05/09/2026
Webb's Collectors’ Cars, Motorcycles & Automobilia September (No.25CC) - Vol.3:
This (and its spider counterpart) is one of my dream cars: the 1990 Alfa Romeo SZ Zagato. An absolute chad in terms of design, with its unique “box”-type shape, phone dial wheels, and stunning colour-contrasting cockpit greenhouse! Because of its brutalist appearance, it was nicknamed “Il Mostro” (“The Monster”) as you can see on the registration!
It was the first production car to be entirely designed using CAD! The body was derived from rallying and racing, as it was made out of injection-moulded composite glass-fibre thermosetting resin attached to the Alfa 75-type steel chassis.
Almost all SZ’s left the factory in this uni-colour Grigio Scuro (Dark Grey) over Rosso Alfa (Alfa Red) spec with tan interior. That’s 1,035 of 1,036 units. The remaining 1 is in black, and was reserved from Andrea Zagato. (So if you see any other coloured versions, including the SZ Trofeo, they are all aftermarket resprays). For comparison, the counterpart RZ convertible was a lot more comfortable, with 126 in Rosso Alfa, 73 in Giallo Ginestra (Broom Yellow), 75 in Nero (Black), 3 in Argento (Silver), and 1 in Pearl White!
The car was powered by a 3.0 L NA Busso 12-valve V6, which is considered one of the best sounding V6’s of all time! It makes 207 hp @ 6,200 rpm and 245Nm @ 4,500 rpm. It can do a 0-100 kph acceleration in just 7.0 seconds, and had a top speed of 245 kph!!!
It was remarkably quick for its time, as it could pull 1.10 to 1.14G. In comparison, cars like the 964 Carrera, Ferrari 348 and NSX peaked around 0.88 to 0.95G; the F40 and 959 peaked around 1.0G. It stock tires in 1989 matched that of the BMW M3 (F80) or the new shape Cayman S. On modern tire compound, the SZ can reach as high as 1.4 G like a Lotus Elise or a Caterham 7!
