THE YOUNG PRETENDER

At first glance it's a 1930s Alfa 6C roadster. But looks deceive. Massimo Delbo unravels a very special project from the 1960s, built by Alfa Romeo and Zagato

- Massimo Delbo

In 1965 the car market was booming worldwide. Manufacturers of every nation were introducing new models at an unprecedented rate. So were coachbuilders, and most of those were Italian. The Zagato stand at that year's Turin motor show was a perfect example, crowded with seven cars, representing the different models built by this small, niche coachbuilder. Yet while six of them remain well-known to this day, even though they were built in comparatively tiny numbers, one is almost forgotten, even among insiders.

On display for the public to drool over were a specimen of each of the following: Alfa Romeo TZ 2 (12 built), Alfa Romeo 2600 SZ (105), Lamborghini 350 GTZ (just the one, followed by another in 400 GTZ form), Lancia Flaminia SS (199), Lancia Fulvia Sport (202 in its first series with the 1200cc engine), and the relatively common Lancia Flavia Sport (629).

And the seventh? Well, you likely don't remember the Alfa Romeo Gran Sport Quattroruote Zagato. It was manufactured in 92 units, ten of them in right-hand drive, between 1965 and 1967. Its name might help to explain its unusual origins: it was born from the idea of a car magazine publisher, based on the extensively modified mechanical components of an Alfa Romeo 105-series Giulia Spider, and paired with a body inspired by the Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 GS of the 1930s.