SZ/RZ (ES30)

[JHertzman@domain.elided]

In AD7-1318 Gareth Marshall writes "I believe that while Alfa Romeo did 
design the SZ and Zagato built it, Zagato both designed and built the RZ 
(convertible). Apparently most of the panels on the RZ were different, due to 
the need to increase stiffness I guess. IMHO both cars look much better in 
the flesh  .. I mean metal ... no I mean plastic ... than in photographs."

I would question this, first on the distinction between who built and who 
designed, and second on the suggestion that any panels were different, either 
due to a need for increased stiffness or for any other reason. Tangentially I 
must touch on some other questions which have come up in the recent 
discussion of these interesting cars. 

For US readers a convenient information source is Road & Track's May 1989 
issue which has an eight page article by Dennis Simanaitis, the magazine's 
engineering editor. D'Amico & Tabucchi devote eight pages to the SZ (ES30) 
and four more to the RZ derivative. (Both contain large cutaway drawings, the 
RZ drawing very obviously simply a revision of the SZ drawing.) The most 
thorough published source is the book "Alfa Romeo SZ" by Roberto Piatti, 
published by Giorgio Nada in an Italian-language version and in an 
English-language version distributed by Motorbooks International, A.K.A. 
Classic Motorbooks. The publication date, 1989, was at the beginning of the 
SZ production (1989-1991) and three years before the beginning of the RZ 
production (1992). For information on Zagato, as the company was in this 
period, the best source I know of is "Carrozzeria Italiana", the annual 
publication of ANFIA, the Associazione Nazionale fra le Industrie 
Automobilistiche, which includes twenty-one companies, some with very well 
known names (Zagato, Pininfarina, Bertone, Ghia, Italdesign) and some large 
and well-established but virtually unknown to the general public, like Ilca 
Maggiora, the company which builds such cars as the Fiat Barchetta and 
earlier built the Alfa 2000 and 2600 Spiders which were "built" by Touring.

Zagato shows up in the yearbook as three companies, Zagato S.p.A., Zagato Car 
S.r.l., and Zagato Industrial Design S.r.l. Together they have about one 
tenth the staff that Bertone has, (145 people vs. 1,500), about one eighth 
the physical facilities, (11,000 square meters vs. 90,000), and have the 
theoretical capacity to produce about one seventh the number of cars per year 
(3,000 vs. 20,000). When was the last time you saw a new series-produced car 
identified as built by Bertone? Such companies prosper by building cars for 
other manufacturers (Who builds Maseratis? Who knows?) and specialty vehicles 
like armored cars, ambulances, busses, ad infinitum. Zagato builds its up-to 
3000 cars a year with its staff of 145 and "various external operators who 
play a part in the production process", i.e. subcontractors. When I had the 
opportunity to visit Carrozzeria Galbiati several years ago Galbiati was 
building several examples of the "Zagato-built" variant of the Ferrari 348. 
The car was, of course, built by Zagato; Galbiati was merely the 
subcontractor who was doing the metalwork, painting, upholstering, trimming, 
and finishing on the basic car built by Pininfarina. So, when somebody says 
the SZ and RZ were built by Zagato I do not feel that I necessarily know who 
made the molds, who made the dies, who stamped the metal, who molded the 
plastic panels, who built the jigs, who welded the steel, who glued the 
plastic panels to the substructure, who upholstered, who painted, who 
trimmed. Zagato of course did it, with certain external operators playing a 
part in the process.

On the suggestion that most of the panels on the RZ were different, due to 
the need to increase stiffness, it is not apparent to me. The SZ and RZ were 
both based on a steel structure based on a competition variant of the Milano 
platform. The panels were fiberglass-reinforced molded "Modar", an acrylic 
resin Alfa had already used for the bumpers of the Spider (called the 
"Duetto" in Piatti's text, by the way - -) which were glued to the steel 
structure. (The roof was aluminum, some non-structural parts were 
carbon-fibre-)

A final note on things done to increase stiffness. The Milano, SZ and RZ all 
have the same 2510 mm wheelbase, with a 10 cm wider track on the SZ and RZ, 
probably entirely due to the wheels and tires. By d'Amico & Tabucchi's 
figures, a Milano weighs 1190 kg, the SZ 1260 kg, and the RZ 1380 kg. The 
extra 260 pounds of the RZ over the SZ is probably steel, not plastic, in my 
opinion, in the platform, not in the panels, to compensate for the loss of 
the structural roof framing. 

For those who admire the appearance of the SZ and RZ, I would suggest taking 
a good look at what could be done with a GTV6 and some fiberglass overlay 
panels, much like the ones the kit-car industry uses to make "Ferraris" out 
of Corvettes, Datsuns and Fieros. Drop in a Verde engine, some raunchy wheels 
and a set of Superpro bushings, 225/50 x 16 tires and bask in it - -

John H.
Raleigh, N.C.

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End of alfa-digest V7 #1320
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