The London Concours held at the the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) is one of the highlights of my automotive calendar.
The line-up of cars at this event is always spectacular and the classes they are divided into are always interesting. This year was no exception and so to give the cars in the classes the screen time they deserve, I’ve decided to split my content from this year’s show into multiple parts.
My last post was covering ‘The Legendary V12’ class which you can read about here: https://motorsportformentalhealth.com/2024/06/25/london-concours-2024-the-legendary-v12
Today, we’ll be looking at some of the cars by legendary coachbuilder Zagato.
Zagato was founded in Milan in 1919 by Ugo Zagato, who had learnt lightweight body construction working for the Pomilio aircraft manufacturer and wanted to transfer his skills to the world of motorsport.
Through the 1920s Zagato built racing car bodies for Alfa Romeo and by the end of the 1920s and into the 1930s Zagato was building aerodynamic bodies both race and road cars for lots of manufacturers including Maserati, Fiat and Lancia.
Following the Second World War Zagato’s business exploded with the advent of GT racing. Race cars from Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Porsche, Maserati and Jaguar all wore Zagato designed bodies.
The earliest Zagato car on display at the London Concours was a 1958 Abarth 750.
One of six lightweight four seat Bristol 406 Zagatos. Of the six originally built, five survive to this day.
The Lancia Fulvia Sport was comissioned to Zagato by Lancia who wanted to make an aerodynamic and lightweight body to take their highly successful Fulvia coupe rally car to the track.
The Alfa Romeo SZ (Sprint Zagato) and RZ ( Roadster Zagato) came about to restore Alfa Romeo’s sporting pedigree after Fiat took the firm over in 1986.
The SZ was actually designed by Fiat by Zagato were in charge of manufacturing the fibreglass bodies. The RZ came later and that was fully designed by Zagato.
This Ferrari 550 GTZ Barchetta is one of three Barchettas that concluded the ‘Zero Project’ – a run of nine cars built – six 575 coupes and 3 550 Barchettas.
Japanese car collector Yoshiyuki Hayashi approached Zagato to build a body for his 575 to pay tribute to, and celebrate the 50th anniversary of, the original Zagato/Ferrari 250GTZ.
Zagato approached Ferrari who approved the project. The car was built and as soon as it began to hit the concours scene in 2006 a number of wealthy individuals decided they wanted one. Ferrari and Zagato agreed to build the cars and Zero Project was born!
Finally there were a number of Aston Martins.
Aston Martin and Zagato have had a number of collaborations over the years going back to 1960 with the DB4 GT Zagato.
Here we have the Vanquish Speedster and coupe with the distinctive Zagato rear lights. I know the lights are a little controversial but I actually really like them. They are instantly recognisable as Zagato and, to even the untrained eye, set them apart from a normal Aston.
The V12 Vantage was made to celebrate 50 years of the partnership between Aston Martin and Zagato. A 350 car production run was predicted but in the end only 61 cars were produced.
Thanks for reading! There are still a couple more classes posts to come from the London Concours, so if you would like to stay up to date with all my blog posts please subscribe to the blog via email (from the box at the bottom of the page).
Follow me on the following social media platforms:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/motorsportformentalhealth/
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/richard-francis-b45025137/
TikTok: @richardfrancismsfmh
Twitter: @richardmsfmh
Instagram: @motorsport4mentalhealth
Youtube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ-j8broFg4i2rWIBy6W82Q
1 Comment