and simpler times! Sure wish I had kept one or both of those cars.

We often forget that in January of 1961, work began at Zagato on two TZ prototypes, and the first was a two-passenger spider which proved to be aerodynamically inefficient. Alfa lost a lot of time over that effort, while Zagato was busy building the still successful Coda Troncas. The delays effectively shortened the competitive life of the TZ1.

Two classic Alfas. It is hard to say which is better looking or more desirable. The Kamm effect was more pronounced in the TZ.

Morrison’s other two Zagatos are great examples of the later stages of Zagato history as they transformed from a tiny garage to a full scale manufacturer/assembler from 1966 to 1975. Morrison’s Junior Zagato was not designed with competition in mind and was bodied in steel at the new factory at Terrazzano di Rho. The 1600 was introduced at the 1972 Turin Motor Show.

His Junior Zagato is S/N 3060061 and had a continuous sales and service history while in the UK. The slight bulge in the hood over the windshield wiper is to allow room for movement. The Junior Z was one of the early designs to use the rear edge of the hood to cover the wiper blades.

Civilized and easy to drive, the Junior Z interior lacks the excitement of the earlier cars.

The Junior was offered in both a 1300 cc version and 1600. Al’s was the 1600.

A much more refined machine, the Junior Zagatos were produced in relatively large numbers by Zagato in their new factory, along with the Lancia Fulvia Sport Zagato, with which it shared an electrically-operated opening rear window to help cool the interior. This design feature began with the Lancia Flavia Zagato. The Junior Z would be Ercole Spada’s last Zagato design to reach the production stage.

The Fulvia Zagato took a step back from the Coda Tronca effect with a much softer tail that reflected the subtler curves and beltline. Over 7000 were built, or assembled, at the new Zagato factory that opened in 1966. The bodies were actually produced by L.B. and the car was assembled at Terrazzano di Rho.

The Fulvia Zagato was the last Zagato designed to race and a first series was built entirely of an aluminum alloy, and although the few competition versions built were faster than the Fulvia HF, it was not widely raced. Spada designed the Zagato version before even seeing the more popular Pininfarina coupe.

Morrison’s car has Plexiglas covers on the rectangular headlights that Spada installed on the prototypes. Limited headlight choices and regulations necessitated removal of these for series production and that made it difficult for Spada to create the integrated, smooth front he envisioned.

The interior was virtually stock Lancia so Zagato had little hand in the design of the dashboard.

The engine was Lancia’s trusty V4 1300cc Monobloc with two Solexes almost as big as the head itself. Morrison says the Lancia is just as fast as his Junior Z which had 300 cubic centimeters more.

TZ1 S/N 750038 as it appeared in the collection of John Clinard.