Thursday, 20 January 2011

Would you like a TVR with Zagato bodywork?


My new job I started recently suggested me some reflections. I started a new great experience as a COMMUNICATION and MARKETING consultant at ZAGATO brand (http://www.zagato.it).

Zagato story started in 1919. Ugo Zagato coming from airplanes started applying his knowledge to motorcars in order to create light and efficient bodyshells for racing models. As a result, he became official coachbuilder for Alfa Romeo (Zagato and Alfa plants were close to eachother) and Alfa became one of the most successful brand in races (Mille Miglia, 24 Hours of Le Mans...). His philosophy was extreme simplicity, which meant very simple volumes to maximize lightness and efficiency.

During 30s and 40s Zagato increased its collaborations to all the well known Italian brands: Ferrari, Lancia, Fiat and Maserati. A Zagato bodyshell meant prestige, performances and high quality in hanmade finish. The 50s and 60s were the periods of Gentlemen drivers who wanted a special car to compete in most important races. Who wanted an extreme car went to Zagato: the Alfa Romeo TZ and TZ2, the Ferrari 250 GTZ, the Maserati A6G Zagato, the Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato (the famous 1VEV and 2VEV), the Fiat 8V, the Lancia Flaminia Sport Zagato, the OSCA 1600 GT Zagato.

Does a TVR deserve a Zagato body?
I said thousand times (boring you stiff) that the most important aspect of the charm of a TVR is the philosophy of the brand: modern cars built like 60 years ago (simple, light, powerful and extremely fast, a car for expert drivers). A TVR Sagaris would be "almost" capable, only with a race number on her doors, to compete in a Mille Miglia or a Le Mans 24 Hours. Forget to do this with a Gallardo, a F430 or a Porsche 911 Turbo: you should change all brakes, remove kilos, stiffen suspensions and many other things.

Zagato became a sort of "official" coachbuilder for sport (or race) cars. So the question is: if you would like to personalize your TVR with "something" extremely evocative, do you think she will deserve a Zagato body?
There's an interesting aspect. The Sagaris has a wonderful bubble on the roof to create space for the helmet. so maybe a Zagato "double bubble" (Zagato's trademark) on the roof of a TVR Sagaris would square the circle.

2 comments:

  1. Haven,t they already done the "double bubble" on the T350T roof? sTeVeR Classic TVR

    ReplyDelete
  2. yes i would love to see that!

    noble fan,

    ReplyDelete