Aerodynamics is a complex science. A lot of the so-called “streamliners” of the ‘30s and ‘40s were less efficient than an ‘80s Volvo, despite what looks might suggest. Similarly, a lot of Zagato designs just look strange at first, but what they really are is incredibly slippery. Coupled with lightweight construction, this makes the little Giulietta go like stink.
At least, the Giulietta SZ is a very good-looking car. With Zagato, that’s not always a given, because it’s not the top priority. When he founded the firm in 1919, Ugo Zagato had just spent years building aircraft, making machines as light, strong and aerodynamic as possible. He just transferred all those skills to ground transport, initally focusing on the lightness aspect.
But then came the ‘30s and all the pseudo-aerodynamics (along with some genuinely slippery stuff, of course) changed car styling, Zagato designs got more avant-garde. After the war, the carrozzeria became extremely busy, with virtually every Italian (and quite a few foreign) sports car maker knocking on their door.
Alfa Romeo had a long history with Zagato, so it’s no surprise that they were there too. But the Giulietta was not part of the plan, at least originally. It came, quite literally, by accident. At the 1956 Mille Miglia, a Sprint Veloce coupé had a bad crash. The drivers, mercifully unharmed, took the wreck to Zagato, who built a tubular chassis and fashioned an aluminium body for the car, thereby lightening it by about 140kg.
This Zagato special became the fastest Giulietta in existence, and soon other punters were showing up to the Zagato works with Sprint coupés, asking for a similar job. By 1959, Zagato had reached an agreement with Alfa Romeo for deliveries of specially-tuned chassis, so the needless butchering of Bertone coupés finally stopped.
The Zagato Giuliettas received a highly-tuned 116hp engine, enabling the car to reach speeds in excess of 190kph – quite impressive for such a small machine. Most Giulietta SZs were thus destined to be raced, as this one still is.
The production run was limited in time and numbers made, but there was a significant evolution of the design for the final batch of 30 or so cars, produced in late 1961. Zagato had succumbed to the diktat of Dr Wunibald Kamm, chopping off the tails of pretty much all their cars from that point on.
I for one prefer the rounded derriere of this slightly earlier car. Makes for a much more organic design, even if the aerodynamic benefits of the Kamm tail are undeniable. And those coda tronca (yes, those were called that way before the term was used for the Pininfarina Spider) also feature front disc brakes, which must be better than the drums used on the older cars. Ah well.
About 180 cars were made with the round tail between 1959 and 1961, not counting a handful of pre-series ones from the late ‘50s. These were very expensive little jewels, of course, but it was an important step for the carrozzeria: even such a limited run was a lot for Zagato to handle, seeing as they had several other projects going on with the likes of Bristol, Aston Martin and Lancia at the same time. This led to Zagato opening a larger factory at Terrazzano, northwest of Milan, a few years after the Giulietta contract was fulfilled.
Zagato, quite improbably, is still operating today. Even more improbably, its CEO is Andrea Zagato, grandson of the founder. Many cars that helped build such a durable business, and the Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ is one of the important ones: it showed Zagato had the gumption to move beyond very small runs and one-offs. And it ushered the era of the Kamm – not a great progress in terms of looks, but science ain’t always pretty.
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Curbside Classic: 1960 Alfa Romeo Giulietta (101) Spider PininFarina – Stepping Into The Modern Age, by T87
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Perfect, beautiful. I’d take this over more or less any Ferrari.
Very nice. Rather Porsche 356 looking, but clearly it’s own thing
I’m a bit surprised the headlights aren’t faired in with covers. A lot of the aerodynamic benefit came from less frontal area; note how steeply the side glass angle is and how small the roof area is. Obviously much less interior room and less drag. But yes, that sloped rear end was not aerodynamically efficient; it would be interesting to know just how much was gained by the Kamm tail; a substantial amount, I’d wager.
It looks like first generation of Audi TT in 1950-60s design.
One of the earliest wind-tunnel studies of auto streamlining came to the same conclusion. Cross-section matters most.
In 1927 K-State’s engineering school built a wind tunnel and studied a variety of cars owned by students and faculty. This was before any of the supposed streamliners.
A specially built race car won. Among the ordinary cars the smooth-looking Franklin did poorly. A Ford T roadster, though it looked clunky and upright, was best because of smallest cross-section.
https://books.google.com/books?id=QjlLAAAAMAAJ
On p 440 of this PDF.
Just wonderful………dreamy look in eyes……lottery ticket……