Description
The 90’s Zagato Alfa Romeo’s were built in low numbers with 1036 SZ coupes and only 284 RZ spiders.
The bold angular Zagato body shocked the world when it was released in 1990, dubbed ‘Il Monstro’ by the Italians, and the shape whilst now over 30 years old, still looks remarkably fresh and modern today.
The RZ we have for sale, is car number 205, and unusually for these cars – that were often shipped overseas to Japan and the Middle East in period – resulting in patchy and opaque histories, our example has always remained in Europe, with a full and comprehensive ownership and service record.
The car, initially supplied to an Italian living in Germany was then sold to its first UK owner in 1997 and has remained in the UK ever since with only 4 owners and 32, 000 kms. For the past 25 years the car has been looked after by the renowned London specialist Autodelta London, and is presented in exceptional cosmetic and mechanical condition.
Furthermore we are confident this is one of the best driving RZs available today, having recently benefitted from significant investment with detailed servicing, replacement of any worn parts, and most importantly with a raft of subtle but significant Autodelta enhancements.
Over the past 4 years during covid, the previous owner decided to commission Autodelta to make it as good as it could be. Naturally any worn or perished bushings, mountings, couplings, etc were replaced, but significantly the two weak spots of these cars were addressed – the brakes and the engine. Whilst the chassis of the RZ and SZ cars was based on the Alfa Romeo 75 Group A IMSA touring car, and was reported to develop the highest lateral G of any car on sale at the time, period road testers always wanted a little more from the brakes, and the glorious Alfa 3. 0 V6. Autodelta London are well known for their work on Alfa Romeos of this era, and this car has benefitted from their 3. 5ltr engine upgrade with associated ecu mapping, exhaust system, and 4 piston front brakes.
These upgrades are pretty much invisible but hugely improve the driving experience, and the car feels as if it was always meant to be this way. Autodelta carried out this raft of upgrades on several SZ cars, but this is the only RZ with these improvements.
This matching numbers car is also complete with all of its original owner’s manuals, service books, tools, sales brochure, heritage certificate and even the original paperwork and envelopes these manuals were supplied in when new. Unlike the SZ which was only available in red, the RZ was made in yellow, black and red, with red being the rarest of these three colours.
