Few of us were lucky enough to own a TZ1 or a SZ Coda Tronca…Al Morrison owned them both at the same time and would later own a Junior Zagato and a Fulvia Zagato. We present all four of his Spada-Zagatos in this feature.
Story and photos by Al Morrison
Alfa Romeo GTZ 1
I first laid eyes on a new Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ 1 at the 1965 London International Motor Show when I was working in England as a very young architect. Right then I knew I wanted to own one someday.
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.
Five years later in 1970, after seeing an ad in Competition Press, I decided this was my chance. A few phone calls to the seller and a couple of Polaroid pictures later, a friend and I flew from Atlanta, Georgia to El Paso, Texas armed with a box of tools and a full-purchase-price check in hand. Who but a young Alfa nut would forsake normal automotive due diligence before making such a risky purchase?
Atlanta-based Morrison went to Texas to pick 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.
Fortunately, the car looked great, and it sounded great—that is, after a delay while the seller located a replacement for the dead battery! With transaction finally complete, we jumped in the car and set off on an odyssey that took us across the barren terrain of west Texas. Miles and miles of prairie dogs, scrub vegetation, oil rigs and very few gas stations— all seemed alien territory for a couple of southern boys.
The engine is a single plug Conrero head.
After 676 miles [Yes, the distance between El Paso and Dallas, Texas! Ed.] and arriving in Dallas in the middle of the night, we were tired, cold, still high on adrenaline, and deaf from the noise of the 4-cylinder racket inside my aluminum and Plexiglas enclosed projectile. After a good night’s sleep, the next 782 miles from Dallas to Atlanta were a relative breeze.
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.
Alfa Romeo SZ
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 3 other factory cars.
A similar long distance sprint occurred when I bought and drove home my 1962 Giulietta SZ Coda Tronca in 1973. The distance (Columbia, S.C. to Atlanta) was shorter than the Texas journey, but on the coldest day in December the trip back to Atlanta was not easy. On that day (night, actually) the issue I remember most was a case of frozen feet, since I couldn’t stop en route to locate the car’s heater valve.
This is a 1600 105 stret Veloce unit in place of the much less common 1300cc Veloce engine as prepared by Facetti.
My SZ was originally an Alfa Romeo factory team car entered under the banner of Martini and Rossi S.p.A. for the Daytona, Sebring and Bridgehampton races in 1962. Following the 1963 Sebring race, Alfa sold the car to a former Alfa US employee and he installed a 1600 cc production Veloce engine to make the car more streetable. That engine was still in place when I owned the car.
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.
The SZ and TZ
Rarely do we see such comparative photos of the TZ1 and Coda Tronca. The TZ was developed directly from Zagato’s experience with the SZ. But underneath, all they shared was the engine.
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.
Ah, youth and simpler times! Sure wish I had kept one or both of those cars.
Alfa Romeo 1600 Junior Zagato
Many years later and following my retirement in 2007, I felt the itch for yet one more Zagato Alfa, and this time I bought and imported a 1600 Junior Zagato from a private seller in England. It too, like the TZ and SZ, was in remarkably original and complete condition. The JZ was a joy to own and drive and was obviously a more streetable car than either the TZ or the SZ.
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.
“When I owned the car, I refurbished and replaced the few non-original components with NOS pieces, so that the car was complete and one of the most original examples that I have seen. While not concours, it was in excellent mechanical and cosmetic condition”, says Morrison.
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.
Lancia Fulvia Sport Zagato 1.3s
The current and possibly last chapter in my Zagato saga involves my recent purchase of a 1971 Lancia Fulvia Sport 1.3s, S/N 001545. A slightly earlier and more rounded design than the Junior Z, I have always admired its appearance. While there are certain similarities to the Junior Z, Lancia’s front wheel drive and a dogleg 1st gear in their five speed took some getting used to after my steady diet of Alfas. The Lancia’s bodywork and interior details are a little more refined than the Alfa’s, and my Fulvia corners flatter and feels as fast as the 1600 Junior Z in spite of having only 1300 cc.
The Fulvia Zagato took a step back from the Coda Tronca effect with a much softer tail that reflected the more subtle 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.
Four attractive and desirable Zagatos—-and each one designed by Ercole Spada, Carrozzeria Zagato’s pre-eminent designer of the 1960s and 1970s.
One final piece of this story occurred just as I was finishing this article. I received a phone call from John Clinard, a well-known Alfa enthusiast inquiring about some written TZ data that I had sold a short time ago. In the course of our conversation, we both discovered he now owns my old TZ—some 40+ years later! John was then kind enough to furnish the current photograph below.
TZ1 S/N 750038 as it appears today in the collection of John Clinard.
Mr. Morrison,
I enjoyed your article especially about the TZ1 and your trip to Texas to pick up the car. I also at one time owned TZ 750038. When I had the car, I was able to trace the history of it from new all the way through to the time I owned it and the person I sold the car to. It is interesting to see that in almost 10 years since I sold the car and after having changed hands at least four times during that time, it still carries the race #30, the number I put on all my race cars. I have also owned a 1600 Jr.Z for over 30 years.
.